Viva (2007)

Two suburban couples experiment with sex, drugs and bohemia in early 1970's Los Angeles.

Director:

Anna Biller

Writer:

Anna Biller

Stars:

Anna Biller, Jared Sanford, Bridget Brno

1 win & 2 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Anna Biller	...	Barbi / Viva-Rick's wife
Jared Sanford	...	Mark / Sheila's husband
Bridget Brno	...	Sheila / Candy-Mark's wife
Chad England	...	Rick / Barbi's husband
John Klemantaski	...	Arthur
Barry Morse	...	Sherman
Veronica Alicino	...	Miss Marker / Model agency assistant
Cole Chipman	...	Reeves
Robbin Ryan	...	Agnes
Andrea Lain	...	Kelly
Sam Bologna	...	Mr. Humphrey / Barbi's boss
Johnny Holiday	...	Mr. Carlisle
Barry O'Rourke	...	Chris
Mark Wood	...	Doctor Collins
Carole Balkan	...	Mrs. James / Brothel pimp

Storyline

VIVA is about a bored housewife in 1972 who gets sucked into the sexual revolution. Abandoned by her husband, Barbi is dragged into trouble by her girlfriend, who spouts women's lib as she gets Barbi to discard her bra and go out on the town. Barbi becomes a Red Riding Hood in a sea of wolves, and quickly learns a lot more than she wanted to about nudist camps, the hippie scene, orgies, bisexuality, sadism, drugs, and bohemia. Saturated to the hilt with vibrant color and exquisite period detail, and full of the kind of innocent nude romps you see before censorship codes lifted, VIVA looks like a lost film from the late '60's, and is a tribute to the best of exploitation cinema, from Herschell Gordon Lewis' Suburban Roulette to Radley Metzger's Camille 2000.

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Plot Keywords:

1970s | nudist camp | sexual revolution | hippie | male pubic hair | 

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Taglines:

They were housewives seeking kicks, in a world of swingers, orgies, booze and sin that was the sexual revolution!

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Genres:

Comedy | Drama | Musical | Romance

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for sexual content, nudity and some drug use

Details

Official Sites:

Official Forum Official site

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

2 May 2008 (USA)

Filming Locations:

Culver Studios - 9336 W. Washington Blvd., Culver City, California, USA

Company Credits

Production Co:

Anna Biller Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

120 min 102 min (R-rated)

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The Japanese Mae West in the orgy scene who says, "Murray, peel me a grape" is 'Anna Biller (I)''s mother Sumiko, dubbed by Bridget Brno. The guy at the bar in the brown plaid suit behind Rick is Anna's father Les Biller. He originally had one line as a drunk.

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Goofs

The $50 bill that Clyde gives to Mrs. James is clearly a modern-day "big-head" bill, not a 1970s-vintage currency.

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Quotes

Mark: [looking into the camera] There's never been a better time to be a man. The willing women. The dandy clothes. The frills. The big rings and jewelry. The open shirts. The sense of entitlement. Take it from me: savor this time. For it will soon be gone, never to return.

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Connections

Featured in SexTV: Pornscapes/Viva/Forbidden City (2007)

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Soundtracks

Two Little Girls
Written by Anna Biller

User Reviews

Turn On...Tune In.....Laugh Yourself Silly

Anna Biller's 'Viva' is two silly hours of campy,good fun. It attempts to satire late 1960's,early 1970's soft core pre-porn films (when they had wall to wall female nudity,but no actual graphic/explicit sexual intercourse depicted on screen). The acting seems to be lifted from early John Waters' films (Pink Flamingo's & even before). The set design,with it's use of pastel colours (as well as primary colours,as well)are a treat for the eye, as they seem to be lifted from period photo shoots of classic late 60's Playboy,as well as record sleeve covers from the late 1950's (especially the Martin Denny covers,with it's beautiful women & it's over saturated use of colour). Anna Biller,in addition to acting as the film's central female lead,Barbi,also wore several hats in the production of this campy period piece (she wrote,directed & edited the film,in addition to set design & even supervising a brief animation sequence,where Barbi is experiencing her first real orgasm, while on some kind of psychedelic drug).The plot concerns a young,suburban housewife who's loutish husband ignores,and eventually abandons her,only to leave her to experimenting with her new found sexual self,including swingers,hippies,etc. I guess if I have any real beef with this film, is the fact that it has several song & dance numbers that do little more than pad the film out to it's two hour (somewhat over long) running time. The song & dance numbers for me,could have been left on the cutting room floor which would have not hurt the film's integrity,one bit). Aside from that,don't go to this film expecting a dead serious Dogme like existential rant on how empty & shallow the human existence is. Just go & have some good clean (dirty)fun. No MPAA rating here,but has scads of both female & male full frontal nudity,sexual situations (both hetrosexual,as well as gay),and other adult material that would have landed this film it's dreaded 'X' rating back in the day,but would pull down little more than a R, these days.