After Porn Ends (2010)

This documentary, directed by Bryce Wagoner, interviews a number of ex-porn stars and tries to show both positive and negative aspects of working in the adult entertainment industry. It is an industry that has often been looked down upon, and has become harder and harder (no pun intended) over the years with the rise of the internet and the many sites now hosting content for small fees, or even free. Do the people interviewed here look like they have had their souls blackened, their beauty worn out and their goodness all screwed away (not my attitude, but one I'm sure many critics of porn would quickly take up)? Of course not. Well, not all of them.

The people onscreen here are, as in any profession, a real mix. Yes, some of them look as if they'll never shake off that air of regret (such as Crissy Moran, a young woman who couldn't be further removed from the image that she once projected in films), but some seem to have survived in quite good shape. It's perhaps not unsurprising to see that the male stars of the industry have fewer regrets (Richard Pacheco comes across as especially well-balanced, but John Leslie, who died of a heart attack before the film was released, and Randy West seem happy enough), but there are moments with almost everyone being interviewed in which pain flits briefly across their face.

People get into the porn business for a number of reasons and, as mentioned here, many people get into the porn business for all the wrong reasons. There are people who have had tough times and want some fast cash, there are people who seem to take no small amount of joy from the attention that it gives them and there are a few people who are completely comfortable with it and view their career in porn as a means to an end. Asia Carrera is one of the latter people, but personal tragedy in her life meant that she didn't really get the future that she had envisioned for herself. Nina Hartley, William Margold and others give their own opinions on what the industry can do to people and just what qualities are needed by those who want to make it work for them. They make a number of sensible points, but stories from people like Houston, Shelley Lubben and Raylene prove just how many folk have gone into the industry with either an incredible air of naivete or no small amount of willful ignorance. And I am sure that it will keep happening, even as the job and the physical demands keep getting tougher and tougher.

Aside from those already mentioned, stars featured here include Amber Lynn, Mary Carey, Sandra Margot and Seka, as well as many others, so the documentary works as both a look at the toll a life in porn can take on someone and also a celebration of its more enduring stars. It may make for uncomfortable viewing at times, but the aim of the thing, in my view anyway, isn't to make viewers of porn feel guilty and ashamed. It's to show that the people behind the orgasmic groans and lustful moans are people who deserve a bit of gratitude for their hard work as opposed to the stigma that gets attached to them and the hypocritical reprimands from people, many of them viewers of the very material that they then go on to loudly protest.

While After Porn Ends seems to show all of the subjects onscreen without comment, people will undoubtedly take away from it what they want to. Personally, I think that porn is okay in moderation. I'm not going to pretend to be on some moral high horse as I end this review, I've seen porn and my teenage years were often little more than a series of obstacles on my way to seeing women in states of undress. There's no denying that it can be incredibly damaging, both for the stars of the industry and for viewers who get addicted to viewing sexual acts rather than actual participating in a healthy sex life, but the same can be said of many professions and many things that are now part of our modern lives. What happens After Porn Ends is, ultimately, up to each and every single one of us. Just like any other set of attitudes.

7/10

http://www.amazon.com/After-Porn-Ends-Mary-Carey/dp/B008I5CURU/ref=sr_1_2?s=movies-tv&ie=UTF8&qid=1362788685&sr=1-2&keywords=after+porn+ends

If you enjoyed this review then you may well enjoy ALL of the reviews in my book of collated movie reviews. And it's really not that expensive, although it enriches my soul. Honest.

The UK version can be bought here - http://www.amazon.co.uk/TJs-Ramshackle-Movie-Guide-Reviews-ebook/dp/B00J9PLT6Q/ref=sr_1_3?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1395945647&sr=1-3&keywords=movie+guide

And American folks can buy it here - http://www.amazon.com/TJs-Ramshackle-Movie-Guide-Reviews-ebook/dp/B00J9PLT6Q/ref=sr_1_fkmr0_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1395945752&sr=8-1-fkmr0&keywords=TJs+ramshackle+mov

As much as I love the rest of the world, I can't keep up with all of the different links in different territories, but trust me when I say that it should be there on your local Amazon.