After Porn Ends

So I have this cousin who watches this 'pornography', whatever the hell that is, and he recognized some of the 'talent' involved. Whilst he felt sympathy for the tragic lives of some of the subjects, this documentary held no real surpises, should have picked a side instead of this more objective approach, and he felt that a movie like 'Boogie Nights' probably had a stronger impact on him... ...Obviously I am shocked that he watches that kind of filth!

For a "Where are they now?"-movie to have "Where are they now?"-credits seems to me to be the best example that it misses it's mark. It really doesn't accomplish much...other than to take the joy out the first couple minutes of porn you'll watch afterwards. Camera work and editing is absolutely horrid and too many unintersting stories are told. I will say this though: I am intrigued by the concept of "Pornstar Karaoke". Also: FOR THE LOVE OF GOD!! WILL SOMEBODY PLEASE GIVE CHRISSY MORAN A HUG!?!

Documentary cinema can be a tricky business, with the two words representing a complex interacting rel. that for some directors, who are not Herzogs or Rappaports, can be hopeless to synthesize. Clearly in the interest of dispassion & objectivity, Wagoner drably edits interviews w/ a dozen-or-so subjects, who give sundry accounts of the industry. The thing tho' is that W.'s very pretense of dispassion precludes any genuine analysis, & the film is utterly desultory & < the sum-of-its parts.

What it gets right is that it fairly presents the characters -- it doesn't approach with an agenda (porn is good! or porn is bad!). What it gets wrong is pretty much everything else. It's not nearly as interesting as it could be, it's not particularly well-made, and it barely does more than scratch the surface with each star it profiles. Feels like you would gotten just as much by reading a short paragraph about each of them.

So mind numbingly dull. It's like giving a plumber a documentary of their life after retirement. Yeah, they spend time doing the things we do! How strange cause they used to have sex on film! Ugh

Call me a cynic, but the whole time I was thinking..."yeah right...you'll be back on your knees in no time" The epilogue did not leave me disappointed.

In my mind, porn as a business, raises the question. What happens to the people that star in these films? This movie takes a look at several ex-porn stars and their current life after porn. The movie was even handed in presenting the stories It went out of it's way to prevent any type of judgement. But with many of these ex-stars not honest with themselves how much of a real story could we really expect.

A semi bleak depiction of what porn stars do after they "retire." Their banal lives are as dull as you would expect. In this era of media oversaturation the blurred lines between mainstream reality tv stars like hippo assed Kardashian and amateur porn means that being a porn star has become mundane. This may be interesting to someone who is a fan of a decrepit "Randy West" who seems to enjoy watching dvds of himself getting blown while reminiscing about relationships that almost happened.

The more interesting segments of this documentary are cut far too short whereas the least interesting interviews extend the furthest. It would have served better if Wagoner hadn't taken such a pseudo-objective approach of the subject and actually dived viciously into the true motivations that these girls feel they need to enter the pornography industry. Some of this is actually touched upon by a few of the girls but there's no connective tissue or wider context.

This documentary is interesting at times. It would have been nice to spend more time with each of the former adult stars. Overall I would give this one a light recommendation.

I expected more because of the title. Yes, it was nice to hear about how they got in, but an effort into what's after could have been made. Believe me, the people are worth getting to know.

Too many uninteresting stories are covered in too much depth. Add to this the monotonous backing drumming music just barely perceptible but loud enough to irritate me and some bad editing and direction make this interesting idea into a boring documentary. Louis Theroux covered it far more interestingly than this

Yes, the majority of these stars end up as sad or fractured as u'd expect, but "fans" of the genre (u know who u r) will b no less curious about familiar faces. What keeps things interesting r the running commentaries by talking heads who've studied porn at length & view the porn stars w/ sympathetic & understanding eyes. Their conclusions may come across as intuitive, but they're far more legitimate, & even somewhat insightful, when they've been thought through w/ this much deliberation.