![]() ![]() It’s a genuine exploration undertaken with respect for the characters involved.Īnd if that’s too high-minded, porn’s natural juxtapositions can’t help but be endlessly entertaining and occasionally hilarious. And also to the fact that Pleasure is neither broadly pro-porn nor anti-porn. That Thyberg makes porn industry insiders (and not ex-porn stars turned born again religious anti-porn crusaders, of which there are many) complicit in these unsettling scenes is a tribute to their veracity. Thyberg enjoyed their full participation, even in scenes that portray some particularly nightmarish realities of the industry (one Pleasure scene in particular is even more horrifying than anything in Red Rocket, which was occasionally pretty horrifying in its own right, capturing the same stomach-turning dread with none of Red Rocket‘s ironic cheer). It’s a testament to Thyberg’s inherent fairness that the cast of Pleasure, aside from Kappel who is a young non-porn actress from Sweden, are all current and former porn professionals - from ex-improv comic-turned-ubiquitous porn actor Tommy Pistol to porn super-agent Mark Spiegel, to a brilliant supporting turn by Chris Cock. ![]() Pleasure struck this reviewer (and I’ve spent my fair share of time around porn people myself, hearing all kinds of stories, both horrifying and heartwarming) as a thoroughly even-handed depiction. As she says, Pleasure, which she initially made as a short in 2013, evolved into something more “about power structures, and using the porn industry as a metaphor or a backdrop.” For her part, Thyberg says this debate over porn is something of a lifelong project for her, and part of what drew her to the material in the first place. It’s an argument that can go on forever, partly because it manages to encompass more than enough material to tell as sensationally a pro-porn or anti-porn story as the teller wants, with anecdotes in both cases that could be 100% true. There’s a push-pull in depictions of porn, between porn being seen as progressive or as retrograde, as feminist or as misogynist. Neon is releasing the unedited version in New York and LA this weekend, to expand wider the following week. There’s also the plain facts of its release: initially acquired by A24, the distributor behind Red Rocket, A24 traded Pleasure‘s rights Neon in October, rumored to be the result of A24 wanting a different cut for a theatrical release. The film opens with a closeup of Bella shaving her vulva in the shower and continues with countless erect penises, nary a prosthetic in sight (with no offense meant to Rex, who has proved he doesn’t need one). While both films feature ingenue aspiring porn stars named after fruit, you could make a case that Pleasure retains the edge in boldness. Whereas Sean Baker’s Simon Rex vehicle is an outsider picture, mostly depicting post-porn stardom and pre-porn stardom, largely from a male perspective, Pleasure, a debut feature from Swede Ninja Thyberg, depicts the machinations of the industry itself, as experienced by its 22-year-old protagonist, Bella Cherry, played by Sofia Kappel. If you thought Red Rocket was a warts-and-all depiction of porn stardom, then Pleasure might be its perfect complement. ![]()
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