Carcinoma Review from Black Lava Entertainment!
Carcinoma is Marian Dora’s latest opus which he did under the name Art Doran. Embraced by some, loathed by just as many, Dora has no doubt changed the face of extreme cinema and has contorted it into his own personal vision. Being a follower of his work I had the recent opportunity to interview him (interview is featured on Severed Cinema here) and I saw him in a completely different light. A filmmaker that doesn’t just push the envelope but rips it apartment!
Dora’s vision will not be compromised and he believes in obtaining it in his films no matter what the cost. The animal cruelty featured in certain films has him not putting his face out there like most filmmakers in fear of prosecution. Thusly, you will seldom see a picture of his face in public and he is not on social media. Personally, the animal cruelty doesn’t bother me, but it does many. Not to say I would sacrifice my cat to Dora to be killed in one of his movies, but in his reality he feels it is necessary to get across his message.
I look forward to Dora’s movies. One does not simply watch them. It’s more of an experience. The viewer is experiencing the atrocities, the unravelling of cruel human nature in its most unnerving form. I also like the fact that he goes for a different approach, but still uses signature components that viewers can familiarize with his previous works. Carcinoma has all the Dora trade marks, the dreamlike bordered cinematography, the bizarre characters and events, the somber and beautiful musical score, the fascination with bodily fluids and even a bit of animal violence to bind the mix together. Dora’s films are a pleasure to review as well, there are so many elements and undertones going on, metaphors and meanings which the viewer can interpret in their own way.
Carcinoma follows the life of Dorian (Dorian Piquardt), a man who lives a somewhat ordinary life in a Dora movie. He works at some sort of waste disposal site and has a very bizarre but attractive girlfriend, who has as much emotion and feeling as a sheet of sand paper. His ordinary life consists of having sex with his girlfriend whilst a giant boa constrictor snake intertwines between them. His girlfriend also likes to keep mannequins in their apartment and rub her hand in her ass and put it in Dorian’s mouth. Did I say somewhat ordinary life? A big emphasis on the “somewhat” part! Dorian also has a bizarre narcissistic friend named Julien played by Thomas Goersch (who played the lead in Dora’s Voyage to Agatis and is featured in a Severed Cinema interview here) who seems to only think about himself as well and constantly gloats about his “extracurricular activities.”
One day Dorian realizes there is something wrong with him. He starts to get explosive diarrhea and extreme pain. He goes to get checked out at the hospital (all graphic anal cavity procedures are shown) and is diagnosed with bowel cancer. If Dorian would receive treatment and stay in the hospital then he would actually have a fighting chance but this wouldn’t make for an interesting movie. After a bizarre night there with a bunch of freaks (it seems this hospital allows mental patients to roam free and that all the staff are also said mental patients because everyone acts like a fucking crazy dookie tasting lunatic), Dorian gets the fuck out of there.
Dorian tries his hardest to live his life but the constant bowel erosion takes a toll on his personal affairs. His girlfriend doesn’t like the idea she has to wash his shit stained clothes it seems and doesn’t know what to do for him as she says in one scene (psssst, hint bitch, try to convince him to go back to the fucking hospital, DING, DING, DING, DING!!!!!! We have a fucking winner!!!!!). His friend Julien (Thomas Goersch) is still only going about his gay fetishes and takes Dorian there one night to indulge as well, which results in some very over-the-top and messed-up scenes, especially when Dorian decides to partake in the proceedings himself. Finally, we get multiple shots of rats and rabbits being violently strangled by the constrictor snake I mentioned earlier which I imagine is a metaphor for the cancer choking the shit out of Dorian’s character. Dorian makes some bad choices and ultimately the viewer witnesses the physical unfolding of bowels, the suffering, the feces, the pain and the release. I recommend checking out Carcinoma and I was fortunate enough to have Thomas Goersch send me a screener along with subtitles so I could understand everything. Special thanks to him for the help! You can get Carcinoma from Black Lava Entertainment but the copy doesn’t feature English subtitles. Dora fans will love Carcinoma and it may even convert some non-Dora fans. It is a different beast entirely from Melancholie Der Engel. I’m very eager to see what movie Dora decides to make next.
Directed by: Marian Dora | Written by: Marian Dora | Produced by: Thomas Goersch | Cinematography by: Marian Dora | Editing by: Marian Dora | Music by: Marian Dora | Cast: Thomas Goersch, Ulli Lommel, Dorian Piquardt, Stanley Grimmer, Carina Palmer, Curd Berger | Year: 2014 | Country: Germany | Language: German (English Subtitles) | Colour: Colour | Runtime: 1h 27min
Distributor: Black Lava Entertainment
