Reviewing ‘Sade Me’: A Masterful Gory Tale of Censorship and Marquis De Sade!
Christian Michelsen kind of pops up here and there. He had a hand in producing Jonathan Doe’s, Defilement of a Porcelain Doll (see review here) plus this very short, Sade Me, appeared in White Gardenia’s epic length Mutilation Theatre (see review of Mutilation Theatre here) though it didn’t get a mention because it kind of got buried amongst the shuffling hoards of gruesome armies on show, thus losing its intended impact.
Sade Me is an intelligent retelling of the censorship suffered by the legendary writer, Marquis De Sade. Opening to Christian himself playing the Marquis symbolically (don’t expect a dress up costume drama) he is penning his dark thoughts, face in deep concentration behind his wonderful beard (I like beards because I have one that is thick but fast becoming grey).
There is a basic single note piano overlaid for the soundtrack with reverse whispers and noises. The whole thing has been filmed immaculately in rich black and white thus adding rivers of atmosphere. Censorship is a man in a gas mask who sits across the table from him quietly.
We cut to a razor slicing his finger and he writes in his own blood (this has been all in the first minute). Next a heavy blade slices off the Marquis’s fingers, and his tongue is next as Censorship means serious business. That is, until De Sade fights back!
This is sheer intensity and all the more brutal in its lack of colour. It’s grainy and raw, in a Night of the Living Dead style. The shots are incredible, not hiding the bloody delights for us at all. Added wonders and desert includes piss and a big steamy shit on a corpse. I love the underground, I really do.
The music (which incidentally has inspired my multi-instrumentalist Partner in Gore, Willow for our new film project) is by Severed Cinema’s icon, the marvellous Don of Self Destruction, Daniel Valiant, figurehead of the before mentioned, White Gardenia.
Sade Me is a gory dark moody masterpiece of the macabre (all the “m’s”) which has a simple execution but contains an important and complex message within the emotions and actions on show. It’s going to be part of an upcoming anthology. This is so much in such a tiny time scale. One day, I hope Christian gets to unleash a full-length vision upon the masses.
Directed by: Christian Michelsen
Written by: Christian Michelsen
Produced by: Christian Michelsen
Edited by: Christian Michelsen
Cinematography by: Bones
Special Effects by: Christian Michelsen
Cast: Christian Michelsen, Bones
Year: 2023
Country: USA
Language: English
Colour: Colour
Runtime: 6min
