Pink Narcissus
| Pink Narcissus | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Directed by | James Bidgood |
| Produced by | James Bidgood |
| Written by | James Bidgood |
| Starring | Bobby Kendall |
| Music by |
Martin Jay Sadoff Gary Goch |
| Cinematography | James Bidgood |
| Edited by | Martin Jay Sadoff |
| Distributed by |
Sherpix Inc Strand Releasing (2003 re-release) |
Release date |
|
Running time | 71 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $27,000 (estimated) |
Pink Narcissus is a 1971 American arthouse drama film by James Bidgood visualizing the erotic fantasies of a gay male prostitute.
Plot summary
Between visits from his keeper, or john, a handsome male prostitute (Bobby Kendall), alone in his apartment, lounges, fantasizing about worlds where he is the central character. For example, he pictures himself as a matador, a Roman slave boy and the emperor who condemns him, and the keeper of a male harem for whom another male performs a belly dance.
Production
The movie is mostly shot on 8 mm film with bright, otherworldly lighting and intense colors. Aside from its last, climactic scene, which was shot in a downtown Manhattan loft, it was produced in its entirety (including outdoor scenes) in Bidgood's small New York City apartment over a seven-year (from 1963 to 1970) period and ultimately released without the consent of the director, who therefore had himself credited as Anonymous.
Provenance
Because the name of the filmmaker was not widely known, there were rumors that Andy Warhol was behind it. In the mid-1990s, writer Bruce Benderson, who was obsessed with the film, began a search for its maker based on several leads and finally verified that it was James Bidgood, who was still living in Manhattan and was working on a film script.[1] In 1999, a book researched and written by Benderson was published by Taschen about Bidgood's body of photographic and filmic work.
Bidgood's unmistakably kitschy style has later been imitated and refined by artists such as Pierre et Gilles.
In 2003, the film was re-released by Strand Releasing.
Music
- Modest Mussorgsky: Pictures at an Exhibition
- Modest Mussorgsky: Night on Bald Mountain
- Sergei Prokofiev: Alexander Nevsky