Full Body Massage (1995) Full Review

Film Scene Investigation

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00:00hey guys it's me Bo back once again on the film scene investigation channel I hope everyone is

00:19doing good in today's video I'm going to be reviewing the 1995 erotic drama full body

00:28massage as always guys if you haven't already please consider subscribing to the channel all

00:35of the support is greatly appreciated so full body massage from 1995 was a very intriguing film by the

00:48late director Nicholas Roegg starring actress Mimi Rogers and Australian actor Brian Brown this drama

00:57aired on Showtime the American television network back in November of 1995 now up until a year ago I'd

01:08never heard of this film before it basically came to my attention after I'd searched through Brian

01:14Brown's filmography I've just seen the movie FX from 1986 and it was the first time I'd seen Brian Brown

01:24in a lead role it was a great movie and he definitely pulled it off so yeah I checked out some of his

01:32other projects and full body massage came up I added it to my watch list and finally got round to viewing

01:41it just a few weeks back this is a fairly forgotten movie that I never really hear people talk about

01:49if anything the only thing that the movie is remembered for is its overt nudity but after viewing it without

02:00sounding too highbrow really kind of have to get past the nudity to understand the context so the story

02:09followed this affluent businesswoman called Nina played by actress Mimi Rogers we saw her living this

02:16lonely life in this big house full of expensive artworks on the day she was expecting her weekly massage

02:27Brian Brown's character Fitch a trained masseuse arrived at her house unexpectedly

02:35Fitch had swapped shifts with Nina's regular masseuse Douglas who was with another client

02:43Nina was initially confused as to why Douglas had never told her but after Fitch explained further

02:55Nina relented and went ahead with the appointment this basically set up the crux of the story with this long

03:05drawn-out conversation taking place between the two there were many topics discussed ranging from art

03:14to spirituality to relationships even healing methods while some of the discussion did indeed drag on

03:24I thought a few interesting points were raised there was this social commentary on western medicine and how the

03:34general public are so closed-minded to alternative methods this was told through the Fitch character as he showed off

03:46several different massage techniques I thought it was quite an interesting take on this western ideology and how

03:56people are so conditioned at times by their society to believe in these traditional medical procedures various things

04:08were discussed but the subjects of relationships kept coming up we discovered that Nina had several relationships that

04:19basically all ended badly and while she was now single she had built up this

04:26close erotic connection with her masseuse Douglas this explained Nina's confusion at the start when

04:36Finch arrived unexpectedly through conversation Fitch mentioned that Douglas was gay thinking that Nina knew all about it

04:46Nina was taken back by what she had heard but pretended she knew anyway to try and save face

04:55all this time Douglas had led Nina on thinking that they were building this close bond together

05:04all the while in reality Douglas was leading another life as a gay man

05:10but then again knowing Nina's past history it did make me question whether Douglas had led Nina on

05:19or if Nina had basically just read the wrong signals given she was in such a vulnerable state

05:27as the story unfolded we also learned about Fitch's own relationship with his girlfriend Alice

05:33several flashbacks showed how happy the couple once were all before Alice was involved in a fatal car accident

05:45I mean yeah it was obvious that Fitch cared deeply for Alice and he never stopped loving her even after she died

05:55but Fitch never cried or showed sadness instead he just bottled it all up and carried on

06:05Fitch and Nina continued to share their individual stories of heartbreak as they carried on with the massage

06:14even though they were practically strangers Fitch's upbeat chung allowed Nina to feel comfortable and reveal

06:26more details about herself but even though she felt comfortable unlike her previous dealings with Douglas

06:35Fitch remained professional and never took things too far

06:40Nina would go on to invite Fitch back the following week leaving open the potential for a future relationship between them

06:51I have to say I thought these two characters sharing their personal experiences with each other during this full body massage

07:01was quite an intriguing concept

07:05this of course is a very dialogue heavy film that certainly isn't for everyone

07:12it also acts as a palette cleanser to your usual Hollywood action and suspense that audiences are so used to

07:21now I have to mention the great chemistry between actors Mimi Rogers and Brian Brown

07:26for this concept and for this unique set up to work it was imperative by director Nicholas Roegg to cast two actors that

07:38fit perfectly together

07:39it was a great casting decision to hire Rogers and Brian Brown as the two made for an excellent pairing

07:48throughout the movie

07:50throughout the movie I was kind of half expecting them to get it together

07:55I mean given the circumstances it would be pretty easy for them to you know hook up

08:01but it didn't happen and that was because these two characters were still burdened by the trauma from their past relationships

08:09and in a way their conversation acted as therapy for both of them

08:18Mimi Rogers portraying this strong confident woman with this ultra feminine energy

08:26was very appealing especially in light of how women are portrayed in today's cinema

08:35yes we still see strong women on our screens today

08:39but they're usually portrayed way more masculine

08:43almost as if all the female traits have been cut out

08:48I believe the word is girl boss the modern term that people use these days

08:56yeah it's ruining franchises I mean the tomb raider remake is a great example of that

09:04but yes seeing the character embrace her feminine side was very refreshing and it did make me think about the

09:12lack of strong feminine characters in modern cinema

09:17I guess you could say maybe wonder woman Gal Gadot but um these examples come few and far between

09:27now I have to take a moment to talk about the beautiful and somber ending of the film

09:34we saw Brian Brown's character Fitch leave Nina's house and drive away

09:39still full of emotion and the memories of Alice

09:46Fitch decided to pull out an old cassette tape and played it

09:51the tape was of Alice singing this old blues song we'd seen take place in an earlier flashback

09:59Fitch only played the tape for a few moments before ejecting it from the car stereo

10:05it was almost as if hearing the sound of Alice's voice was too much for him to handle

10:13Fitch just needed a few moments to hear Alice's voice again

10:18which acted as a great and painful reminder of his loss

10:24yeah I love this ending I thought it was great and I mean it's very small to some it's very trivial

10:33but if you stay with the story and see how it progressed yeah I mean you could feel the heartbreak

10:42that Fitch had and saw dislikes for full body massage 1995 my main dislike for the film would be

10:54the lack of Brian Brown now the Fitch character by all means had tons of screen time but that was usually

11:03shared with Nina I wanted more scenes specifically between Fitch and Alice from the flashbacks that we

11:12did get you know it was enough to piece together and understand Fitch's mindset still more of Fitch's

11:21backstory should have been given as it was one of the most intriguing aspects of the film

11:28make no mistake Brian Brown is the best thing in this movie he is the one that kept my attention

11:36throughout the 90 minutes you know there were several flashbacks in this film a lot of them to do with

11:43Nina and her past relationships but the flashbacks that we did get with Alice and Fitch yeah that was

11:52the most interesting stuff yeah I guess in a way the Fitch character was more interesting and captivating

12:00compared to Nina yeah it's a shame that there wasn't more backstory but uh it is what it is I guess

12:07another dislike I had for the film was its slow pacing which really did let the film down this was a

12:16dialogue heavy with minimal characters and minimal locations I totally understand what director Nicholas

12:25Roegg was attempting here but I still think a quicker pace or even maybe more characters could have been

12:34added which would have been an improvement I guess my criticism isn't really aimed at the director but more

12:43of the editor Louise Rubacki so yeah as it stands this is a poorly edited movie that doesn't really give you much

12:53reason to go back and re-watch and so ratings for full body massage 19 and 95 after giving it some

13:03thoughts I'm going to be rating this movie a four out of ten this was basically a story of two people

13:13who were both haunted by their past relationships through the healing power of a full body massage

13:21Nina was able to get some clarity in her life in addition the Fitch character was reminded of his

13:29deceased lover Alice who clearly meant a lot to him if you've ever been involved in a bad breakup

13:36then it would be easy to relate to these characters this film definitely has a limited appeal not really

13:45garnered to a mainstream audience for those who haven't seen it who may expect to see some softcore pornography

13:55i will say you'll probably be disappointed yes there was indeed a lot of nudity but um

14:05that really wasn't the point i mean the filmmakers could have overly sexualized nina but they decided to

14:13take a more subtle approach if you're a fan of brian brown then this is a must watch as mentioned he's the

14:22best part of this film and while it isn't his best work it's an engaging performance that deserves to

14:31be seen and yeah that's all from me today guys i hope you've enjoyed the video i'll be back next

14:36week with another review of course take care i'll see you all soon bye

15:06you

15:07you

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