Audience Rating: R (Restricted) Binding: VHS Tape EAN: 9780783101385 Format: Closed-captioned ISBN: 0783101384 Label: Hbo Home Video Manufacturer: Hbo Home Video Number Of Items: 1 Publisher: Hbo Home Video Release Date: 1995-02-07 Running Time: 99 Studio: Hbo Home Video Theatrical Release Date: 1991
An American photographer becomes enmeshed in the dangerous world of drug and arms dealing when a young prostitute he once photographed is found murdered. He can learn to defend himself - but there?s no defense from the the unexpected.
Spotlight customer reviews:
Customer Rating: Summary: Exposure Comment: Great movie, old style where the actors really have to act instead of relying on special effects. Customer Rating: Summary: "I have a high art: I wound with cruelty those who wound me." Comment: The above quote opens the film "Exposure" (also known as "A Grande Arte"), a well-crafted if somewhat low-key thriller that involves the equally fascinating and repulsive subculture of knife fighting.
Peter Mandrake (Peter Coyote) is a photographer working on assembling a coffee table book of photographs about Rio de Janeiro. The book is to cover the dark and less 'tourist friendly' side of Rio--having nothing to do with the wildly costumed and intoxicating festival atmosphere of Carnivale. Rather, his black and white photos showcase criminals, derelicts, people in crisis, prostitutes, pimps and train surfers (adrenaline junkies that climb up onto the tops of trains, riding them like a surfboard, dodging cables and overhangs).
As he moves about the seamier and more squalid neighborhoods in Rio, Peter becomes casual friends with one of his models, a pretty young prostitute/masseuse named Gisela (Giulia Gam). When Gisela asks Peter to accompany her while she returns a computer disk belonging to one of her more dangerous clients, Gisella winds up being horribly murdered and Peter is mistakenly identified as her blackmailing accomplice. Afterwards, Peter and his girlfriend, Marie (Amanda Pays), are savagely attacked in their apartment by knife-wielding thugs in search of the elusive computer disk.
Traumatized by the near-death knife wound he receives, Peter wants vengeance in kind. To dispatch his and Marie's attackers with a gun simply won't do; it must be with a knife. To this end, he tracks down Hermes (Tcheky Karyo), an elusive and mysterious professional assassin, who Peter saw earlier in a to-the-death knife fight in the street. Hermes is a per-sev (short for 'perforate and sever') or Knife Master. He reluctantly agrees to train Peter and finds an enthusiastic and obsessed pupil. The training sessions are some of the most morbidly fascinating scenes in the movie. Hermes maps out the body's kill zones with lipstick on a mirror where Peter practices slashing and stabbing. They also practice the offensive and defensive maneuvering techniques required to inflict the maximum amount of damage on the opponent. Peter then sets out to track down his assailants.
Before watching this movie, I didn't know there was an actual art to knife fighting. I simply thought that you attempted to cut the other guy while trying not getting cut yourself. The stylized choreography of the knife fights does have a certain elegance and fascination. The cinematography is also quite striking, and the diverse countryside of both Brazil and Bolivia is visually arresting. The seasoned and capable actors elevate what could have otherwise been a rather mediocre thriller. However, this film will probably still have a rather narrow and specific audience appeal. Customer Rating: Summary: Exposure VHS Comment: Item was received in a timely manner. An easy transaction with a reputable company. Customer Rating: Summary: Burned into my memory. Comment: Star Wars (Episode 4,5,& 6), The Matrix, Above the Law, Peter Jackson's Lord of the Rings. These are the movies that I remember. ....and Exposure. I couldn't follow the plot very well and there was some questionable acting and scripting, but I remember that I have rarely ever seen full speed fighting and the training leading up to it like in this film. It made me want to buy kevlar clothing and a gun. I don't remember any details of the movie today, but I remember the impact it made on me. Customer Rating: Summary: REALITYS OF A KNIFE FIGHT Comment: I ENJOYED THIS MOVIE VERY MUCH, EVEN THOUGH AT TIMES IT DID MOVE SLOW. FINNALY A MOVIE SHOWING THE REALITYS OF A KNIFE FIGHT, PEOPLE ALWAYS UNDERESTIMATE THE DANGER OF GOING UP AGAINST SOMEONE WITH A KNIFE, AND FINNALY THIS MOVIE SHOWS WHAT CAN HAPPEN WHEN YOU FACE SOMEONE WITH A KNIFE. I AM A STUDENT OF LAMECO ESKRIMA UNDER GURU FELIX VALENCIA, AND THE BOSTON SCHOOL OF ARNIS, UNDER PUNONG GURU GEORGE BREWSTER, AND COMPETED IN KNIFE FIGHTING TOURNAMENTS, AND KNIFE FIGHTS. ALSO THE BRAZILIAN MOB BOSS IN THE MOVIE WHO WAS CUTTING HIS INITIALS INTO THE WOMENS FACES WAS VERY BELIEVABLE, EVEN DOWN TO SHOWING HIS CUSTOM MADE KNIFE AND HOW HE WORE IT. THE MOST COMPLEX CHARACTER IN THE MOVIE WAS HERMES (CHEKY KARO) HE IS AN EXCELLENT ACTOR WHO WE HAVE SEEN IN A LOT MORE MOVIES LATELEY. HE ALSO WAS VERY BELIEVABLE IN HIS ROLE. THE MOVIE SHOWED A DARK PART OF LIFE THAT IS A REALITY, THAT SOME PEOPLE DO NOT WANT TO RECOGNIZE.
