Kim Cattrall has had a long and storied career in both television and movies. In the 80’s she hit a streak of cult comedies with parts in such as Porky’s, Police Academy, Big Trouble in Little China and even Turk 182. Of course, even with a resume like that, we would never be talking about her today were it not for her work as Samantha on Sex and the City. In 2005, Cattrall wrote a book Called Sexual Intelligence that explores various areas of sex, such as arousal, desire and…fantasy. This documentary, originally aired on Cattrall’s old friend HBO, serves as a companion piece to her book.
This documentary falls somewhere between HBO’s Real Sex series, MTV’s old Sex in the 90’s and Cattrall’s previous job on Sex in the City. Not only is this film undeniably educational, but its witty dialog is downright comical. If the sexual content were not quite so graphic, I would not at all be surprised to find this documentary as a special event on The Discovery Channel. It is scientific, yet almost guiltily entertaining.
Audio
This audio track here is everything that I was hoping it would be. It is presented in Dolby Digital 2.0, which is perfectly acceptable for a documentary feature. The point of this track is not to make the viewer feel like they are in the scene, but to clearly and successfully convey information. Having said that, the score is also accurately represented, with clear and strong bass notes where applicable. This is an audio track that doesn’t draw any attention to itself, which is exactly what this film needs.
Video
The first thing that I noticed upon viewing this film was that it is presented in a widescreen format. While widescreen is almost always a good thing, this documentary works especially well in this format, as the essence of this film rests in its images. For every shot of a talking head, there is an image of great artistic importance. Each image is clean and clear, with no grain whatsoever, and accurate colors. In fact, the transfer here is really quite beautiful. It’s dynamic, it’s crisp, and very well lit.
In fact, the only real complaint that I would have would be in regards to edge enhancement. The edges of objects bloom a bit, especially around faces in tight interview shots. Still, it’s not anywhere near enough of a problem to distract from the other fine elements of the picture quality.
Special Features
Surprisingly, there are actually several extra features included on this disc. The longest bit here is a Behind-the-Scenes with the Animators segment. This is a really interesting idea for an extra feature. The animated segments in this film are something that it is probably pretty easy to miss for the common viewer, but there is actually quite a bit of animation on the film, most of which involves bringing classic art pieces to life. This is a segment that runs a little over 20 minutes.
Also here is a music video for a song called Speak Slow by Tegan & Sara. While part of this song is used in the documentary, I don’t really see the relevance of including the video on the disc.
Finally, there is a short text biography of Kim Cattrall that is very mush the same as the Cast and Crew bios that used to be a staple on so many early DVDs.
Conclusion
While this is first and foremost a documentary, make no mistake about it; this is a highly graphic film. While the images here are presented purely for educational purposes, they are nevertheless very sexually explicit. This is clearly not a film that would be appropriate for children. I would even put High School students on the borderline of appropriateness.
Warnings aside, this is a film that is both educational and entertaining. Excellent picture and quality sound do a great job of supporting the information. HBO always does a great job with their documentary features, and this one is no exception. You know how people say that thy read Playboy for the articles? This film is that article.
Special Features List
- Behind-the-Scenes with the Animators
- Music Video: Tegan & Sara Speak Slow
- Kim Cattrall Biography
