Rocco

It is interesting enough to watch it. But after about an hour it becomes painfully obvious what the documentary is trying to show. Have they fired the first producer and brought in a second one to to wrap it up from the existing footage?

So he's a porn star who is obsessed with his own Mother but gets off on hurting and humiliating girls he is attracted too...... Hmm? Norman Bates anyone? He said his mother was protective and would defend him and she would go after people using various things as weapons. Who were these people and why did he need protection from Mama? To be honest my opinion of the porn industry wasn't changed by this effort. I just see damaged goods who are making a living from letting us see them mating.

The documentary "Rocco" opens with a close up of Rocco Siffredi's penis. It's an obvious place to start, but it also serves as a summation the entire documentary. No matter how many opportunities directors Thierry Demaizière and Alban Teurlai give the aging porn star to bare his soul, he usually ends up just showing his d--- instead, metaphorically if not always literally.

But Rocco's penis has served him well. His IMDb page lists over 500 "acting credits," dating back to 1986, including a few legit gigs, such as Catherine Breillat's "Anatomy of Hell" and the Italian comedy "Matrimonia a Parigi" ("Rocco" the documentary makes no mention of these forays into "real" movies). It's afforded him fame and fortune, far more than most performers in the adult industry can claim, and for far longer, too. Only Ron Jeremy's career is (ahem) longer, dating back to the late '70s. Yet Rocco, in much better shape in his 50s than Jeremy was in his 30s, thinks it's time to retire from performing. He cites concerns for his teen-age sons, who know what their father does for a living but are, as presented in the documentary, shielded from seeing their father in action. (Their mother, Rosa Caracciolo, was also once a porn star, another detail this documentary makes no mention of.) Mostly, though, he's just tired. To hear him tell it, having a generous endowment and hyperactive sex drive is as much a curse as a blessing. In fact, Rocco pretty much portrays himself as a sex addict, barely able to interact with women outside of sex. Even when grieving the death of his beloved mother Rocco is unable to keep his desires in check: he tells of an encounter with a friend of his mother after his mother's funeral, when he takes out his moneymaker and coerces the woman--a senior citizen, mind you--to fellate him. The story is simultaneously outrageous (it sounds like a scene out of an '70s-era French sex comedy) and unsettling. He's telling the story to illustrate how he's a helpless slave to sex, blithely ignoring that, as he's told it, he forced an old woman to give him a BJ.

There are more graphic examples of Rocco's uneasy relations with women in the industry. At his Budapest-based porn production company, he's charming and even fatherly when chatting with his female performers before putting them in an uncomfortably rough group-sex scene, the kind that leaves women with rug burns on their backsides. (The only sex shown in this movie is of the rough variety.) He's equally charming in Los Angeles when meeting scene partner Abella Danger, then takes her up on an offer to demonstrate her ability to swallow his entire hand. Danger may not be doing anything against her will, but that doesn't make it any easier to watch her, gagging and with tears streaming down her face, as Rocco pushes his entire hand into her mouth.

The co-star Rocco chooses for his final scene is English porn star Kelly Stafford, much to the dismay of his hot-headed cousin and business partner, director Gabriel "Gabby" Galetta, who makes his dislike of the outspoken Stafford plain. One gets the idea that the fact that Stafford speaks at all is an issue in Galetta's eyes. Stafford is a handful, but I liked her for being a confident woman who won't do anything with which she'd be uncomfortable. In other words, she's not the type to let a man shove his hand down her throat just to prove she's compliant.

Though "Rocco" has its moments of levity, like a shot of naked male performers standing outside for a smoke break between takes, or the perplexed faces of crew members at Kink.com's studios, where Rocco's supposed final scene is being shot, as they listen to Galetta's confusing directions, they are overshadowed by the more depressing aspects of porn the documentary inadvertently exposes. Turns out enacting people's sexual fantasies is as dehumanizing and grueling as working on a factory assembly line. As for Rocco himself, he's personable if a little self-absorbed, not nearly as introspective or sensitive as he'd like us to believe, and his treatment of women is just a tad bit rape-y. Mostly, though, he's a guy who has a big penis.

I watched a couple of Rocco Siffredi porn videos many, many years ago and was always put off by his "nasty" streak. In fact, he likes the word "nasty". I hated his bullying attitude, disguised as a love of women. This is an interesting documentary regarding his decision to pack it all up. It's a shame he didn't take that decision long ago. I felt sorry for the poor, degraded victims of his particular brand of punishment. They probably have their reasons for participating. I only hope they'll learn a lesson and move on.

I don't know why he carries his idiot relative around with him to do the photography. They obviously dislike each other and he's incapable of doing a professional job. Why not hire a proper photographer? It only makes sense in the context of his being Family. A distinctly Italian thing.

So he loves his Mama, hates his partner in crime, and seems to be ignored by his kids (sensible pair of boys). What his ex-porn wife sees in him, God only knows. After watching this I felt primarily sad for his victims.

An interesting watch, as long as you read between the lines.

Let me start off by saying I'm the furthest thing from a prude. Like most men, I've seen my fair share of porn and then some. I've lived through porn's "golden era", (i.e., pre-videotape and pre-internet).

Porn used to be very expensive to buy. It also wasn't very high-def either. This so-called documentary almost goes out of its way to be as blurry as those old VHS tapes were. The documentary is structured as if you just came in the middle of something, and no background or context is provided.

It takes a hardcore subject, and illustrates gang bangs and other raw activities in such a way that it already puts into question the morality or lawfulness of what they are doing.

Most documentaries about porn or its actors often tend to portray the negative side,casting its participants as hapless unfortunates drawn together for the sake of a quick buck or infamy. The girls have Daddy issues and the guys have big dicks and unmatched libidos.

To an outsider (i.e., those who haven't seen much porn), it almost always comes as a shock. You only get to see one side of the game. It all seems like chaos and indulgence. Rocco's duality, between his sex drive and his pious Italian upbringing appears to the reason why he's left feeling empty inside. Religion has a long tradition of treating sex as sinful and vile. But Rocco made his decision early in life to satisfy his earthly needs, and deal with the morals and ethics down the road. It's all an empty gesture to claim sorrow over choosing a life of porn, screwing every single fantasy woman imaginable.

To me, it's all "first world problems". I have zero sympathy for his internal demons. Men in his position could have handled their super libidos in many different ways. To start crying the blues now just seems pathetic and dumb. There are millions of men who suffer every single day NOT having sex, or living with ED. Rocco's over-abundance doesn't move me to tears.

Just about everything in this documentary is designed to confuse, misdirect and prop up the man as a tragic character. I'm sorry, but I don't buy it. Boo hoo, boo hoo... poor old me. I'm washed up as a porn actor, and I've suffered for my craft. Sure buddy. Whatever. The way Italian men think of their mamma's as saints makes me puke, especially for those that are in the mob or make a living porking the babes. It all seems a bit hypocritical, in my eyes.

Rashida Jones' series on the porn industry is ten times better than this load of horse crap.