Law (1995)

Directed by: Bob Rafelson | 29 minutes | comedy, short film | Actors: Arliss Howard, Cynda Williams, Kathleen Wilhoite, John Toles-Bey, Lela Ivey, Gabrielle Taurek

The name Bob Rafelson will not sound familiar to many people. His productions like ‘Five Easy Pieces’, ‘The Postman Always Rings Twice’ and ‘Blood and Wine’ (coincidentally all with Jack Nicholson) do. For the first, the director even received two Oscar nominations.

In 1995 Rafelson produced the short film ‘Wet’, which is bundled in a collection of similar short films as part of ‘Tales of Erotica’. ‘Act’ is more funny than erotic, “the act” is not shown (you may even wonder if it took place at all). We do see a lot of the buttocks of lead actress Cynda Williams and now and then she shows her breasts (look quickly!).

Unfortunately, it lacks an exciting man in the lead role, as it is a rather wimpy guy who is seduced in the bathroom store, really one of those prototypes of a dozed salesman. Inherent in the plot, of course, because an attractive, more confident man would probably not have accepted Davida’s request. The story is more important than the eroticism in this little thing. Davida’s motives remain rather unclear, and this is really the only thing that excites. Does she want a juicy article for the magazine she freelances for, or does she have other reasons for getting naked in a showroom hot tub? The ending is a bit bland, and although not entirely predictable, no viewer will be really surprised.