In Contention

Tag: The Girlfriend Experience

  • Buried treasures: Chad’s best of 2009 (list and ballot)

    Robin Williams in World's Greatest DadUnlike Kris, I can’t quite come to the conclusion that 2009 was the best year of the decade. Nor can I call it the “year of the woman,” the “best year for animation” or “the year James Cameron brought a sense of wonder back to the cinema.” The only thing I can personally label 2009 is “The Year I Put in the Work.”

    In other words, as my taste drifts further and further away from the mainstream options, it becomes harder and harder to see the films that excite me. We’re talking about a list where the top 9 films earned a combined $2.3 mil at the box office, which “Avatar” will make in the time it takes you to read this article.

    Now, I am well prepared to field some comments on this thread labeling me a “snob” or an “elitist.” I am also willing to bet that these comments will come from people who have not seen many of the films I will single out.

    And who can blame them? Many of them played for exactly one week in a small, L.A. theater and then vanished into ancillary market oblivion. If I wasn’t diligent about seeing them that week then it was tough luck, and it took serious motivation to keep that going 52 weeks a year. But, my goodness, the rewards!

    In the end, I didn’t see everything I wanted to. “Lorna’s Silence,” “The Beaches of Agnes,” “Beeswax,” “Collapse,” “Tony Manero” and “The White Ribbon” all passed me by and could easily be included on this list in the future. On the flipside, interesting films I did see like “Wah Do Dem,” “Modern Love is Automatic” and “Alexander the Last” will never see the light of day in theaters and had to be disqualified from this list.

    I know Guy and Kris went with honorable mentions and a top 10, but I’m pushing forward with a straight top 20. Check back tomorrow for my dream ballot.

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  • 11/25 Oscarweb Round-up

    Viggo Mortensen in The Road• “The Road” takes desolate journey from page to screen. [Wired]

    • Andrew O’Hehir talks “Bad Lieutenant” with Werner Herzog. [Beyond the Multiplex]

    • Anne Thompson says “Avatar” could debut at AICN’s Butt-Numb-A-Thon, of all places. [Thompson on Hollywood]

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  • The hidden depths of Sasha Grey

    Sasha GreyI absolutely love this. It would appear that porn star Sasha Grey and highbrow film critic Glenn Kenny have more in common than just their mutual appearances in Steven Soderbergh’s “The Girlfriend Experience.” As this Rotten Tomatoes interview proves, Grey’s own cinematic taste is discerning, to say the least.

    Asked to name her five favorite films, she rattles off a decidedly impressive — not to mention catholic — array of titles: Werner Herzog’s “Stroszek,” Catherine Breillat’s “Fat Girl,” John Cassavetes’ “A Woman Under the Influence,” John Carpenter’s “Escape from New York” and Jean-Luc Godard’s “Pierrot le Fou.”

    The latter auteur is apparently something of an inspiration; Grey almost adopted the name of Godard muse Anna Karina as her stage moniker. Who knew? Here’s Grey on “Pierrot le Fou”:

    To me, it’s just a very romantic story. It’s the ultimate, “let’s just drop everything and run away together” movie; the way the story was told was so unique. There’s one scene in particular where Anna Karina is on the beach, and she rolls over and she just says, “F— me.” To put that in a film in that time period — you just didn’t expect that to come out of her mouth. It’s titillating, I guess you could say.

    Interesting to hear that Grey has a very different idea of what is “titillating” onscreen than what she actually practices. The lady continues to surprise.

  • Glenn Kenny’s ‘Girlfriend Experience’ set diaries

    Glenn KennyIf you’ve seen Steven Soderbergh’s “The Girlfriend Experience” (which opens in theaters tomorrow after being available On Demand and for Internet download since April 30), you no doubt remember former Premiere film critic Glenn Kenny’s cameo performance as “The Erotic Connoisseur,” an assayer of upscale prostitutes in New York who digs into Sasha Grey’s call girl with fury toward the end of the film.

    To me, it’s a fantastic, biting portrayal that proves Kenny should try his hand at it once more.  Kenny has already written about this before, but as it turns out, he has now launched an exclusive series of set diaries, which kicked off yesterday at The Auteurs.  There is plenty of the critic/actor’s dry wit to go around, but I particularly liked this passage, which follows a recounting of the initial phone call he received about taking the part:

    A word, here, on my own acting career: Its major triumph was in my junior year of high school, playing The Silent King in Once Upon A Mattress, at Jefferson Township High, in 1976. So strongly did I prevail that I was considered pretty much a shoo-in for the lead role in Jefferson’s 1977 dramatic offering, Dracula. But no. Even before auditions were announced, the drama coach informed me that I would not be getting the part, because, as he put it, I “lacked sex appeal.” Which is a heckuva thing for an adult to say to any 17-year-old male, when you think about it. To add insult to injury, he handed the role to an individual even more awkward and gawky than myself. Who, not to make a bad pun or anything, sucked. And I was left to end my scholastic acting career in Jefferson’s second production of ’77, The Sound of Music, in the role of Uncle Max, which anyone can tell you is the most nothing part in the history of The American Musical Theater. Well. Now I would show that drama coach.

    As one guy notes in the comments, Kenny’s performance has already stirred some talk in the, as he puts it, “hobbyist” community.  Anyway, the diaries make for a great, if at times cruel (Harry Knowles gets an unnecessary dig), read, and I imagine there’s more to come.  Check it all out here.  And my short review of the film, in case you missed it.

  • 5/21 Web Round-up

    Sasha Grey• AFI launches its own YouTube channel. [YouTube]

    • Robin Sanders reports on the Stephen Frears event from Cannes. [indieWIRE]

    • The wars continue: Patrick Goldstein lays into Peter Bart (and Variety) once again for being soft on the industry. [The Big Picture]

    • Lionsgate launches an impressive new website for festival Sensation “Precious.” [WeAreAllPrecious.com]

    • Chris Lee talks to “The Girlfriend Experience” star Sasha Grey. [Los Angeles Times]

    • Kim Voynar, meanwhile, dissects Grey’s character and wonders whether the film objectifies women. [Movie City News]

    • The publicity floodgates open for “Terminator Salvation,” starting with Irina Aleksander’s interview with the film’s rookie producers. [New York Daily News]

    • Todd Gilchrist, meanwhile, corners director McG. [Cinematical]

    • And finally, headline of the day, from John Anderson’s review of the film: “Hasta La Levity, Baby.” [Washington Post]

    • Aha, headline of the day #2: “Tarantino ‘Basterd’-izes Cannes. Such sweet truth. [USA Today]

  • 5/19 Web Round-up

    Jim Carrey in A Christmas Carol• Anthony Breznicaan reports on the big “Christmas Carol” to do at Cannes. [USA Today]

    • John Hiscock talks to Ron Howard about getting around the Vatican’s disapproval of “Angels & Demons” while filming on location. [Daily Telegraph]

    • David Cox, meanwhile, believes the film will indeed hurt the Catholic Church with its depiction of an organization out of touch with modernity. [The Guardian]

    • And Noah Forrest just wants to know what happened to the Tom Hanks he knew and loved. [Movie City News]

    • Richard Woodward reports on the Jacques Tati retrospective going down at the Cinemathèque Française in Paris [Wall Street Journal]

    • A bit out of the blue, a list of the 10 best suspense films of all time. [The Independent]

    • Erica Abeel talks to Steven Soderbergh about his latest, “The Girlfriend Experience.” [indieWIRE]

    • Nikki Finke reports that yet another actor you could care less about has been cast in Marvel’s “Thor.” [Deadline Hollywood Daily]

    • Well that’s thinking outside the media coverage box for you: a look at…ahem…the “slash” fan fiction of the “Star Trek” dedicated. [Newsweek]

    • Sam Raimi wants to go back in time and do everything on the “Spider-Man” franchise differently.  You and me both, Sam. [Hero Complex]

  • 5/12 Web Round-up

    Green Lantern• Alex Billington takes a few snaps of upcoming release poster artwork in Cannes (including “Shutter Island” and “A Christmas Carol”), then, the web being what it is, he slaps his watermark all over them. [First Showing]

    • Kevin Costner keeps the western’s light flickering with an upcoming A&E mini-series. [The Hollywood Reporter]

    • The top 10 movie misquotes of all time. [The Guardian]

    • Vaneta Rogers consolidates the numerous “Green Lantern” rumors flying around town.  Please, God, don’t fuck it up. [Newsarama]

    • Speaking of rumors, Drew McWeeny recounts the crash and burn of one such, this one concerning the potential casting of Christian Bale in Andrew Stanton’s “John Carter of Mars.” [Motion/Captured]

    • Roger Ebert expresses concern over the use of 3D technology in “Up,” specifically citing the potential for diminishing “brightness and delicate shadings of the color palate.” [Chicago Sun-Times]

    • Anthony Breznican previews the upcoming Cannes Film Festival. [USA Today]

    • Candace Jackson talks “The Girlfriend Experience” with director Steven Soderbergh and star Sasha Grey. [Wall Street Journal]

    • William Goss remembers 1998: the movie summer that was. [Cinematical]

    • Twitter’s potential effect on the unstable world of film criticism gets some more ink. [The Wrap]

  • 5/7 Web Round-up

    X-Men Origins: Wolverine(Somehow this post disappeared earlier. No idea why. Apologies.)

    • Mother’s Day is coming, so here’s a list of the 40 (yes, 40) best movie moms. [Premiere]

    • Has “Wolverine” skewered the intelligent superhero movies? [The Guardian]

    • With Cannes around the corner, Tim Robey spotlights the best Palme d’Or winners of all time. [Daily Telegraph]

    • Stu VanAirsDale stands up for Sony Classics honchos Michael Barker and Tom Bernard against the jolly mean giant, Nikki Fikke. [Movieline]

    • Screenwriter Larry Gross attempts to take yours truly to task on a passing comment that obviously had more behind it by spewing assumption after assumption with verbiage that would bring Bill Strunk to tears. [The Hot Blog]

    • Peter Bart writes up former CBS programming head Mike Dann’s new memoir. [Peter Bart]

    • Steven Zeitchik presents the MTV Movie Awards as an Oscar cautionary tale: when populism runs rampant. [Risky Biz Blog]

    • Back to business.  Sasha Grey to follow up “The Girlfriend Experience” with “This Ain’t Star Trek XXX.” [/film]

    • Erica Abeel chats up Carlos Cuaron on his latest work. [indieWIRE]

  • Acting out

    Meryl StreepThe Guardian’s Ryan Gilbey offers an interesting piece today about screen acting, and the narrow criteria by which many of us judge it. He is writing principally in response to a recently released British film, “Helen,” a rigidly stylised meta-film in which actors play actors participating in a police reconstruction, which has attracted divisive reviews for the deliberately stilted performances of its cast.

    Complaining that many audiences place too much stock in “realism” in acting — using the deification of intensely studied, precise performers likes of Meryl Streep (“a walking manual on acting”) as an example — Gilbey argues the following:

    David Mamet writes that “We confuse ‘I like it’ with ‘It is very realistic.’ If we like it we say, ‘Yes, that’s very true.’” So truth becomes our alibi, our defence for that which pleases us.

    Given our myriad ideas of truth, it is no wonder we turn to the awards ceremonies to clarify and ratify. But while Sean Penn, Philip Seymour Hoffman or Meryl Streep win prizes, and their acting may feel true or right, it is detrimental to the craft to hold up as ideal only those performances that work as audition pieces, or as 30-second excerpts on Oscar night. The actors in Bresson’s Mouchette or Dumont’s La Vie de Jésus are but one component of those films’ defining philosophy and meaning; removed from that context, their performances have no meaning.

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  • 5/5 Web Round-up

    Robert Duvall• VIDEO: “Star Trek” writers Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman on how to be a sci-fi screenwriter. [Time]

    • Robert E. Lee descendant (and, of course, Academy Award winner) Robert Duvall squares off against Wall-Mart in Virginia. [Associated Press]

    • Noah Forrest calls Steven Soderbergh’s “The Girlfriend Experience” the year’s best film so far. [Movie City News]

    • Nathaniel Rogers posts a test screening reaction to Wes Anderson’s “Fantastic Mr. Fox.” [The Film Experience]

    • Jeffrey Wells expresses some trepidation over the upcoming “Angels & Demons.” [Hollywood Elsewhere]

    • Christopher Campbell cranks out a list of 10 mutants who need an “X-Men Origins” movie. [Spout Blog]

    • Hugh Jackman, meanwhile, is full-speed-ahead developing a “Wolverine” sequel. [Variety]

  • Playing critic

    Glenn KennyKris’s review of “The Girlfriend Experience” is but one of several that singles out the contribution of esteemed film critic Glenn Kenny to the film. In a sharply self-reflexive bit of casting, Kenny plays another critic of sorts — one who judges and critiques the performance of erotic escorts. But on his ever-readable blog, with tongue firmly in cheek, Kenny is quick to distinguish himself from the sleazebag he inhabits on screen:

    I here pay homage to the pioneers who paved the way for me: the rare film critics who put themselves in the shoes of the performers they analyze and appraise. Steven’s claim that what I do in Girlfriend is “just Glenn being Glenn” notwithstanding, I am not playing myself in the film, for my mother raised me better than that. Rather, I am portraying someone with my vocabulary, and an attitude that’s not entirely foreign to me.

    This serves as an introduction to a witty survey of previous acting efforts from notable critics, including a hilarious discussion of Rex Reed’s performance in the notorious 1970 catastrophe “Myra Breckenridge”:

    He was quite game … But still—he’s terrible. His line readings are flat throughout, and not in a good way. The nadir comes when his Myron is strolling through an orgy and a nude woman asks him, “What movie am I?” He looks down at her pubic area and, not even bothering to work up the tone of indolent contempt that was, and still is, a trademark of his, drawls, “How Green Was My Valley.” Ugh.

    All of which serves to remind me that “Myra Breckenridge” is one of those legendary “all-time worst” staples that I have yet to see. That nugget really whets my appetite.

  • SHORT TAKE: “The Girlfriend Experience” (***)

    The Girlfriend ExperienceSteven Soderbergh really gets back to what he’s good at in “The Girlfriend Experience,” a look at five days in the life of Chelsea, an upscale Manhattan escort (adult film star Sasha Grey, in her mainstream debut).

    The film is intimate (no pun intended) but also keeps the audience at arm’s length, forcing a voyeuristic quality to the goings-on.  Soderbergh employs long takes throughout, allowing his characters to steadily reveal their intentions, desires and simple thought processes.  But what he ultimately conveys is a portrait of some alien being, seemingly out of touch with all human feeling and emotion.

    Perhaps this is Grey’s downfall as an actress (since Soderbergh goes to great lengths to establish her as a thoughtful person), or perhaps it is the filmmaker’s point.  Whatever the case, “The Girlfriend Experience” represents Soderbergh at his most compelling, asking questions with his work behind the camera, probing the reality of relationships and bringing his audience along on a journey that ultimately gives no answers, offers no revelations and abruptly concludes after a brisk 77 minutes.  It doesn’t work completely but it is a preferable road to the “Ocean’s” series for the filmmaker to be on, of that we can be sure.

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  • ‘Girlfriend’ drops On Demand today

    Sasha Grey in The Girlfriend ExperienceSteven Soderbergh is one of the intrepid titans of the day-and-date release system, causing the film purists to remain up in arms here and there.  His thriller “Bubble” opened simultaneously in theaters and on the cable/satellite TV network HDNet Movies just over three years ago. But he’s trying something a little different this year.

    “The Girlfriend Experience” lands tonight on Video On Demand networks across the country, more than three weeks before its May 22 theatrical release.  The film is already available at Amazon’s On Demand service as a “pre-theatrical rental.”  You can stream the film or download it to your PC for $9.99.  Downloads to Macs aren’t currently available (sacrilege!).  At a brisk 77 minutes, it’s not a bad way to see the film.

    Since the world portrayed in the film is very real and, with the controversy surrounding former New York Governor Eliot Spitzer, quite current, I’m surprised there hasn’t been a smart piece out there featuring the assessments, even anonymously, of people with…experience, shall we say.  Nothing yet.

    The film features adult film star Sasha Grey in her first mainstream appearance.  Reviews will probably land, by and large, when the theatrical release hits but I’ll probably have something up later this evening (no pun intended).

    Here’s the trailer:

  • Are you experienced?

    Until I actually get to see it, I have absolutely no idea what to make of Steven Soderbergh’s “The Girlfriend Experience” — which, if you haven’t heard yet, is a breakthrough vehicle for multi-award-winning ingenue Sasha Grey. Soderbergh’s lo-fi experiments work for me approximately half the time, so I’ll just have to see which side of the fence this one lands on.

    But however the film turns out for me, there’s no denying that this is an absolutely first-rate poster, from the graphic concept to the typography to that killer tagline. Great work all round.

    [Courtesy: Vulture]