Massage: The Touch of Love (1980)

"Massage: The Touch of Love" (1980) is a short documentary directed by Bruce Seth Green. Overview: This film focuses on the art of massage, presenting it as a sensual and intimate experience. It educates viewers on the techniques of giving and receiving a full-body massage, with demonstrations by nude couples. Content and Style: Educational Aspect: The film provides a step-by-step guide on massage techniques, emphasizing the relaxation and sensual elements of massage. It's designed as an instructional video, showcasing how to massage various parts of the body to provide pleasure and relaxation through touch. Visual Presentation: The use of nudity is central to the demonstrations, which might be considered controversial or explicit depending on the viewer's perspective. The nudity serves the purpose of showing the massage techniques clearly, but it also adds to the sensuous nature of the subject matter. Length and Format: Clocking in at about 27 minutes, it's a concise educational piece, originally released on videodisc, indicating its intended use in home viewing where one might learn and practice massage techniques privately. Critical Reception: The movie has a low IMDb rating of 5.2/10, suggesting a mixed to negative reception. There are no user reviews available on IMDb, which might imply limited viewership or interest post-release, or perhaps that its content is more niche. The film has been described in various places as an erotic educational tool, with the nudity being a point of contention. Some sources categorize it under softcore or erotic documentaries due to the nature of its presentation. Conclusion: "Massage: The Touch of Love" is a unique blend of educational content with an erotic twist. It's not for everyone, especially those seeking narrative or a more conventional documentary experience. However, for those interested in the art of massage from an educational or historical perspective on how such content was presented in the 1980s, it could serve as an intriguing artifact. Its explicit nature means it's more suited to mature audiences or those with an academic or professional interest in massage.