sunny wrote:Now, back to porn. What I am after is something like Robert Altman's
Gosford Park with explicit sex. GP has it all: gorgeous costumes, beautiful people who are wonderful actors, great dialogue, sumptuous setting, and a murder mystery! What could be more delish than that?
Hm, while Layout is definitely Altmanesque, it's not a bit of Gosford Park (I film I also very much enjoyed). In the vein of Nashville, it's a bit of a sprawler (nyuk nyuk) -- by which I mean it sprawls Porn Valley and its denizens, both likable and not, bad and good, pervy and not, in a very casual way, showing little slices of the lives of people involved in the adult entertainment industry. Three main characters are employed at what is a stand-in for AVN, while several others are the porn stars covered by the magazine. Judging from your description of what you'd like to see in porn, I don't think you'd like Layout. There's some romance in it, and indeed, the centerpiece scene is one of the most tender and sweet I've seen in porn, but in the end it's a deeply cynical movie.
Trying to find something that's worth watching is bewildering, as I learned myself. I've had luck with finding performers that I particularly liked, then trying to find movies they star in, or figuring out which directors cater to my tastes (which are not dissimilar to yours, Sunny) and seeking out their films.
One director that's credited with being a director of "women's porn" is Candida Royale, a very unfortunate name -- like who wants to be reminded of a yeast infection? I don't remember if there's any kind of historical romance-y sort of film in her cv, though...
In the complete opposite direction is one of my favorite directors, Tristin Taomarino, who used to write for The Village Voice and other publications but has turned her hand to making movies. She has a series of educational movies with scenes illustrating the material covered (they are actually educational, too, not just soft core masquerading as educational), but the best thing she's done is her Chemistry series. It's sort of a "Real World" for porn stars... she selects several pros and puts them together for a wild weekend, which isn't that unusual. The unusual thing is that the stars get to choose with whom and when and how they want to have sex. They're also given cameras to shoot what they'd like, with their footage intercut with the 'regular' video. Then there are interview "confessional" scenes a la reality shows, group interviews... they come off as human beings, not just objects of desire. They at least look like they're having so much fun, and that they're doing it because the really, actually want to be doing it. (Of course it may all be BS).
Oh, listen to me go on... sorry! again! if the rest of you guys don't want to get dragged down this road, and sunny, you'd be interested in more recommendations, let me know and I'll PM you.
Wait, wait, a something just occurred to me: Marie and Jack: A Hardcore Love Story. It's about a real-life couple (or, at least they were married at the time), both of whom were (are now? not sure) porn actors. There's a long interview segment where they're really cute and romantic, then they make love, for themselves (and incidentally for the camera/audience).
by IanEye » Sun Nov 30, 2008 10:32 pm 
I want porn for women, dammit!
Ill give ya the name if I ever recall it)
