Provoking, Undoing, Starting Over

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For sheer cinematic exuberance, you can't do better than Life as a B Movie. From the start, the viewer is bombarded with vintage images of skydivers, gyrating teenagers, and nudes cavorting in a sea of feathers, interspersed between the title credits. A tribute to pulp impresario Piero Vivarelli, this documentary is a "secret history" of how post-war Italy reclaimed its place on the world stage.

A paratrooper in WWII, Vivarelli routinely plunged earthward on reconnaissance missions, and that disregard for danger informed his life. As one testifier puts it, "He wanted a taste of everything. He was an extremist. It was always a game. Provoking, undoing, starting over." Vivarelli had his finger on the pulse of the new generation as a music publisher, lyricist, screenwriter, film director, and producer. He hosted intellectuals and trendsetters in what his first wife Enza Minervini calls "the Live It Up Club," a.k.a. their Rome apartment, at all hours of the day and night.

He exploited trends. In the rush of foreign cinema—during the 1960s-'70s, Italy produced 350 movies a year—he became known for black and white extravaganzas like Howlers of the Dock (1960), I Kiss You Kiss (1961), and Il dio Serpente (1970). Vivarelli's passions are up there on the screen: speed, rock 'n' roll, the high life, and women. He saw the potential in movie musicals or, more precisely, movies about music and stuffed the burgeoning counterculture with new sensations, churning out no-budget flicks. His closest equivalents in the US were Roger Corman (for economy) and Russ Meyer (for the exaltation of the female form).

His producers, directors, ex-wives, and paramours add spice to the mix. Most of the talking heads are of his generation (and the worse for wear for their excesses). Vivarelli often brushed with greatness: he cast jazz trumpeter Chet Baker in Juke Box Kids (1959) {"he slept all the time") and was a contemporary of Fellini and Antonioni ("he couldn't have made Zabriskie Point without my movies"). He brought Aretha Franklin and the then-new Led Zeppelin to Italy, wielding suitcases crammed with cash.

He flirted with fascism and communism and rubbed elbows with Castro in Cuba. His drama East Zone, West Zone (1962) is set at the construction of the Berlin Wall. He was delighted that the power and diversity of the youth culture "scared the Italian political power" and that he was part of it.

At other points in the film, Vivarelli spars with Quentin Tarantino at the Venice Film Festival in 2004. Franco Nero chats about the script development of the Spaghetti Western Django (Vivarelli wrote it, and Sergio Carbucci directed it). His interest in Black culture spawned a particular brand of erotic/exotic exploitation in films like The Black Decameron (1972) and the Emmanuelle series starring Laura Gemser.

Life as a B Movie is a genre film lover's delight, an avalanche of ideas and memories. This feast of sights and sounds culminates in a ballet of folks flying through the air, contending that Vivarelli's joie de vivre can be traced to his paratrooper roots. "Up there in the sky, totally free. He liked the freedom thing," as one testimonial understates.

Piero Vivarelli took a big bite out of life. He died in 2020. In his most autobiographical film, Nella Misura in Cui (1979), Vivarelli's surrogate is asked, "Really, no regrets?"

"No, none at all. I just made some bad choices."

"At least you have the guts to admit it."

"Yeah, but guts are all I have left." ____________________________________________

Life as a B Movie: Piero Vivarelli. Directed by Niccolò Vivarelli and Fabrizio Laurenti. 2019. From Film Movement. 90 minutes. On digital platforms.

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