GFE: Girlfriend Experience (Ileana Pietrobruno 2008): Prostitution and the Blurred Lines of Reality

Daniel Loves his Prostitutes... Bad Idea

This is a familiar story. A story of passion and loss of control. A story of falling before you know you’ve tripped. A story of a damsel-in-distress, and an ordinary hero. Oh wait, no it’s not...

Let me try again: This is the story of a hooker/client relationship made complicated by the impossibility of creating a fantasy to live by.

This film might be best described as a “behind-the-scenes” look at the Pretty Woman fantasy. It is a faux-documentary that attempts an exploration of prostitution from the point-of-view of a john. Rather than asking what drives a woman to sell her body, it asks what drives someone to buy it. The handheld camera and poor lighting allow the cinematography to represent the grittiness of the scenarios, but this documentary style of filmmaking simultaneously portrays the difficulty of losing oneself in a fantasy world. Daniel insists that he is aware of the falsities on which his relationship with Adrian are founded, but the film literally undermines this, constantly reminding the viewer that the lines between reality and fantasy are more difficult to distinguish than he would like to believe. 

“Hobbies are supposed to be fun!” Daniel belts out in frustration as he watches Adrian storm out on him. So when did the client position become so strenuous for Daniel? When did life with Adrian become so real? Who blurred the lines? 

When Daniel’s actual girlfriend admits to him that she has considered role-playing the hooker/john scenario for him to ease this desire to sleep with prostitutes, she also voices a profound revelation. She says, “you wouldn't be turned on, cause even though you say your prostitution world is all make believe and fantasy I think that you like your whores because to you they’re real.” 

What is undoubtedly real is how all-consuming his addiction to his so-called “hobby” is. 

By constructing itself like a documentary the film is able to explore multiple perspectives on the subject. In many scenes of Daniel’s sexual encounters, a split-screen divides the viewers attention between the sex and the reasoning, as a john (whose face will be hidden) discusses what he likes about prostitutes and why. Even though the film is fiction, it delivers some thought-provoking “interviews” and gives a voice to the other side. The trade has always been controversial, and the idea that it victimizes women always present. The men are always the big bad wolves. But from this rare perspective, it is them that seem pathetic. Not to mention defensive, with one going so far as to ask, “I’m paying. So, who’s using who?”

Whatever your position on the matter, I think this film has value. It does not glamorize prostitution, nor does it demonize it or the people involved. Despite its short 82 minute running time, it does manage a good amount of character development. Moreover, because the theme of blurring reality extends past the story through the use of documentary conventions, Pietrobruno maintains a sense of criticism throughout, forcing the viewer to think about what they see and hear. 

It’s an all-around smart film.

RABID and the Monstrous-Feminine

Sci-fi Meets Horror as David Cronenberg Takes on the Seedy Streets of Montreal

(Beware of Spoilers)

How do you know the medical institution has failed you?

You wake up with a vicious phallus in your armpit and find you have a unquenchable thirst for blood.

Meet Rose. The medical institution has failed her.

But hey, it grows on her - eventually.

Loaded with vampire and zombie imagery, this 1977 Cronenberg film follows the atrocious and violent transformation of the leading lady, Rose, into a monster/victim hybrid. The incident is the result of a botched skin graph - an experiment undergone by a 'mad-scientist' Frankenstein figure, Dr. Keloid, who sees Rose's arrival into his care as a chance to make a medical breakthrough. Don't worry, he's her first victim. Unfortunately, we don't know anything about who Rose is before her motorcycle accident, but her struggle with turning monstrous suggests she was a pretty nice person before. But it is clear early on that she is utterly powerless against her insatiable desire for blood. To fulfill this new lust, Rose heedlessly takes advantage of her own position as feminine, playing the role of the lonely beauty to draw men in. It's no surprise then that the role was given to Marilyn Chambers - a well known porn actress at the time (star of Behind the Green Door). Worse, after succumbing to Rose's seduction and penetration, should they survive, her victims are infected. They turn into rabid, blood-thirsty, zombie-esque creatures. As you might imagine, it then spreads through the city streets like wildfire in a forest. If that's not an STD, I don't know what is.

Obviously, with the rise of Plastic Surgery in the 70s, the sci-fi elements in the film strongly appeal to the contemporary fears about modern medicine and other technologies. This generates much of the horror as well. Moreover, the horror imagery is graphic at times, making a spectacle out of the destruction of the body, for both Rose and her victims.

So despite her attempts to keep her urges under control, Rose comes to embody the monstrous-feminine. Her bodily transformation surely highlights this, as does her role as a seductress. As Barbara Creed points out in her 1993 essay, "Horror and the Monstrous-Feminine: An Imaginary Abjection", classical mythology was "populated with gendered monsters, many of which were female". She connects this to the idea that women themselves represent the abject, as defined by Julia Kristeva: That which "does not respect borders, positions, rules" and "disturbs identity, system, order". Clearly this is what horror cinema does, and even what it is. But for Creed, borrowing from a long line of psychoanalysis and Freudian theory, it also represents women's position in a male dominated society. Such theories argue that woman is positioned opposite to man and is therefore Othered. She is to be feared for her difference; she is a threat. In horror cinema, the monstrous-feminine can be understood as making good on such threats by literally becoming violent. Since Creed understands horror spectatorship as signifying both a desire for the perverse and to eject the abject, being able to play out the fantasy of confronting the monstrous-feminine, and possibly even defeating her, would be quite the cathartic experience for the male viewer.

Rose is especially interesting then because what makes her so dangerous is her recognition of her position as desirable. By stalking the late night streets of Montreal, a place known for its seediness to say the least, Rose is able to find and lure in her prey - using her female sexual energy as bait. It's a quick way to get the job done. Just a little something to think about the next time a pretty girl eyes you on a darkened downtown street...

HAUNTER (2013) Delivers the Goods!

Think Beetlejuice. Now, Think The Others. Now, Think Darker... But with Abigail Breslin!

Working in the Canadian Film Industry for over two decades, Vincenzo Natali has garnered quite the resume. This includes Ginger Snaps (Storyboard Artist), and Splice (Writer/Director), so it's fair to expect from him a familiar story with a dark side and a sharpened edge. Haunter delivers.

It would be interesting to enter this movie without knowing anything about it, to let it blindside you. It wants to, after all. But if you have read even the smallest, vaguest synopsis, you'll have a pretty good idea about what is going on, as I did. The IMDB plot reads: The ghost of a teenager who died years ago reaches out to the land of the living in order to save someone from suffering her same fate.

So the mysterious atmosphere, and Lisa's (Breslin) insistence that she is reliving the same day, again and again, did not generate much confusion or tension. However, I was very curious to watch this story unravel. This was partly because the Groundhog Day experience paired with what I figured would become a Beetlejuice-like scenario made me assume it was safe to believe the film would be quite fun. What soon became evident was that it was taking shape less like the wittiness of Beetlejuice and more like the sadness of The Others. And then, it got creepier.

MINOR SPOILERS TO FOLLW

The story finally reveals itself to be the kind of horror that is rooted in reality. There is malevolent ghost who has Lisa trapped. He seems to have control over every aspect of her afterlife. Why? Because he is the ghost of a psycho who hunted and kidnapped girls when he was alive, storing them in a furnace, and he has found a way to continue doing it in death. He is pure evil. Worse, he is the kind of evil you hear about on the news.

Canadian film is "well known" (so to speak) for its ambiguous endings. They tend to leave you with a feeling of emptiness and uncertainty. Their lack of closure is then reinforced by a resistance to giving the protagonist a decisively happy ending. Haunter is no different, but I guess since she's already dead - things cannot exactly get worse...

I liked this film. It was more intense than I expected, but was never excessive in regards to on-screen violence of any nature. It showed what it had to show to make its point, and then carried on with the story. As someone who watches A LOT of horror films (from an academic standpoint I'm very interested in their relationship to gender, violence, and the human condition - but I also just find them to be a ton of fun), I can definitely appreciate the break from heavy gore and the sexualization of young girls. It's impressive to me when a horror film can stand on its own two feet, not wholeheartedly relying on conventions and special FX. Instead, Haunter relies on a strong story, and an actress who can deliver it.

For a more cynical opinion, you can check out this review by Simon Abrams on Roger Ebert.com

http://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/haunter-2013

GROWING OP: A New Approach to Coming of Age

Director: Michael Melski
Starring: Steven Yaffee, Rosanna Arquette, and Rachel Blanchard
Release Date: November 2008
Genre: Comedy, Young Adult Drama
Running Time: 100 mins.



There are so many different approaches to the ever popular coming-of-age story, but this one is actually different, I swear. Feeling alienated from his peers, home-schooled eighteen year old Quinn longs to get out into the world. Knowing his parents will never agree, he secretly enrols at the local public school where he hopes to make an impression on the new girl. There's just one problem - he finds it difficult to connect with anyone while hiding the fact that he lives in a grow-op run by free-spirited parents who feel the institutionalization of education is a tool of fascism. Worse, people are starting to get suspicious of his "I've been away with the bird flu" cover story. Obviously, it's only a matter of time before someone digs a little too deep.

Like many coming-of-age stories, there is no clear cut right and wrong here, which means no good guys or bad guys - just people doing what they think is best. But this may be one of the very few films in existence that portray "potheads" as exceptionally intelligent folk. So if you have ever rolled your eyes, bored by another typical "stoner flick" featuring an abundance of "surfer" vernacular and/or ridiculous plans that can only fail, you may want to try something new with Growing Op.

The story itself is original and fun, but I have to admit the ending struck me as odd and I was a little disappointed. In hindsight however, I feel the need to give it some credit. So what if it did not go in the direction I expected? It did provide some closure, a life lesson, and stayed true to its values (which I think have something to do with living free while staying honest...).

It was just the right amount of predictable; I never felt thrown for a complete loop, and I enjoyed my experience with it. I maintain that it is an interesting perspective on growing up, and what that really means.

EDWIN BOYD: CITIZEN GANGSTER (Nathan Morlando 2011)

AIR RAID SIRENS

NUCLEAR THREAT

CANADA JOINS NATO

... EDWIN BOYD STRIKES THE BANK OF MONTREAL

Inspired by true events, Nathan Morlando's 2011 Crime/Drama CITIZEN GANGSTER (set in Toronto) takes a close look at Canada's most notorious bank robber, Edwin Boyd. Initially a lone wolf, after a stint behind bars he became the leader of the Boyd Gang, which boasts several bank heists, multiple prison escapes, and one murdered cop throughout a short three year period, until their final capture in 1952. The joyride came to a startling end, with half the members being hanged, and the other half being slapped with multiple life sentences. The latter includes Boyd himself, portrayed in the film by Scott Speedman as charismatic, and forgivable. After all, he only served ten years.

While many films tend to exaggerate their relationship to true events, Morlando spent notable time getting to know Ed Boyd, as well as his daughter Carolyn Boyd in the time leading up to Ed's death (2002). So it's safe to say, much time was spent understanding and building the story, and putting this film together. Quoted in the Toronto Star, Morlando states: 

It was very easy for him (Boyd) to turn on the charm, point his finger at the camera and say he had no regrets about bank robbing. But when you got him in a quieter moment . . . I could see in his eyes that there was deep regret and loss and his biggest regret and loss is the loss of his family and his children.

After getting to know Carolyn, Morlando admits that her perspective greatly impacted his script. Over the years it became less of an action film and more of a "tragic love story" (The Star). The film was finally released in 2011 with Carolyn's stamp of approval. And I must say, kudos Morlando. This is a great film. It was honoured with a few Genie nominations, but sadly no wins, losing in two categories to Cronenberg's A DANGEROUS METHOD.

It masterfully creates the tension in the atmosphere by placing emphasis on newspaper headlines, newsreels in the theatre, and radio announcements. Boyd's own obsession with these is shown in relation to his dreams of being a big screen star, which really gives his character a three-dimensionality. We get to see who he is, who he wants to be, and who he becomes. But perhaps what I most enjoyed about the film is that even when leaning towards being a Folk-Hero Tale, it never glamourizes Boyd's crimes. That being said, it also does not make him out to be a monster. Mostly, it presents his story, the good, the bad, and the ugly. So, as the Boyd gang howls drunkenly, Praise the Lord, and Pass the Ammunition, because the ride is a bumpy one - but you won't regret it.

Top Billed Cast:

Scott Speedman

Kelly Reilly

Kevin Durand

Brendan Fletcher

and Joseph Cross (YES! The kid from Jack Frost!)