Pasolini's Canterbury Tales (1972)

There used to be an art theater in town. At some point, they decided to supplement their art film revenue by showing porno films late at night. But when they started doing this, they showed only non-pornographic X-rated foreign films. Pasolini's Canterbury Tales was one of them.

I don't know what they thought it was, but my older brother and some of his friends were going to go to it. He asked me if I wanted to go. I said, well, okay. I was eighteen but I didn't drive and had no proof of age, so I didn't go. Proof of age wouldn't have been an issue. Even when they started showing actual pornography they didn't care.

I saw The Canterbury Tales a few years later on videotape and those guys had to have been disappointed. Shot without sound, dubbed in Italian and subtitled in English. I really didn't like it the first time I saw it. But I clicked on it on The Criterion Channel and it was much better than I remembered. 

Had things that were peculiar to Pasolini, like actors smiling at odd times. Like if you lie to someone in his movies, they smile to show that they fell for it.