At the movies: The Girlfriend Experience.

Literally, ‘The Girlfriend Experience’ (the concept, not the film) is a service offered by certain sex workers that introduces a layer of intimacy beyond the usual entanglements. This could include everything from a night out at the movies, a walk down the street while holding hands, or contemplative conversation to an in-depth discussion of a recent book. It’s an extended illusion of the kind of intimacy that comes with time, and it fills a vital need, as our girl Christine seems to be doing well for herself.

But Steven Soderbergh’s Girlfriend Experience is about something a bit more extensive than that. Personal trainers get paid to spend time with their clients and reshape their bodies. Sex workers get paid to spend time with their clients and fill some physical, emotional, or social need. Investment bankers get paid to take people’s money and protect it, finding new ways to increase it. Factory workers get paid to lift things so the person who signs their paycheck doesn’t have to. Our entire culture, it seems, is built on finding something that you’re good at and getting paid to do it so that someone else doesn’t have to. ‘Prostitution’ brings to mind an inherently sexual connotation, but it’s pretty much what we all do.

There are days when the only thing keeping your nose to the grindstone is the paycheck. Or worse, the fear of losing it. Or worst of all, in hopes of making a name for yourself and getting some attention so that you might someday get that paycheck. When you look at it, internships really are more insidious than prostitution.

And then there’s me. I’m writing this review to keep a viable media presence. I do it in hopes that someday I will magically find a gig where all I have to do is write about film, which would be a dream come true. I’m doing it because I couldn’t find anyone to pay me for it, which even the greenest of street hooker would tell you is a bad business plan. The world will always need sex workers and bankers (I’m not so sure about the personal trainer, though), but the panic evinced by the money men in this film is simply part of the daily slog for me. And probably for you. The imagined you who might take the time to wade through this solipsism and Level IV logorrhea.

So I responded to this film. It’s got a Godardian sense of play to it, and its characters are intriguing. There’s a bit of Bret Easton Ellis, some Pretty Woman for flavor (though all involved parties recognize that they’re dealing in delusion, unlike that paramount of late-80s/early-90s culture), and even a bit of Bartelian social sketching afoot. Setting the film just before the 2008 election was a nice touch, as the pervasive uncertainty of that time allows us to easily understand why security is such a seductive (and elusive) goal. And in its star, Soderbergh has found the perfect canvas for his social theory: Sasha Grey is a famous porn star who desperately wants to be deconstructed. She may even be the first “porn star” (though some would say that Grace Quek holds that particular title) to build an entire iconography out of irony and subtext.

And though Grey doesn’t quite have the chops to break out into mainstream acting just yet (though she’s young, and her instincts would indicate that she could very well become a great actress), she has several moments in the film that are remarkably effective, and I can’t help but wonder if her performance in The Girlfriend Experience is meant as a comment on/conversation with her adult film work (see also Rocco Siffredi in Catherine Breillat’s savagely underrated Anatomy of Hell). Grey’s (some would say excessive) need to be a people pleaser, to embody all fantasies, to fulfill all desires, to be whatever is required for whomever is watching- this is ideal for modern cinema. She prowls the cinemascope frame as lover/businesswoman/whore/little girl lost/romantic/fashionista/clinician/porn star gone legit/postmodern presence/diva/new face/old news that you can’t even begin to analyze where she’s coming from. She’s a mystery, and that lends that mystery to the film as well.

Sometimes words can’t adequately encompass the meaning or presence of a thing. It’s a frustrating place to be (moreso if that happens to be your job). But all my uncertainties about the why of The Girlfriend Experience fall by the wayside in its final shot. A moment of peace and stasis with a beautiful body; a time where sexual desire and basic human decency mesh, and everybody gets what they came for. We do not see Christine’s final embrace end, and thus, in a cinematic context, it goes on forever. Which is a gift. A blessing.

A holiday season thought.

Be more patient.
Use your turn signal.
Slow your roll by a good 15%, and you will find yourself much less angry and tense.

At the movies: Milk.

Dealing with the life and death of one of America's first openly gay public officials, Milk is the story of Harvey Milk, who helped to organize San Francisco's gay and lesbian community politically in the mid-seventies in a protracted battle against a Proposition which would make gays and lesbians into second class citizens (sound familiar?). Until his death at the hands of a former co-worker, he was the face of gay visibility and power in the country.

Gus Van Sant, fresh from his quirky quartet of moody and expressionist art films (Gerry, Elephant, Last Days, and Paranoid Park), makes a triumphant return to mainstream film with this effective and inspiring biopic of one of America's unsung heroes. A bawdy, outspoken charmer with a complicated love life and a gift for organizing, Harvey Milk (Sean Penn) doesn't seem like the kind of personality that would fit with Van Sant's current aesthetics. But in getting in touch with his narrative storytelling abilities, Van Sant has tapped into something palpable and electric, with audiences responding in kind.

Penn simply hasn't been this fun in decades; but in this funny, fierce performance, he really taps in to an essential humanity that too often he seems to shunt in delving into characters. The supporting cast (particularly James Franco, whose performance here complements his druggy/sexy Pineapple Express turn nicely, and Josh Brolin, who proves there's simply no one he can't play effectively) helps sustain the film's 'you are there' attitude toward 70s San Francisco, and the film's lessons are good ones, with a tone that manages to be both inspiring and mournful. But this is Penn's show, and he delivers.

Something for all to keep in mind.

Do not think all is sunshine and roses. I am truthfully happy regarding Barack Obama's victory, but let's not have too much back-patting and 'haven't we come so far' discourse.

A sign of the upcoming newer, awesome America.

Wow.

This is encouraging, and much cooler than Busta Rhymes and Martha Stewart hanging out.

And now, a glorious pop music break before the madness.

Election Day here in the U.S. I'm ready to be past it, and I'm cautiously optimistic. Eight years of subterfuge and shenanigans will do that to you.

Regardless, here's my current fave-rave pop song. Written by the Pet Shop Boys and produced by Xenomania. Simply magic.

I have fulfilled as much civic obligation as one can.

I voted (love early voting, for real). And confirmed my HIV-negative status (as all sexually active adults should on an annual basis). And took some books to an old folks' home.

Charity and common sense begin at home.

Well, I'll send my $10.

Political Rant I.

The more I try and wrap my mind around it, the only possible solution that I can come to is that John McCain is trying to pull some sort of Andy Kaufman performance art approach to his Presidential campaign, because the whole Sarah Palin pick strikes me as shameless and opportunistic, in the dumbest and most obvious of ways. For him to have built the entire linchpin of his campaign around how much more experience he has than Obama, then to turn around and pick a woman whom people in her own state call a glorified mayor- it’s either the height of hubris or some sort of shocking coup de grace for what was once a promising career.

There was a time when John McCain was a thorn in the side of everyone, a shrewd and volatile voice that was aiming for a bipartisan improvement of things in this country. This was a John McCain who refused to buy into the lockstep hypocrisies of evangelical Christianity, who had gay friends and who didn’t find same-sex marriage all that threatening at all. This was a man who got railroaded by George W. Bush during the ramp-up to the 2000 election. This was a man who was trying to change the face of the Republican party.

I knew it was over at the 2004 Republican convention, when he stood on stage with Bush, hugging the man who’d derailed his own campaign with some of the most ultra-Rovian tactics imaginable. That was the beginning of the end. He was hitching his horse to the way the wind was blowing, to continued war in Iraq, to obscene waste of the Federal budget, and to whatever reactionary Biblical pick-and-choose rules for society were endorsed by James Dobson and other jackals who’ve made the blind ignorance of their followers into their own personal empires. Mark my words- anyone who subscribes to Focus on the Family or feels that Sarah Palin is an icon of family values is not a follower of Christ. They follow their wallets, the fear that someone more powerful than they is watching, and whatever lets them feel good about their own lives and not rock the boat.

So I can’t muster up much respect for the poor shell of a man the Republicans have dredged up from the ditch George W. left him beat up and set on fire in eight years ago. He sold out, like most people do when the price is right. There’s only shame in that if you’ve tried to make your name and word of honor into something, and most people don’t. He did, and now it’s meaningless.

As for Sarah Palin, I feel nothing but contempt. She should never have accepted McCain’s offer of the Vice-Presidential nomination. The only good that will come from this debacle-in-the-making is that perhaps someone will finally get around into investigating the staggering amount of corruption that infests the state of Alaska. When she starts returning that $200,000,000 that was allocated for that state’s infamous ‘bridge to nowhere,’ then we’ll talk. When she explains how she can be a conservative, family values Christian woman who has currently put aside her four month-old special needs child to go run for Vice President, then we’ll talk. When she outlines a credible strategy for removing our troops from or entrenching them in Iraq, then we’ll talk. But for now, all I see is a pretty face who’s in way over her head. She may make it through this election without having too much dirty laundry spilled, but I don’t think that’ll be the case. And I don’t wish that on her; we’ve all got secrets we’re not too proud of.

My dog dropped out of this race a long way back. If someone asks me what kind of candidate represents my values, that’s easy- Dennis Kucinich all the way. But Dennis is a bit much for some people. Fine. So I have to look at who all is in the running and proceed accordingly. I’d like to think that I’m willing to cut people some slack when necessary. So I don’t think that either the Republican or Democratic nominees will willingly provoke conflict with another nation any time soon. Some would say this makes me naïve, but our resources are stretched way too think for any rational person to consider that. Again, some would say that I’m showing my own weaknesses by assuming that any of our prospective nominees can demonstrate consistent rationality. But that’s where I’m proceeding from.

Ending the War is a big thing for me. Health care reform needs to happen, and fast. The erosion of the separation between church and state needs to stopped, and the ideal way to do it is to tax churches. More money needs to go toward education than anything else. There’s no reason why climate crisis and non-petroleum fuel solutions can’t be part of our daily routine, and there’s no reason why science should be stymied by how a monolithic group has chosen to interpret ancient narratives. Abortion is not an easy choice, but until every child in this country can be cared for and nurtured and loved, it is a necessary option. The insurance racket needs to be gutted and reconceptualized. Discrimination against people for stupid reasons needs to stop. People without money are just as important as people with money, and it’s time we found a way of making that stick. SUVs should be stripped of their engines and hooked up to horses, becoming the modern stagecoach. Birth control should be available to everyone, everywhere. People who use their phones in movies should be ticketed and made to take a class. The drug war should be refocused onto drugs that actually kill people. Blue Laws should be abolished nationwide, and there’s no reason why wine shouldn’t be sold in grocery stores. Post offices and banks should have to keep normal business hours, because what makes them so special, anyway? People who are assholes should be taxed for it (I admit, I’m starting to get a bit fanciful at this point, but we all know at least one person who is an asshole of such a degree that no one would object to them having to subsidize a few poor kids’ lunches or language training for someone looking to improve the nation’s image around the world). Spaying and neutering for pets should be free for all. Sex work should be completely legalized and taxed appropriately.

That’s vaguely where I stand on things. And nobody represents all of those things, except me. So I have to figure out what works for me with what’s around.

Apparently, karma is gathering some strength in Ohio.

This looks promising.

I'm all for chickens coming home to roost in this sort of fashion, especially if it destabilizes some rich old warmongering white men who think themselves above the law.