Rating summary

Movie		3.5
Video		4.0
Audio		5.0
Extras		4.0
Overall		3.5

Cheeky! 4K Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Dr. Svet Atanasov October 25, 2024

Tinto Brass' "Cheeky!" (2000) arrives on 4K Blu-ray courtesy of Cult Epics. The supplemental features on the release include new program with cinematographer Massimo Di Venanzo; new audio commentary by critics Eugenio Ercolani and Nathaniel Thompson; archival program with Tinto Brass; trailers; and more. In Italian or English, with optional English subtitles for the main features. Region-Free.

While looking for an apartment in London, Carla (Yuliya Mayarchuk) meets real estate agent Moira (Francesca Nunzi), who has recently divorced her husband. Moira offers to show Carla a chic apartment with a beautiful view of the River Thames.

The apartment turns out to be exactly what Carla has been looking for -- a spacious place with plenty of light in a quiet area. But she can’t afford it. Moira, who has already fallen madly in love with Carla, offers to help her with the rent. Then she kisses her. Surprised but excited, Moira kisses her back. The clothes quickly fall off.

In Italy, Carla’s handsome boyfriend, Matteo (Jarno Berardi), visits her father to pick up a very important journal, as well as his girlfriend's favorite panties, which she desperately needs. While going through her things, Matteo realizes how much he misses Carla’s beautiful smile and soft skin, so he decides to pay her a surprising visit in London.

Meanwhile, Moira confesses to Carla that she has fallen in love with her. The confession confuses Carla because she prefers men. She does not mind being with Moira and experimenting but does not want to be in a serious relationship with another woman. Nevertheless, when Moira invites her to come to her party, Carla immediately accepts.

The party turns out to be an unofficial gathering for swingers -- men and women play games and then make love. There is also an interesting contest -- after a close examination, the men pick the woman with the most beautiful bottom. During the contest, Carla is seduced by Moira’s ex-husband, Mario (Max Parodi), who loves Venetian women. Moira becomes upset, but Carla invites her to the apartment and the two quickly leave the party. The night ends up with fireworks.

On the following morning, Matteo appears with his duffel bag. When the naked Moira comes out of the bathroom, he becomes upset, but Carla makes it up to him. He decides to leave anyway -- only to again realize in a nearby park that he cannot live without Carla’s beautiful body.

Cheeky! a.k.a. Trasgredire follows the same simple formula virtually all of Tinto Brass’ films do -- the ‘plot’ is as straightforward as it could be, and the camera spends a great deal of time studying the bottoms of beautiful young women who love to take off their clothes. There are also the mandatory splashes of humor here and there that, in addition to the nudity, make Brass’ films worth seeing.

In a short behind-the-scenes featurette included on this release, Brass quickly points out that unlike their faces, women’s bottoms never lie, which is why he loves to observe and film them. Having followed the Italian director’s career closely, I think that he truly means it. I also think that this is one of the key reasons his films are never vulgar -- the only exception could be Salon Kitty, which is shot in a specific way to look kitschy - he sees beauty where most people nowadays do not or are ashamed to admit that, like him, they also like what they see. I am not trying to imply that Brass is a great, tragically misunderstood director, but what he does with his camera is not all that different from what many Renaissance painters did with their brushes hundreds of years ago. While some of them produced wonderful, timeless work, very few were undisputed masters of their art.

The acting is decent. Mayarchuk is slightly more enthusiastic than she should be, but the lovely Nunzi has the right attitude for this type of genre film.

Also worth mentioning is that Cheeky! has an unusually good soundtrack courtesy of the prolific Pino Donaggio, who scored several of Brian De Palma’s cult hits, including Body Double, and Nic Roeg's classic chiller Don't Look Now.

Cheeky! 4K Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Cult Epics' release of Cheeky! is 4K Blu-ray/Blu-ray combo pack. The 4K Blu-ray and Blu-ray are Region-Free.

Please note that some of the screencaptures included with this article are taken from the 4K Blu-ray and downscaled to 1080p. Therefore, they do not accurately reflect the quality of the 4K content on the 4K Blu-ray disc.

Screencaptures #1-25 are from the Blu-ray.
Screencaptures #29-34 are from the 4K Blu-ray.

Cheeky! made its high-definition debut more than a decade ago with this release, also produced by Cult Epics, more than a decade ago. This release was sourced from an old master with a wide range of serious issues. Predictably, it offered a very underwhelming presentation of the film.

This release introduces a new 4K makeover that easily produces superior visuals. Delineation, clarity, depth, and even fluidity are a lot better, so not only are the visuals fresher and more attractive, there is a more to see. There are no traces of problematic digital corrections. The surface of the visuals looks very healthy, too. Color reproduction is vastly superior as well. However, in this area, the previous release has a lot of serious flaws, so drawing any comparisons with it is utterly pointless. On this release, while vastly superior, color reproduction still isn't entirely convincing, and it is for the same reason the recent 4k makeover of Frivolous Lola is underwhelming. It pushes primary blue and blue nuances into turquoise, and this shift affects other primaries, like red. This time, the shift is less consequential because Cheeky! has a more contemporary appearance with contemporary color stylization, but in several areas the discrepancies are very easy to recognize. For example, in this screencapture and this screencapture the hat should be red and the curtains blue, as they are seen here and here but better saturated and healthier. On the positive side, when primary blue is not present, and especially during outdoor footage with plenty of natural light, the 4K makeover tends to produce pretty strong visuals.

I spent some time comparing the native 4K and 1080p presentations. On the 4K presentation, the HDR grade is quite nice and handles darker areas well. However, in 1080p, several areas reveal small gamma fluctuations that I suspect have something to do with the grading. In some areas, there are encoding artifacts as well. An example can be seen here. All in all, the 4K makeover clearly offers a sizeable upgrade in quality that now makes it a lot easier to enjoy Cheeky!. However, several aspects of it could have been managed better. My score is 3.75/5.00.

Cheeky! 4K Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

There are four standard audio tracks on this release: Italian DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0, Italian DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1, English DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 and English DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1. Optional English subtitles are provided for the Italian tracks.

I tend to prefer the Italian track. It is the one that I first saw Cheeky! with years ago. However, the Italian and English tracks both feature overdubbing, so you can pick the one you like better. Unlike the previous Blu-ray release of Cheeky!, this release has lossless tracks, and the two 5.1 tracks must be newly created. I used the Italian 2.0 and 5.1 tracks for various areas of the film and thought that they were wonderful. Obviously, there are no great dynamic contrasts, but the upgrade from lossy to lossless audio is pretty easy to appreciate, especially in areas where the music becomes prominent. The English translation is very good.

Cheeky! 4K Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

4K BLU-RAY DISC

• Commentary - this exclusive new audio commentary was recorded by critic Eugenio Ercolani and Nathaniel Thompson. The more interesting comments address Tinto Brass' body of work and the niche he carved for himself with his erotic films, the director's sense of humor, and the production of Cheeky!.

• Trailers - a collection of trailers for other Cult Epics releases of Tinto Brass films.

BLU-RAY DISC

• Commentary - this exclusive new audio commentary was recorded by critics Eugenio Ercolani and Nathaniel Thompson. The more interesting comments address Tinto Brass' body of work and the niche he carved for himself with his erotic films, the director's sense of humor, and the production of Cheeky!.

• Brassgressions and Other Diversions - in this new program, cinematographer Massimo Di Venanzo explains how he entered the Italian film industry; and discusses his early work as an assistant to Federico Fellini on Amarcord and Roma; Lina Wertmuller on All Screwed Up, and Michelangelo Antonioni on Identification of a Woman; his professional relationship with Tinto Brass, which started with Paprika, as well as the director's working methods and compositional style. Di Venanzo also began working as a cinematographer for Brass while assisting the great Silvano Ippoliti, who lensed Caligula, and later in the program recalls his involvement with Cheeky!. In Italian, with English subtitles. (38 min).

• Backstage - in this archival program, Tinto Brass explains why a woman's bottom can reveal everything her face could hide, and discusses the character played by Yuliya Mayarchuk in Cheeky!. In Italian, with English subtitles. (9 min).

• Photo Gallery - a collection of stills from Cheeky!.

• Isolated Score - presented as a DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1.

• Trailers - a collection of trailers for other Cult Epics releases of Tinto Brass films.

ADDITIONAL CONTENT

• Booklet - 20-page illustrated booklet featuring Eugenio Ercolani and Domenico Monetti's essay "The Cheeks of Controversy: Yuliya Mayarchuk and Tinto Brass", as well as technical credits.

• Art Cards - four collectible art cards.

• Cover - reversible cover with an original Italian poster art for Cheeky!.

Cheeky! 4K Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

I like Tinto Brass' films a lot. I think that he is the last Italian director whose films still have some of the humor and style that made the Italian sexy comedies so popular in Europe during the '70s and '80s, as well as bits of those subversive elements classic Italian exploitation films had before the genre self-destroyed itself. It is true that since 2000 Brass' films have not been as exciting, but they are still perfect to see very late at night. Cheeky! is one such film. There is nothing groundbreaking in it, but there is plenty of charm -- and, of course, beautiful women. This combo pack introduces a new 4K makeover of Cheeky! on 4K Blu-ray and Blu-ray that makes it a lot easier to enjoy it. However, it could have been even more convincing. RECOMMENDED.