Great Film overall

An absolute waste of money

Unshakable, witty and deeply felt, the film will be paying emotional dividends for a long, long time.

Through painfully honest and emotional moments, the movie becomes irresistibly relatable

"Some Call it Loving" is hard to describe but I'll try. It's a bit like an art film (such as something by Bergman or Fellini) combined with a porno film with little porn...along with an LSD trip. The results are bizarre, unique and incredibly confusing. What does all this mean?!The film begins with Robert (Zalman King...a Marjoe Gortner lookalike) seeing a strange carnival attraction. It seems that a pretty young woman has been sleeping for 8 years and audience members can pay to come up and kiss her...and try to awaken her. Soon you realize that the man who 'owns her' is more than willing to allow guys to pay to do far more...and he expects that is what Robert wants when he comes to see her later. However, he's obsessed with her in a strange, non-sexual way and he buys the girl from him! Soon, after bringing her home, she awakens and he is smitten by her and vice-versa...though for a lot of the film their relationship is non-sexual. Instead, Robert walks around almost as if in a catatonic state himself...watching all sorts of weirdos. Two weirdos are his 'girlfriends' though they are clearly lesbians and kinky ones at that. Another is his junkie friend (overplayed badly by Richard Pryor). None of these people or vignettes make ANY sense and after a while you start to realize that everything and the disconnectedness of it all is highly reminiscent of a dream- -as if it's not the girl who is asleep but the audience...or at least they are watching someone's dream. Surreal beyond belief and late in the film there are finally some nude scenes (but they are amazingly non- sexy). The entire concoction is nonsensical and bizarre...so much so that it has 'cult film' written all over it but it's also not something the average viewer would care about in the least. Additionally, its bizarro religious symbolism is bound to offend many, many viewers. My advice is that if you want to watch porn, find a better and sexier film. If you want an art film, try "The Seventh Seal" or "8 1/2" as they are much more clever and artsy. Or, if you want a film that utterly confuses you, by all means try "Some Call it Loving"...but I wasn't a fan by the time the film ended.

Wealthy, but jaded and disillusioned jazz musician Robert Troy (a solid and subdued performance by Zalman King) purchases pure and guileless sleeping beauty Jennifer (sweetly played with charming wide-eyed naiveté by Tisa Farrow) from a carnival sideshow. However, Robert's attempts to shape Jennifer into the ideal girl of his dreams don't work out quite as planned.Writer/director James B. Harris relates the unusual and absorbing story at a deliberate pace, offers a compelling and provocative cinematic meditation on the fine line between fantasy and reality as well as the impossibility of preserving innocence for perpetuity, comes up with several inspired moments of beguiling whimsy (for example, a dance set piece involving two women dressed up in nun's habits), and does an expert job of crafting a strangely haunting dreamlike atmosphere. The fine acting from the able cast keeps this picture on track: Carol White excels as Troy's sly and scheming distaff companion Scarlett, Richard Pryor contributes a touching turn as Troy's drug-addled struggling artist best friend Jeff, Logan Ramsey has a colorful bit as a seedy carnival doctor, and Brandy Herrod burns up the screen as a foxy nude cheerleader. Mario Tosi's sumptuous cinematography and Richard Hazard's gracefully elegiac score further enhance this movie's singular melancholy mood. Recommended viewing for aficionados of original and esoteric way out of the mainstream fare.

It happened that i have seen this film just tonight at the "Etrange Festival" in Paris, an annual festival of strange, odd and weird films. It is its thirteen edition and Some call it Loving (or Sleeping Beauty as it is called in France) fits perfectly in the usual tone of the festival. Its weirdness stems from its incoherent and incomprehensible plot, fantastic tone and incredible casting: Zalman King as the lover, acting worse than even the producer Robert Evans when actor, Richard Pryor an alcoholic/drug addict/mad man, the sister of Mia Farrow (Tisa Farrow). The film is supposed to be a distorted story of sleeping beauty. And it is true: it is not a good film but its quality resides in its ability to dare nearly every thing with absolute seriousness: A pair of (tap) dancing nuns for example, and also a nearly gratuitous strip tease scene The film is filled with wooden dialog which resonates strangely in the often rich in-house set with a mawkish romantic music in the background. A film to be seen and appreciated with a second degree state of mind .

You would end up with "Some Call It Loving" One of the most truly unique films that you will find - if you can. Features a rare performance by Richard Pryor and Tisa Farrow - Starring Zalman King. Actor of "Blue Sunshine" and other B- movie horror films of the 70's like "Galaxy of Terror" - Later to bring us such hits as "9 1/2 Weeks" and the "Red Shoe Diaries". Zalman portrays and eccentric jazz musician who one day happens upon a carnival sideshow. Lured in by a carny barker he witnesses a human exhibition. A sleepy beauty - A real life girl who apparently due to a rare medical condition maintains a constant state of sleep. The wealthy musician so taken by the girl, he decides to buy her off the carny. It turns out that this is NOT the only girl in his human collection. Back at the mansion are two more unique women.Many films have delt with the Sideshow and Carny theme but few are able to capture the real seedy and underlying themes of Freakshows as well as this film does in the first 5 mins. . Logan Ramsey (walking tall) plays the sideshow owner - giving one of the most convincing performances of a true seedy carny. Add to this a pair of lesbians - a Blonde Bombshell Fetish Cheerleader - Richard Pryor as a strung out Jazz Drummer - Plus - some nunexploitation - Add a pinch of Saxaphone driven Jazz and you got yourself a film from 1973 unlike any other - If this film came out now it would take Sundance by storm. Simply put the film deals with the idea of creating the perfect woman or chasing after the idea of the perfect woman. One uncorrupted from the realities of the world. An eerie twisted Twilight Zone feel - It's interesting to see how Zalman went from this to 9 1/2 weeks. Which also deals with obtaining human passion.