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GIUSEPPE ANDREWS

GIUSEPPE ANDREWS IS GOING TO BE HUGE!

Giuseppe Andrews is a new director, and you can have a chance of a lifetime to keep up with the rising of a star in the making, if you start buying his DVD's NOW. Troma is a filmstudio that is the biggest (and only surviving) independent studio, not withstanding all the powers agains them still treating true artlovers the very best in Independent Cinama for over 33 years now. Put the two together and you get a brilliant and ever growing DVD-library of unique films made by someone who will be talked and written about long after we all have gone, as someone who is as unique as Andy Warhol, Orson Welles and Lloyd Kaufman and one of the few big ones to have changed cinema as we know it. Giuseppe Andrews will be imitated, loved, collected and analized. Many people mistakenly think of Troma as the studio that makes violent and sexy films. Of course they do make wonderful gems in that direction, but there is so much more that most people don't know about. The films by Giuseppe Andrews are amongst these, although I doubt if that be be the case for very long, because worldwide the talents of this highly original and unconventional director are being recognised as we speak. And without Troma the world would not have known of this wonderful talent. TOUCH ME IN THE MORNING is one of the first films in Andrews' large oeuvre. Shot is a beautifully depressing monochromatic palette it tells the story of the Coming-of-Age story of a young guy who calls himself Coney Island, and who is dealing with a lot of the issues facing today's youth: divorce, unemployment, sexual inadequacy and a gigolo father who has just been released from prison! He goes through this with his own individual optimistisism, which irritates his girlfriend who wants him to grow up. Daddy Bill, however, gives him advice in the ways of life, and Coney goes about on a grotesque and wildly hilarious journey of self-discovery. Not as complicated and much more assessible than some of Guiseppe Andrews' later masterpieces this is a great way to be introduced to the work of a legend to be.Three short films by Andrews and an interview with the maverick director conducted by Troma president Lloyd Kaufman round up this amazingly well presented DVD. A must have

PERIOD PIECE

Society is a smoking dead pig.

Many highly original metaphors for the depraved state of our society has come to decorate this film, which is probably the best portrayal of the loneliness that our so called civilized world drives many unique persons to if they are no longer of any use. The cast is made up of professional actors who seem to be very close to the subject matter in real life, and as is the case with other films of Giusseppe Andrews, the fact that the entire feature is filmed with a small digital camera rather than expensive equipment adds a whole extra dimension of grittiness to the already dread atmosphere.

Andrews is known for his acting in such films as Independence Day, American Histoy X, Cabin Fever and his own Touch me in the Morning, but also makes his own unfortunately rarely seen unique films. Period Piece is not only directed by him, but he also produced it, wrote it, scripted it, photographed it, acted in it, edited it and composed and recorded the musical score for it. And in the process proved that he is a one-man-film-studio and deserves nothing but the deepest respect for daring to show a truly original view on the world we live in by delivering us this stunningly personal masterpiece.

The DVD comes with a load of extra’s that do this unsettling but beautiful film justice, including a second feature film by Giusseppe Andrews, “Jacuzzi Rooms”, which is a daring as the main feature, but totally different in style. The interview Lloyd Kaufman conducts with the director adds more depth and gives more clues to understanding this genius filmmaker. We will definitely hear more of Giusseppe Andrews in the future, and owe the fact that we are introduced to his work to Troma.