Underplayed Gems

Flesh and Blood (1985)

Flesh and Blood poster
Original title
Flesh + Blood
Directed by
Paul Verhoeven
Genre
drama film, action film, adventure film, war film, erotic film
Country
Netherlands, United States, Spain
Runtime
2h 08m
Rated
R
Rating
6.6 of 10 from 444 voters
Elsewhere
IMDb
The 3D catalogue: film cases on wooden shelves, with the cat sitting at the counter next to its greeting.

The catalogue in 3D

The film shelves have a room of their own that you can walk around in. The cat behind the counter is the AI Catbot, and they pick real films from the same catalogue when you tell them what you feel like watching. Nothing is for sale, here or in there. Go in from here and this film is already out on the counter, with more like it waiting on the shelf next to it.

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How it feels

In 1501 Italy, two rival groups of mercenaries fight a long-running feud. The story follows their violent conflict and the people caught in the middle.

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What happens

Flesh and Blood is a 1985 erotic historical adventure film directed by Paul Verhoeven, and starring Rutger Hauer, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Tom Burlinson, Susan Tyrrell, Ronald Lacey, Bruno Kirby and Jack Thompson. The script was written by Verhoeven and Gerard Soeteman. The story is set in 1501 in early modern Italy, and follows two warring groups of mercenaries and their longstanding quarrel. The script is partly based on unused material for the Dutch television series Floris, which was the debut for Verhoeven, Soeteman and Hauer. The film, originally titled God's Own Butchers, was also known as The Rose and the Sword on early VHS releases. It was Verhoeven's first English-language film. Upon its release in August 1985, Flesh and Blood was a box office bomb, earning only US$100,000 on a US$6.5 million production budget. The film has since garnered a small cult following. The director's biographer called it "a crucial Verhoeven film, because the fight between logic and spirituality is one that is very familiar to the director; these are the elements still fighting for priority in his own mind." (from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA)

More like this

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