ANITA

Adding to their deliciously sinful if somewhat uneven catalogue of carnal pleasures the charms of Christina Lindberg, Impulse Pictures presents Anita. Failing to live up to the promise of their initial release, following such 'polite' sleaze classics as Schoolgirl Report with the lipid Refinements in Love, this eccentric if bold company scores a mindless if beautiful looking hit with Anita, thanks largely to the screen presence (and skin!) of Miss Linberg. Though reaching cult status in the States thanks to the exploitative appeal of her stints in the Pinky classic Sex and Fury, and, most influentially, as the shapely assed bad ass of Thriller: A Cruel Picture (sumptuously presented by Synapse Films), this sex siren has had too few of her films released stateside. Impulse Pictures offers steaming and hot one of Lindberg's early roles, brining us her charms as both an actress and lust object in the first release of this film on DVD.

Lindberg has little to do in a plot that is essentially plot-less. Anita is dedicated to soft-core sex scenes, and the story is clearly more concerned with exposing flesh than exploring character or action. A horny young women devoted to sexual experimentation, free love, and pleasure, Anita plays musical chairs with every man's lap she can find, suffering from dissatisfaction until she meets up with Erik, a young man at a nearby university. Erik (Stellan Skarsgard), a student of psychology, wonders if Anita doesn't suffer from nymphomania (where the hell are all these gals?!). In a laughably flimsy plot-point, Erik decides to take one for the team, making it his solemn duty to rid her of these afflictions. How? Well, by humping her like crazy of course!

Pointless, scattered, and unevenly written, Anita meanders along in a haphazard way, suffering from slip-shod characterization and internal contradictions. The story can't quite decide whether Lindberg's character is a victim of a disease or simply an adventurous young woman with an extremely healthy appetite for sex, and the occasional moral posturing somewhat weakens the effect and honesty of the eroticism, as if the filmmaker's were apologizing for making the starlet's body an object of desire. When all is said and done, Anita undoubtedly makes Christina Lindberg a sex symbol for objectification. Whether than cry foul and see that as a sexist crime, this in itself is quite normal, mirroring the simple sexuality and animalistic impulses that bring us to such films to begin with. Lindberg herself is no disappointment, making the picture a successful bit of eye candy recommended for fans without reservation. The rest of the world would do just as well to skip it.

The feature is presented in 1.85.1 anamorphic widescreen. While not as sharp are as clean as one would like, suffering scratches and blemishes resulting from age, the picture revolves from decent to quite good. Although grain is ever present, the colors and skin tones are realistic and pleasing. The audio track is featured in Swedish language in Dolby Digital Mono (with optional English subs). Much cleaner than the picture, the track is largely without noise distortions or hissing. Extras simply don't exist here, which has been the case with all of Impulse's releases thus far.

Review by William Simmons