X
  • 2008
  • Unrated
  • Cult Epics
  • 2 h
  • 2008
  • Unrated
  • Cult Epics
  • 2 h

Summary Viva is a cult freak-out retro 1970's spectacle, about a bored housewife who gets sucked into the sexual revolution. Abandoned by her perfect Ken-doll husband, Barbi is dragged into trouble by her girlfriend, who spouts women's lib as she gets Barbi to discard her bra and go out on the town. Barbi becomes a Red Riding Hood in a sea of wo...

Directed By: Anna Biller

Written By: Anna Biller

  • 2008
  • Unrated
  • Cult Epics
  • 2 h
  • 2008
  • Unrated
  • Cult Epics
  • 2 h

Viva

Metascore Mixed or Average Based on 14 Critic Reviews
58
User Score Available after 4 ratings
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Where to Watch

Summary Viva is a cult freak-out retro 1970's spectacle, about a bored housewife who gets sucked into the sexual revolution. Abandoned by her perfect Ken-doll husband, Barbi is dragged into trouble by her girlfriend, who spouts women's lib as she gets Barbi to discard her bra and go out on the town. Barbi becomes a Red Riding Hood in a sea of wo...

Directed By: Anna Biller

Written By: Anna Biller

Where to Watch

Top Cast

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Critic Reviews

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Metascore
Mixed or Average Based on 14 Critic Reviews
58
50% Positive
7 Reviews
43% Mixed
6 Reviews
7% Negative
1 Review

  • All Reviews
  • Positive Reviews
  • Mixed Reviews
  • Negative Reviews

Critic Reviews

 View All
Metascore
Mixed or Average Based on 14 Critic Reviews
58
50% Positive
7 Reviews
43% Mixed
6 Reviews
7% Negative
1 Review

  • All Reviews
  • Positive Reviews
  • Mixed Reviews
  • Negative Reviews
91
It takes skill — a certain sly, even perverse nimbleness of craft — to make an homage to schlock movies that treats them as works of art.
By Owen Gleiberman FULL REVIEW
80
The plywood acting’s pretty funny, as is the coy sex; what amazes is the beautifully lurid, near-fetishistic set design.
By Simon Crook FULL REVIEW
70
While writer-director-star Anna Biller often strikes an uneasy balance between camp and spoof, milks the jokes either too much or too little, and isn't a good enough actress to play a bad one (the performances here are purposely arch or vacuous), she's concocted a curio that's as watchable for its intended awfulness as for the morbid curiosity it prompts about what will come next.
By Gary Goldstein FULL REVIEW
60
Viva...is faithful to those cult-adored obscurities in nearly every detail, including their soporific pace. Here, however, sly in-jokes come often enough to make said pacing funny in itself. Performances are slightly stilted or over-the-top in ways true to the original genre.
FULL REVIEW
50
About half an hour of this was enough for me—long before the orgy, LSD drugging, and hallucination animation, I'd gotten the joke—though Biller's re-creation is not only right-on but rigorous.
FULL REVIEW
40
As a performer, Biller is fearless in her pursuit of perfectly recreated cheesecake, but is a twitchy and not especially charismatic presence. Where her film lets itself down, though, is it's simply not funny.
By Andrew Pulver FULL REVIEW
20
Viva needed to be shaved down to about 70 minutes, the better to really let loose and jettison some over-the-top jokiness.
By Joe Neumaier FULL REVIEW

User Reviews

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Details

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Production Company Anna Biller Productions
Release Date May 2, 2008
Duration 2 h
Rating Unrated
Genres
Tagline They were housewives seeking kicks, in a world of swingers, orgies, booze and sin that was the sexual revolution!
Website http://www.cult-labs.com/forums/viva/
View All Details

Awards

Boston Underground Film Festival
• 1 Win & 1 Nomination
Transilvania International Film Festival
• 1 Nomination
Moscow International Film Festival
• 1 Nomination

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