She's still got the bite.

Great to read a more realistic review after all the recent hype (read: fabricated fallacies) about its successful European launch (barely anyone remembers ever having heard about the damn thing) and the celebrity status of its main star (she's an unknown) .

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"Vegetarianism for me is about saying ‘yes’ to things - even meat." - Coupling

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Molon Labe...Oh! And! FREE THE WEED!!!

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Jacco

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Jacco

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Great to read a more realistic review after all the recent hype (read: fabricated fallacies) about its successful European launch (barely anyone remembers ever having heard about the damn thing) and the celebrity status of its main star (she's an unknown) .

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Obviously everyone is entitled to their own opinion, and we appreciate - and in some cases wholeheartedly concur with - DB's summation of both the positive and negative aspects of this most unique film.

As the film's U.S. Publicist, I do question a couple of K's remarks:

Great to read a more realistic review after all the recent hype

A more realistic review? Mark Kernes published a review that was short, to the point, and favorable in AVN. Interestingly, he gave "All About Anna" a 3/5 "A" review (the same overall rating DB did) and said it would work best for couples. This was published in the September 2006 issue of AVN magazine, and is still online, just log on to AVN and plug All About Anna into the review search engine. Fleshbot's Gram Ponante was even more enthusiastic in his review, check it out by clicking here. Overall, we've been very pleased with the reviews.

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...after all the recent hype (read: fabricated fallacies)

This is where it gets interesting. Fabricated fallacies? Surely you have specific examples at the ready! Every fact about "All About Anna" reported in the film's domestic promotional campaign has been derived directly from the film's international track record, which has been exhaustively - and we emphasize exhaustively - archived with dates, sources, etc. at the project's original Danish website which you can visit by clicking here. If we've been misled, we want to know, and since you're the one claiming "fabricated fallacies," K, the burden of proof is on you.

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...about its successful European launch (barely anyone remembers ever having heard about the damn thing)

Hmmm...To be clear, was the film just honored with Best International Actress (Gry Bay) and Best International Actor (Mark Stevens) Nominations earlier this month at the prestigious Venus Berlin expo because "barely anyone remembers ever having heard about the damn thing?"

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...the celebrity status of its main star (she's an unknown)

Are you questioning her "celebrity status" here or in Denmark? No one's denying that "All About Anna" will be Gry's introduction to American film audiences, so you must be saying she's an unknown in Denmark, where she's been featured on the cover of FHM (and in a layout by Jens Rosenfeldt) for their October, 2004 issue, and appeared in another issue in their "100 Sexiest Women In the World" photo feature. Oh, and she's been featured on the cover of Denmark's M three times from 2003-2006. Want to see the covers and layouts? They're right
here.

The bottom line is that in the age of information technology, we no longer operate in an "information" vacuum, where one has to accept "facts" on faith. Isn't it great? Virtually everything about the movies - even the things written about "All About Anna" - can, with a little due diligence, be verified online.

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What a wonderfully written review that is! Such a pleasure to read!

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Trailer

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And Gry Bay is up against such great actresses like Nella (from Private Media Group) and Carmen Hart. BTW, I think she was nominated for best newcomer, not best actress. Katsumi, Poppy Morgan, Mercedez and others beat her to that particular nomination.

Mark Stevens's competition counts, among others, those renowned actors George Uhl, Greg Centauro and Tommy Gunn.

Oh, yes, a fine collection of household names.

Get real. All About Anna has not "kept Europeans talking for months". It was a largely ignored straight to video release.

To be honest, when Innocent Pictures made their original press releases, I was expecting the release of this movie to get a lot more attention than it did.
Puzzy Power's Constance with Katja Kean (who BTW is better known than Gry in Denmark, even though it's been three years since her book was published and the sit-com where she had a regular supporting role was cancelled) got more attention when it was released.
That Constance was panned by the critics, may have something to do with the lack of fanfare that followed All About Anna's release. Perhaps Innocent Pictures are hoping that a lack of bad press in Denmark may make it an easier sell internationally. Or perhaps not. I don't know.

Further showing the complete lack of mainstream penetration (pun not intended, but acknowledged) All About Anna has achieved, can be seen in who is distributing it. The Danish distributor is listed as Team Video +, a porn distributor. And now Wicked, another porn company, gets the US rights. I don't mean that as a slight against Wicked. Wicked has released some of my favourite porn movies, but it is still porn, and apart from Jenna, porn does not equal celebrity status for actors, nor mainstream recognition for movies.

Take Intimacy and 9 songs instead. They got theatrical releases and mainstream distributors. 9 songs even counts Sony and Warner among its distributors.

Innocent Pictures could have made a splash with this movie. Unfortunately (I really mean that) they didn't.
After they let the original buzz, such as it was, die out, I, and most everyone else, forgot about it.
I only started looking out for its release when Dumblonde, and IIRC a couple of other ADTers, expressed an interest in it. Sort of a pubic service if you will. And I was quite surprised when I found out about its release by checking Innocent Pictures' website, instead of reading about it in a paper on hearing about it on the news.

I stand by my statement: barely anyone remembers ever having heard about the damn thing.

She could have been, if Innocent Pictures had followed through on their initial press about All About Anna , and also gotten the movie out the door in a timely fashion. They dropped that ball, and it never happened.

I don't know how it is in other countries with perhaps a larger pool of hot young celebs interested in getting their kit off for M!, but checking past covers of the Danish version, being on the cover does not require anything approaching celebrity status, nor does the honour automatically bestow celebrity status on the girl. There have been celebrities, both Danish and not, on some of the covers, but far from all.

Nor is she a celebrated actress that could be said to have "conquered television, stage, and screen in Europe". At least not with a straight face.
I won't judge her acting chops, but take a look at her IMDB page. Not exactly brimming with blockbusters.
Christ, her 2005 credits include a movie by Michael Zile, a Danish porn producer of movies that make an average Mike John gonzo look like a big budget extravaganza. If IMDB's cast order is anything to go by, Gry even ranked lower in the credits than Maya Ababadjani, an actual porn actress.

Again I stand by my statement: She's an unknown.

Some of the flowery talk heaped upon this movie has been so far beyond the pale that I personally cannot classify it as allowed embellishment, but have to call it fabrications.

Whether people like it or not, is subjective, and I'm genuinely glad that some people find enjoyment in it.

That it has made a huge splash in Denmark and kept Europeans talking for months, is objectively untrue.

So is the claim that Gry Bay is a celebrated actress.

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Whether people like it or not, is subjective, and I'm genuinely glad that some people find enjoyment in it.

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K, we couldn't concur with you more on that. You are absolutely free to like or not like the movie, like or not like how the press for it has been handled in Europe and America, etc.

But the simple truth is that the expression "fabricated fallacies" is a very loaded term - let's face it, it means lying.

As has been stated and re-stated, every objectively verifiable fact reported about the movie, like it or not, is true. We haven't claimed to have received favorable reviews we haven't actually gotten, we haven't claimed to have gotten press we haven't received, we haven't claimed the cast has been featured in places they haven't been featured, etc. etc. etc.

You sweep this all aside by claiming a publication like M isn't that big a deal, which is your right, but as Ayn Rand would be quick to point out, there is a world of difference between whether or not something actually happened or not (objective reality), and your subjective opinion of its importance, which, honestly, seems to be what's fueling your post. Although
you skewered M , interestingly, we noticed you didn't address Gry's October 2004 cover of FHM .

Obviously in the face of these facts you still subjectively view the European and American press for the film as having stepped over the line of "allowed embellishment," and that's your right too. But no one has fabricated facts .

Judging from the amount of energy you're putting into this, both the movie and its press in Europe and America are sore points with you. All we can do is open the archives for you,
and make available to you all the information compiled to create press for the film.

We don't engage in flame wars K, but we're happy to share information. In fact, if you wish to objectively review any of this information for yourself, or wish to begin a dialogue with our other media partners here or in Europe, feel free to contact me directly anytime at (818) 266-7910 or email me at daniel@danielmetcalf.com.

Edited by - Daniel Metcalf Public Relations on 10/31/2006 1:35:17 PM

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The US press releases bug me, because they give the impression that Gry is a major star in Denmark and that All About Anna is a hit movie that has been the talk of the town here.
Neither is true.

All the other stuff is fine. But those assertions do tick me off because they are deeply misleading.

She's been featured there three times. Yes. That is unusual. I'll give you that.
And yet, despite this, she is still not famous, well known by people on the street, a household name, whatever it takes to deserve the label "major star".

Why M! have put her on the cover so often, stumps me. She's pretty enough, sure.
Her having been voted into their lists of hot babes, it is my guess (I can't know) is because she had been in their magazine a mere four issues earlier. This does not translate into people knowing who she is beyond a bikini babe in an earlier issue.

If that sounds like a stretch, that's because I'm trying to come up with an explanation for why, despite her covers and apparent acting qualities (though DB seemed unimpressed), she still remains a virtual unknown, and definitely no major star.
Her resume (IMDB) also remains pretty unimpressive, and not supporting of the star label.

(Who the heck is Monica Hansen anyway?)

And that the movie was a smash hit here. It wasn't.

Granted, the movie part may be a bit harder to call a definite fabrication. What constitutes a smash hit? Public awareness, box office (or video rental queue) success or rave reviews or something else?

It certainly does not have public awareness.
Whether it's a sales success, I can't say. I don't know the figures and I couldn't say what would constitute a sales success for what is an unusual, though certainly not unique, blend of sex and mainstream film.
Rave reviews you have. And this fairly damning one.

But the bit about Gry being a major star in Denmark is without a doubt not true.
I don't imagine this is a lie on your part. How would you know whether Danes know who Gry is? But it is false information that you've been passing on.

I do wonder at the English language text on the movie's website, where they state: "...the story’s emotional climax features such landmarks as Copenhagen’s Royal Castle, usually off-limit to film crews."
They make no mention of filming at Amalienborg usually being off-limits in the Danish version. Did they get permission to film inside or right up against the Royal Castle, Amalienborg, or connected buildings, and forget that in the Danish version? Or did they just shoot on public spots and 'embellish' the English version a tad?

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Again, you end your post with questions, suggesting you do indeed seek further info and input. Please feel free to reach out anytime, (818) 266-7910 or daniel@danielmetcalf.com. Thank you.

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@Tony: That's GPL'ed filter, if you please! I admit, I fucked up big time on that. I still think the end result looks absolutely shite on my TV, and the video rating stands. But you did explain why it looked that way and what look you were aiming for. Creative decision on your part, fair enough.

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I should note that the extras on the dvd are actually much better than the feature itself (eg, extended cuts of the main sex scenes, very good commentaries and a dvd filled with trailers from real hardcore euro porn movies). I don't know if all these extras are on the US release, but if so they might just be enough to warrant purchasing the dvd in their own right.

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I don't know if all these extras are on the US release, but if so they might just be enough to warrant purchasing the dvd in their own right.

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The U.S. DVD is going to be a two-disc special edition. I'll be back shortly with a detailed list of the extras!

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The U.S. DVD is going to be a two-disc special edition. I'll be back shortly with a detailed list of the extras!

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Looks like I'll be back "not so shortly" with that detailed list. After a conference call this morning I learned that while the American release will indeed be a two-disc Collector's Edition, they're still in the process of determining what will be new and what will be carried over from the Team Video Plus release.

Once this list has been finalized, I'll post details here and
here.

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That's all I am going to say about it...

Jacco

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If the producers do this again, they either need to take the story more seriously or take the sex more seriously. I thought the Danish invented sex, after all!

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As they used a stunt mouth and cock instead of having her blow Mark, and since in other porn, if it wasn't shown, it most likely didn't happen, it seems a little suspicious.

Though I suppose those who love it for what it is, might not care either way. Robbie? Flash? VT? CW? Would it make the slightest difference?

With Digital Playground making a soft cut of of Pirates , would one of All About Anna , where it would barely make any difference in the run-time, have been worth your time?
Would you have liked a soft cut as much, or wouldn't you have been intrigued enough to watch it in the first place?

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I wasn't directly comparing them, just thinking that with DP expanding their market by releasing a soft version of the biggest budget 'real' porn movie in recent time (ever?), why not AAA?

Though come to think of it, they do have something in common: they're both in a way trying to bridge the gap between porn and mainstream from either directions.
Now I am kinda curious. Is the budget of AAA public knowledge?

@Flash: If you're that keen on extra material of AAA, perhaps trying to track down this documentary thingie might be worthwhile. 'scuse me if you already knew of it.

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I don't see how either movie accomplishes anything.
At least in this regard.

You got to think outside the box on this one, and so far I don't think anyone has quite succeeded.

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Actually, if "9 Songs" had added a plot to the sex scenes that would have worked in an interesting way.

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+ 1, although I like it just the way it is. How can you go wrong with the Greatest Rock Band In The World on the soundtrack and in the movie? :-)

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As exhaustively chronicled (well, by me at least) Cameron Mitchell, known by fans of 50s Hollywood for his co-starring roles in such fare as Rogers & Hammerstein's "Carousel," among others, responded to the lack of better roles in his later years in a rather unusual way - he took a role in an Anthony Spinelli porn film called "Dixie Ray, Hollywood Star."

To dispel a popular myth, although he didn't perform hardcore, this minister's son knew he was working on an adult film (in fact, he'd worked with some of the cast, including Kelly Nichols, whom he genuinely liked, before, most notably in the horror classic The Toolbox Murders, briliantly remade a couple years ago by Tobe Hooper). The R-rated cut of "Dixie Ray, Hollywood Star" played mainstream theatres as "It's Called Murder, Baby."

The myth probably comes stems from a similar story regarding fellow ex-Hollywood player Aldo Ray, who allegedly trotted out the "I didn't know it was a porno!" claim after appearing in another adult film back in the day.

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It's a late 20th/21st-century malaise to compare everything to something else. To feed on nostalgia likes it's air. Radio stations that just play "classic rock" and won't play anything fresh or new because it "doesn't compare to Zeppelin." To have expectations raised. To rate everything in a top 10 list. A top 100 list. "Favorite" this. "Favorite" that. Turn-ons. Turn-offs. Best. No. 1. Ummm...."polls." Are we so insecure in our opinions that we need "proof" of them? Or a desperate need to announce them to everyone? I call it Quentin Tarantino/VH-1 disease.

It seems like everyone is comparing this film to the yardstick of other films. I don't know what those people are doing. I think it's a great film for a lot of reasons but I guess the most important is that I've never seen anything else like it before.

Brian

P.S. Who do you think the Greatest Rock N Roll Band in the World is? Franz Ferdinand? Primal Scream? BRMC? I'm curious.

P.P.S. I'm not going to be a hypocrite. I'm done participating in "polls" on this forum.

Edited by - Brian_Wallace on 11/6/2006 7:31:11 PM

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I concur completely about list-itis...VH1 has certainly fanned the flames. I think the first documentation of this pop culture disease can be found in Nick Hornby's very fine novel "High Fidelity," where the lead character has boiled down his entire life - love, career, relationships, family, everything - into a series of top five lists. At the end of the book, when he decides to actually start pursuing his dream of starting a record company, it is, of course, called "Top Five Records." Great book, and John Cusack's Americanized film of it is quite good, too.

Lastly...The Greatest Band In The World reference is nothing more than a tired in-joke at this point. The band in question is Primal Scream.

Back in the day, some fifteen years ago when I (and I think, the world) was far less cynical, I saw them bring a huge team of additional musicians on stage for "Come Together," and then quickly encourage the audience to come up as well, and at that one moment, and just for a moment, they really seemed to be the best.

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For instance, I would say that "The Fashionistas" is a great sex film. And among the films I would reference to assess "Anna's" merit. I would also use "9 Songs." But I think "9 Songs" is a very interesting failure, with powerful sex scenes that, for me, justify the effort. It's entirely different than "The Fashionistas," but if you're gonna discuss hardcore sex in indie/art films and narrative value in hardcore sex films, I think you need to include these in any discussion.

I'm not a fan of top 100 lists, either.

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I don't have a specific comparison. I don't think Pirates is fair because I see that as porn and Anna as mainstream. And I don't know exactly what the test is for mainstream – If we surveyed random people in Tivoli Gardens, 1 in 10 might have heard of Anna? In Madison Square Gardens, it might be 1 in 1000?

I realise I slap 'great' on a lot of movies and its something I'm working on. I also suffer from rose-tinted glasses from time to time. I guess this is because for me it's about the whole experience. I've never seen the DVDs: 9 Songs was on the big screen and Fashionistas in Vegas.

I did make an effort to review or at least document Borat, a few days ago - practice makes perfect

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The next time you go to one of these events with some of the more libertine/recreational-pharmaceutical adult film actresses, you can borrow my "Kill All Hippies" or "Shoot Speed, Kill Light" t-shirts.

Brian

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With the sex included I found it an enjoyable romp.

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The last chili-cheese dog I remember all too well was at a Der Weinerschnitzel drive-thru in 2002 after enough Long Island Ice Teas, Jose Cuervo and bong hits to make it seem like a good idea at the time. Btw, is this a poll? ;)

As far as comparing films, I think that it's perfectly legitimate, even necessary to form an informed opinion, but if someone hasn't seen many other films and just knows what they like, that's fine too. It just doesn't give others much frame of reference to go by.

Like CW I actually enjoyed the all the behind-the scenes stuff that went on since I find that kind of thing interesting. The cast and crew deserve credit for being so forthcoming about the various problems they experienced, which I found amusing even though I doubt if they did. ;)

@ k, hva så, wtf går det godt? Gry Bay and Eileen Daly are indeed seen completely stark-ass nekkid so my apologies for any confusion about that.

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Comparisons are perfectly valid. Invaluable even, in some cases.
If someone is trying to provide others with something they can base a purchasing decision on, he either needs to give some points of reference for people to know where he's coming from, or write a review as detailed as Dishwater Blonde's. And even Delicious Babe included a few comparisons to other movies, in order to better get her points across.

@Dainty Bloom: Yo, ya got the Danish hip-hop jive down, sista. Word.

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