SCREAM AGAINST THE MAINSTREAM!
FILM REVIEWS FOR THOSE THAT LOVE THE GNARLIEST OF CINEMA
Film Review: The Benefactress: An Exposure of Cinematic Freedom (2025)
Dir: Guerrilla Metropolitana
Run Time: 1 Hr 7 Min
THIS IS AESTHETIC FOR NIHILISTS!
It’s a rarity these days that you come across unconventional and non-linear films, I for one, as a filmmaker myself, applaud any filmmaker that enjoys exploring the more experimental formulas in cinema; it’s exciting, raw and potentially disorienting, this is film without the bandages and heavy post-production work. So, it was to my delight that I was invited to review The Benefactress: An Exposure of Cinematic Freedom by Metropolitana himself.
Metropolitana’s Benefactress doesn’t take long for it to descend into a void of insipid mayhem. At times, the film is delirious as it cuts maniacally into frantic episodes of sex and violence, its form (if any), takes shape like a failed hybrid, however, this is what I liked most about this film. This is cinema for those who enjoy the darker side, that’s for sure, it’s also a film for those who takes enjoyment in experimental cinema, those that relish imagery and feeling rather than your typical, generic piece of filmmaking. This is aesthetic for nihilists! Consult no meaning here and leave all hope at the door because this film envelops you into chaos, its directed by someone who is foaming at the mouth and ready to punish not only the performers within the film but the viewers too. So, in all of its transgressive and unnerving glory, it’s not just film about ‘let’s see how far we can go’ but also contains elements of philosophical meanderings. What is artistic freedom? Is freedom such a thing in art? Are there ever any some form of restrictions? Pasolini comes to mind during the making of Salo or The 120 Days of Sodom (1975), his insights into torture, coprophilia and substantial cruelty must have made him question how far does one go in the realm of creativity? Well, Metropolitana, interestingly asserts this with The Benefactress. During the production of this film, a notion occurred to me that the performers within the film are enslaved just like the concept of artistic freedom is, to gain clarity of ‘cinematic freedom’ is to be without restraint and form, although, according to what I saw in The Benefactress, I can confirm that restraint was somewhat scarce on set nor did it come into mind - that is a true signature of a fine artist.
The artistic freedom becomes abuse, the abuse of liberty, yet, the sense of freedom is barely recognised, it’s an incongruous digression but it’s something that the film did deliver to me. The graphic sexual scenes are hard to digest at times as it’s abusive and the rawness truly prevails during the performances or non-performances maybe more accurate in this type of experimental filmmaking. Is it disturbing? Yes, it is indeed, one of the most disturbing notes in the film is albeit a small detail but the Benefactress, only seen via video link, is in a constant orgasmic state, relishing the abuse on her screen, it’s somewhat minute but it did get under my skin. The film uses a form of a Maya Deren type loop, it has repetition, however this really delivers and works well with its maniacal construct its liberally using; a bell rings every time money has been transacted, each time that happens, the abuse worsens, intensifying the violence and aggression, almost noting that the females are just commodities that are fervently exploited like expendable flesh. We’re all a lucrative product to fuck and exploit, hence why I noted earlier regarding the nihilist aesthetic, this film is exactly that! The repetition of seeing the Benefactress on the phone screen becomes more frequent too, the use of music (beautifully crafted by Jack Random) exceeds the repetition also, this is when the film really starts to engulf you and has you by the throat. At times, I did feel as though I was a fly on the wall at 25 Cromwell Street, a fleeting and cruel afternoon with the Wests or any kind of serial killer for that matter; this film is hellishly unsexy, dirty and savage yet this is exactly what it wants to be…or did it?
Whilst viewing The Benefactress, I did come across some potential influences or contrasts to my own knowledge, most specifically Marco Malattia’s work with the Channel 309 series, a body of work that’s heavily sexual but also delivers it with quick whips of barbarity and excretions of experimental mayhem. Lucifer Valentine also resonates somewhat with this film, especially with its tendency of utilising a cinéma-vérité feel along with the subject matter. In terms of the literary field, the film definitely has a Sadean quality to it mostly for obvious reasons; the senseless ‘unsexiness’, the grime, the brutality and lustful nihilism. After viewing The Benefactress I couldn’t help but think that it was some kind of personal manifesto by Metropolitana, it very much cemented that idea when a quote appeared after credits, “Only the enlightened taste the fruit of freedom, whilst in the valley of shit the useless sleep.” Incredibly interesting I find and it had piqued even more concepts about the film itself too, it’s almost a pretty bow on this ugly (yet beautiful) bastard of a film!
