Review of Girlfriend Experience (2008) by Roman — 25 Nov 2009

There's a very European taste to this; something screaming to be intellectual. It claws against the inescapable calm of Soderbergh's latest indulgence and it's a sensibility that I'm not quite so easy with.

But, for the sake of enjoying myself, I tried to look past that when I watched this. The short run-time accommodates this 'American' sense of impatience and one should take the use of ad hoc banter and non-actors plus one porn star (errrrr.

..) for what it is. Generally speaking there's not much there that reaches out and grabs you by the throat though. The biting question on everyone's mind (e.g. Chris Santos--does it bother you that your girlfriend is essentially a glorified hooker?) only comes up once, loud and emotional, but then self-consciously subdues itself, hiding its shame once more in a trademark style which feels comfortably contemporary yet alien and cold at the same time.

And apparently that was precisely the point: to make the protagonist, and the world she unwittingly inhabits, as un-engaging as possible. If anyone is even remotely informed as to Sasha Grey's particular.

..'style' of pornography, you'll note that seems totally at odds with herself and it's actually hard to really pin down whether her performance as a droll zombified casualty of the recent economic crisis is intentional or just the fringe benefit of some thorough emotional callusing.

According to the wide wide world of Soderbergh it's a comment on a shallow culture in the midst of running afoul a few of its own shoals. Whether he's effective in this statement or not should be left to individual taste, but I must warn you that you that you've should arm yourself with the patience and the temperament to wait for it.

Even if it is only slightly rewarding.