Two drug-addicted, incestuous, rich siblings kill a call-boy to make playing cards out of his skin.
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After his brief appearance in Greenaway's "The Tulse Luper Suitcases" and before his three-months-run as Puck on West End, Andre Schneider found the time to write, co-produce and star in this film, apparently his most personal one to date.Schneider plays Nathaniel Griffin, a hustler getting hired by two rich siblings who, after having him under the influence of cocaine, ecstasy and various other drugs, paint playing cards all over his body and cut them out. The last scene is a breath-stealer, but the rest of the movie is often slow-moving and the siblings, played by Barbara Kowa and Rainer Wittenauer, fail completely to intrigue. Schneider's performance, though, remains a justifiable reason to sit through this, it's an impressive knock-out.The nicely photographed film suffers from the sheer unbearable narcissism of the director whose crashing self-love screws the otherwise beautifully written and acted film up. Most of the time, Biermann seems to say, "I'm the director, I outsmart you all, you're just some stupid audience." If you can deal with this attitude, you will enjoy "Deed Poll".After a string of equally disappointing works in Germany, Schneider turned his attention to France, Great Britain, Ireland and Spain, where he gave stellar performances in interesting films like "La Silla" and "La paz de tus ojos tristes".
Since this movie will probably never be released widely, I was truly fortunate to get a copy of the DVD through a friend of mine who was visiting Andre Schneider in Germany earlier this year.A weird film, I must say, but it's highly entertaining, dark and sexy. As a gay man, I was hugely attracted to Mr. Schneider who gave a tour-de-force performance in this movie. I haven't seen any of his other performances yet, but this one was electrifying. Equally good were Miss Kowa and Mr. Wittenauer who played an incestuous pair of siblings. But despite of their good performances, "Deed Poll" entirely belongs to Andre Schneider's face and presence: raw and sensitive, sexy and vulnerable, tender and fierce, seductive and ugly. It's his face and the great script that makes the viewer forget about the inept direction, the hilariously bad sound and some goofs.Too weird for American audiences, this movie will sooner or later become a cult classic. I watched it more than a dozen times and made copies for many of my family members and friends. This is a movie with a message.
Deed Poll: a game, a drug, an orgasm, an art.To play poker already will never be like before. Have you played poker at some time? Surely yes. The tact of the playing cards in your hands encourages you to continue playing ... to play more and more. It is a natural instinct, a risk, an art. When you see the movie, to play poker will turn into a new game not known for you. "Deed Poll" will not make you indifferent. As the tact of the playing cards the movie is soft, exquisite, luminous. But simultaneously it is a risk, a danger, a bomb that will wake your more basic instincts up.In 1943 Hoffman discovers the LSD. The ecstasy is an hallucinogenic and some of the effects are that the vision sharpens, the colours meet more alive and vivacious, the persons and the objects acquire a fascinating character, the sensibility for the small details increases, the painful sensibility diminishes, the capacity of suggestion increases, heart runs. The same effects are the film's effects. At some time have you taken LSD? I recommend to you not to do it. But if you want to have an amazing trip you must see "Deed Poll". André Schneider will lead you for this trip of 45 minutes. "Deed Poll" is like an hallucinogenic. With him the colours will be different, you will not feel the pain and will have very much pleasure, the small thing will be enormous, everything will be fascinating, he will be fascinating and you also.Sex does the persons and the persons do sex. "Deed Poll" takes us to a personal orgy of feelings and passion. Feelings that immerse the prominent figures in a spiral of wild sex; spiral that each one uses to escape of a world and to enter other one. An orgy in which you can be one of them. You can meet reflected in one of four prominent figures and to feel as them, to be one of them. The active, the submissive, the intelligent, the madman, the risky, the masochist, the sadistic, the drug addict, the amicable, the incestuous, the shy, the slender you. Have you had sex? I recommend to you that yes. But if you want to have an orgasm seeing a movie, undoubtedly your movie is "Deed Poll"."Deed Poll" is an art. It is a special art, an original art ... a new art. The colours of the movie are not usual and the camera angles are very good. The style of filming is genuine and very interesting and for it, from here, I congratulate the director. The actors are very credible actors, give life to prominent figures marvellously created in the script. Dynamical script and impacting, a personal and only script. Undoubtedly you will not repent on having seen it.
DEED POLL's been a rumour for years, and in 2003 dozens of people finally said that this movie was all a big lie. I pitied that since I always thought that the plot sounded great. (I like sick movies.) Then, two years later, I got word that Mr Schneider got it done, so I ordered a copy through his production company a couple of weeks ago.Even though you see that it's a low-budget film, DEED POLL has it's magic. Mr Schneider's performance is really strong, the sex scenes are well done: good choreography, great photography, stunning film editing. The best thing about it, still, is the script. The lines are just remarkable! And, after all, this is a movie about sadomasochism and love, about the need to submit and/or dominate and about the will to sacrifice yourself. A pity that it is so short.Now, it's almost a little secret that this film actually does exist, but DEED POLL will gain more and more fans over the years until it will be a cult classic like all the other "great sick" films: MARNIE, DEATH AND THE MAIDEN, EYES WIDE SHUT, SILENCE OF THE LAMBS, THE PILLOW BOOK, THE ADDICTION, THE WISDOM OF CROCODILES and so on.