SXSW Film Reviews
University of Texas MFA students Maggie Carey and Elena Carr discover it's not all fluffers and hedgehogs in the real world of down-and-dirty indie porn.
By Marc Savlov, Fri., March 16, 2001
Ladyporn
D: Maggie Carey, Elena Carr; with Erin McCary, Rafael Sanabria, Traci Laird, David Slump, Annmarie Coats. (Video, 46 min.)Aspiring pornographers take note: It's not all fluffers and hedgehogs in the real world of down-and-dirty indie porn. In fact, as University of Texas MFA students Carey and Carr discovered while shooting their own genre attempt, it's hard enough to find talent that will measure up onscreen, much less climax on demand. Sick of seeing porn shot to appeal to the basest men's-eye-view, Carey and Carr initially begin their grand experiment by interviewing other women and discovering what they'd like to see in a porn film. The results aren't entirely enlightening, though it's generally agreed that there's really no call for any more facial cumshots. Next it's on to casting the film -- those with nudity issues need not apply, obviously, but there they are -- and the eventual shoot, which, predictably, is riddled with both technical glitches (Is the set too cheesy? Is there enough light?) and occasional human error. It's the final product, though, that is most interesting, and perhaps not in the way the filmmakers intended. Surely the toothless, grinding copulation in Ladyporn's hardcore sequence isn't really what women want to see in their adult entertainment. Both unimaginative and steadfastly untitillating, the mild, unerotic coupling is simply too dull to either offend or excite, a fact that seems to have been entirely overlooked by the filmmakers. Where Ladyporn succeeds is in its documentary aspects -- the on-the-street interviews are sublimely silly -- rather than in its attempt at producing an actual porn film. Perhaps using cheerleaders next time might help? (3/15, Bad Dog, 11:30pm; 3/17, Bad Dog, 11:45pm)