The Pornographer

This is arguably the best movie ever made!! Given the novice actors in the movie, and the seemingly porno fixture, this flick models the Boogie Nights and takes it to a much greater altitude... Just Scintilling is not the only adjective it deserves!!! Woven into a porn industry base is a great sense of direction and acting. Apart from a suckery end, this was amazing... Bravo!!

I saw this listed in my TV guide as playing at around 2:30 in the morning. It had no film synopsis, just "Film, starring Michael DeGood." Michael DeGood sounded like a porn star's name and it was named "The Pornographer" so I figured it was some low-grade porn flick. I didn't expect to watch it, but as I was flipping through channels late on Friday night I came across it and was immediately interested because of the fact that, despite its cheap "feel" and porn-film style, it was NOT a porn film and was in fact a very interesting character piece.

It seemed to be a movie like "Taxi Driver" -- an examination of a morally degraded man unable to make contact with the outside world. DeGood is no Robert De Niro but he did come across as a very realistic person.

Whereas "Boogie Nights" was an excellent satire/examination of the porn industry, "Pornographer" is more of a realistic examination of a porn addict and an average man. It's more honest than "Boogie Nights" through the fact that it's less stylistic and more raw and dirty -- more nudity, often appearing as if it's a porn film, but never losing sight of its goal.

I liked the honesty of DeGood's character. He can't talk to women but he can watch a porn film and talk dirty to the screen. Somehow it seemed very real. A balding, average guy seemed to me the perfect choice for the character of Paul.

Overall "The Pornographer" isn't as good as "Boogie Nights" but for my money it's more of an honest portrayal of a man rather than an industry. It's a really good character piece -- don't be deceived by the title!

Every so often, a distinguished film comes out of the independent ranks. This is such a film. This is a story about a young man's descent into the sordid world of pornography. Paul Ryan (Michael DeGood) is an ordinary guy who works in a law firm as a paralegal. Paul is socially inept and a loser with women so he turns to pornography to dissipate his sexual needs. Ultimately he becomes obsessed with pornography and when the market can no longer fill his needs, he decides to make his own films using a hooker and an out of work actor. He visits Spano (Craig Wasson), a major porn producer who tells him he will let Paul direct his films if he brings Spano some fresh talent. This leads to his meeting and ruthless seduction of Kate (Katheryn Cain), a sweet and naïve girl from Tennessee who came to Hollywood in search of fame.

The story by first time writer/director Doug Atchison was penetrating, raw and real. This was a far more serious and realistic treatment of the pornography industry than the highly popular `Boogie Nights'. While `Boogie Nights' was more of a light, comedic lampoon of the industry, this film is a dark, hard hitting look at the culture and psychology of the makers and users of pornographic material. While there is a certain amount of sexual content, most of the film focuses on the characters and their helplessness within the vortex produced by the porn industry. Atchison captures the sense of hopeless desperation that exists among the consumers and actors, and the callous exploitation of these human emotions by the powerful porn magnates.

This film was released direct to video after a film festival release. From a production standpoint, it is about what you would expect from a low budget independent film, cheesy sets, uneven sound, and boring music. However, Atchison has a knack with the camera and his script is smart and incisive. The scenes were well directed and the actors, most of whom had very short resumes, were nicely orchestrated and insightfully presented.

The cast had numerous pleasant surprises. Craig Wasson is a veteran actor who has done a lot of TV and some minor movie roles. He was very convincing as the callous porn producer. Michael DeGood was outstanding in the starring role. He played Paul as insecure and desperately lonely, while also being obsessive and determined. He was extremely effective at portraying both the lows and highs that the character required. As far as I can determine, Katheryn Cain was the personification of her part in the story, an utterly fresh face. She was outstanding as the inexperienced small town girl who desperately wanted to be a star, and was susceptible to the unscrupulous manipulations of those who wanted to exploit her.

This is a superb film, especially by an independent filmmaker and a first time director. I rated it an 8/10. This first-rate film noir offering requires a thick skin and tolerance for disturbing sexual themes. Viewers offended by the idea of pornography should steer clear.

I have just seen this movie not 5 minutes ago and was absolutley blown away by this peice of art. Yes I used piece of art, cause this is ultimately what it is. I am in the film and theatre buissness and have not been touched, moved, and overjoyed over a film since I first saw Memento and before that was the first time I saw clerks. This work was an amazingly shot and acted piece it left me in tears. The fact that it was an indie flick makes it that much more clear to me that the best work in the business is coming out of independent film. The film showed the touching story of corruption in a man that seems like he can't be. You feel for every character in this film including the pornography producer. If you want a film that is just a joy to watch and makes you feel something get this one instantly

It doesn't take much thinking about the porn industry to realise that the issues involved with it are complex. To its credit this film manges to present most of the issues lucidly and without moralising. There are a heap of problems with the coherence and logic of the script, but the characters are strong and credible, which helps to overcome this to some extent. The film attempts to analyse users and makers of, and participants in, porno videos and continues with this as the theme throughout until the concocted ending, which like a few other situations within the plot (for example the arranged second meeting with the girl in the park) is quite irritating. No doubt like a lot of other viewers I kind of wish that I could have taken the script and ironed out the problems with it, as it does have a lot of strengths.