Movie Review: Lovelace (2013)

The sad story of the porn industry's first celebrity, Lovelace is cautionary tale of exploitation and abuse. The film is cleverly constructed but lacks any emotional breakthroughs.

It's 1970 in Florida, and 20 year old Linda Boreman (Amanda Seyfried) is living with her oppressive parents Dorothy and John (Sharon Stone and Robert Patrick). Her rebellion is enabled by the sleazy and much older Chuck Traynor (Peter Sarsgaard), who claims to maybe own a strip joint. Soon they get married, Chuck teaches Linda all about oral sex, and she is remarkably good at it. Claiming money pressure, Chuck pressures Linda into the pornography industry and Lovelace is created.

They connect with producers Anthony Romano (Chris Noth) and "Butchie" Peraino (Bobby Canavale), director Gerard Damiano (Hank Azaria) and co-star Harry Reems (Adam Brody). Over a matter of six days in 1972, Damiano films Deep Throat, a relatively artistic porn film capitalizing on Linda's abilities. The film becomes an unexpected breakout hit among mainstream audiences and helps to kick-off the porno chic trend. Linda becomes a household name and travels in celebrity circles, including a meeting with Playboy's Hugh Hefner (James Franco). But behind the surface glamour there is a very dark side to Linda's life involving rampant abuse by the domineering Chuck.

Co-directed by Rob Epstein and Jeffrey Friedman, Lovelace is a worthwhile companion piece to Boogie Nights. While the Paul Thomas Anderson film rides the breezy waves of pornography's golden era, Lovelace dives beneath the surface to poke at the visible bruises. Lovelace is too emotionally detached and conflicted in its messaging to be the better film, but it nevertheless places on record the horrific price paid by the performers exploited to serve a sordid industry.

As for the film, Epstein and Friedman do try something different. The first half breezes through Lovelace's rapid transition from rebellious young woman to porn celebrity. There are hints suggesting the hell created by Traynor, but without details. The second half retraces some of the same steps and fills in the blanks, exposing the oppressive brutality of his treatment and the degradation she faced. It's a thought provoking structure forcing a comparison between public image and private agony, but Lovelace also emerges as an unbalanced film, hitting discordant notes and mainly moving sideways.

The denouement shifts focus to Linda years after her brief foray into the industry, fighting to reclaim her dignity and identity by publishing a book. It's another shift in cinematic gears, and while the loop is closed, the film is tonally fragmented.

Lovelace delivers one devastating scene, in the least expected context. At her lowest point Linda flees back to her childhood home, and her encounter with her mother is a study of the void exposed by mutually unmet expectations.

Amanda Seyfried displays excellent breadth to convey first adventurous naiveté and then a gradual awakening to abuse. Peter Sarsgaard is fully committed to the role of Chuck Traynor, and sustains the required menace.

Lovelace tells an important story with competence but at the expense of dramatic flair.

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Film Review: Sex and the City (2008)

It's four years later. Carrie (Sarah Jessica Parker) has settled into a relationship with Big (Chris Noth), Miranda (Cynthia Nixon) has settled into life in Brooklyn, Charlotte (Kristin Davis) has settled into the role of wife and mother, and Samantha (Kim Cattrall) has settled in LA, managing the career of her long-term lover.

None of this settling is without troubles brewing beneath the surface, as Carrie is longing for the re-assurance of marriage, Miranda has little time for wifely duties, Charlotte is about to receive a surprise and Samantha is gradually getting resentful that her life is not revolving around her.

And so we are off on a two-hour adventure with the ladies who forever transformed television, as they tackle life's latest challenges, this time on the big screen, dressed from head to toe in the latest designer clothes and accessories, visiting the trendiest restaurants, and in Samantha's case, seemingly spending every other day jetting from LA to New York and back.

There are no disappointments here for fans of the series. There is fashion, fashion, and more fashion, everything from out-there everyday outfits to wedding dresses (an excuse is found for a wedding dress photo-shoot), to haute couture (an excuse is found to attend a fashion show) to the latest designer shoes (an excuse is found for a pair of shoes to play a role in the storyline) to the latest designer handbags (yes, another role in the script is found for a handbag). Not an opportunity is missed to show a designer label, and no less is expected.

There are many gab-sessions over many meals and (mostly) many drinks. The full supporting cast from the series is back, and there is the welcome addition of Jennifer Hudson (of Dreamgirls and American Idol fame) as Carrie's new assistant.

What about the Sex, and the City? Plenty of both. Sex is near the core of the issues that Miranda and Samantha have to deal with, and as an added bonus, Samantha finds herself living next to a hunk who is always either (a) naked; (b) getting naked; or (c) naked and having wild passionate sex, with at least one partner. It's mostly (c), actually. As for the City, although the plot finds an excuse for a quick interlude at a five-star Mexico resort, and there are several scenes at Samantha's dreamy LA beach house, New York remains very much the fifth member of the group. Key locations that play a part in the film include the public library, the Brooklyn Bridge, Central Park, many restaurants, a luxurious penthouse apartment, and even City Hall.

The friendships, the fights, the misunderstandings, the make-up sessions, and the comedy are all here, appropriately proportioned to the big-screen experience, and as usual with Love being the emotion at the core of everything. Searching for it, finding it, being afraid to lose it, and trusting in it. It's also a nice touch for one of the other central themes of the movie to be the age of the central characters, now in their 40's, and a bridge is built to the next generation in their 20-somethings through Hudson's character.

It is rare for a TV series to translate so well to the big screen, but Sex and the City succeeds without the slightest stumble. It is highly recommended, of course for all women, and for all men who want to try and understand them.

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