A mid career entry for Bob Chinn and an ‘Introducing’ credit for Hyapatia Lee, ‘Lets Get Physical’ is the story of Maria and Carl. Carl, at one point was one of the countries best Ballet dancers, While Maria is an up and coming choreographer who’s hoping to make it big in a mans world!

Unfortunately; we see via flashback that Carl is unfaithful and has been sleeping with ballet dancers while being in a marriage with Maria. Maria…for SOME reason simultaineously is VERY upset at the revelation of Carls infidelity, but also still utterly smitten with him refusing to confront him over the issue. The infidelity question goes out of the window however when the pair wind up in a freak car crash that renders Carl completely unable to feel ‘sensation’ of any kind from the waist down.

We pick up with the pair as Carl has been relegated to doing the paperwork, while Maria works with her new students Renee and Scott to prepare them for a showcase that will be held in front of the new york ballet company.

While training Renee however, the pair become increasingly passionate leading to a romp, in which Carl finds the pair and immediately becomes aroused for the first time since the accident. Thus leading the group of three into a steamy adventure to get Carls libido back before the big performance!

And…this ones actually a bit more complex than your standard adult feature. The most glaring script issue I can see is with Maria as a character herself. Shes a professional choreographer, trapped in a marriage with a man who doesnt want to have sex with her (despite her REALLY wanting sex from him) who’s fantasizing over BOTH her students, and what happens? Carl gets Maria to bring Renee into a three way relationship where Carl ends up having sex with Renee OVER Maria, and the film resolves with Maria and Carl having sex once and it all being resolved with Maria not feeling AT ALL bitter at the fact that her husband cheated on her for years BEFORE the car accident, THEN stole HER partner she was having a lesbian affair with AND denied her the right to go after her other male student who…the film KEEPS hinting at them getting together, but other than a fantasy flashback, it doesnt happen.

Maria is our lead protagonist in this movie, and she gets DRAGGED. to the point that, by the end of the film I didnt feel sorry for her situation anymore, I felt angry that she’d stay with a serial cheater KNOWING he’s going to do what he’s GOING to do…Ugh.

Anyway, outside of that one plot issue I did have, the rest of the films really rock solid. the scripts a breezy hour and 18 minutes, its really well paced, the act structuring is good and solid theres actual payoffs and resolutions to whats set up. it’s not a film that just randomly inserts sex into its plotting, it lets the sex arrive naturally OUT OF the plotting. the tone is a nice contrast of lighter moments and genuinely complex darkness. (which I think is hilarious given the poster for this film)

The direction and cine is rock solid, though…a little restrained compared to Chinns usual naturalistic capabilities. here…it feels a lot more functional vs say, his work on ‘Body Girls’ or ‘Hot and saucy pizza girls’. It still does the job and is dripping with charisma and eroticism. it just doesnt *quite* feel AS charged as his other works.

Hyapatia Lee is a little stiff in this one, but its her first credit so its kind of understandable that she hasnt found her groove yet, Shanna McCullough and Paul Thompson are both professional and genuinely engaging as Carl and Renee bringing real depth and range to the characters that could have easily been steamrollered by a lesser talent.

The soundtrack is basically a soundalike of ‘Beat it’ played on a loop for the full runtime…I…dont know why, apart from the fact that ‘Beat it’ was THE song of 1982…Might as well have the ‘E.T’ theme for all the relevence it has…but its fine.

But yeh…this one was alright! a little frustrating on the narrative front, but everything else was rock solid and I understand why Vinegar Syndrome and Melusine released this as the B-picture to ‘Body Girls’ I think the two compliment each other quite nicely.

source https://letterboxd.com/tytdreviews/film/lets-get-physical/