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Ishtar
(May, 1987)
The Seven-Per-Cent Solution (OOP)
(Ross, 1976)
The Devils
(Russell, 1974)
The Pirates of Penzance
(Papp/Leach, 1983)
The Fortune
(Nichols, 1975)
-30-
(Webb, 1959)
Betrayal
(Jones, 1983)
Play It As It Lays
(Perry, 1972)
The Outfit
(Flynn, 1973)
Alex in Wonderland
(Mazursky, 1969)
The Legend of Lylah Clare
(Aldrich, 1968)
In The Cool of the Day
(Stevens, 1963)
That Cold Day in the Park
(Altman, 1969)
Thumb Trippin'
(Masters, 1972)
Midas Run
(Kjellin, 1969)
At Long Last Love
(Bogdanovich, 1973)
Brewster McCloud
(Altman, 1972)
Outcast of the Islands
(Reed, 1951)

Reader Submissions
1930's-1950's
The Moon's Our Home
(Seiter, 1936)
Sh! The Octopus
(McGann, 1937)
The Mating Season
(Leisen, 1951)
Bad for Each Other
(Rapper, 1953)
The Phenix City Story
(Karlson, 1955)
Run of the Arrow
(Fuller, 1956)
House of Secrets
(Green, 1956)
Saint Joan
(Preminger, 1957)
Macabre
(Castle, 1958)
The Fiend Who Walked the West
(G. Douglas, 1958
Five Gates to Hell
(Clavell, 1959)
1960's
Key Witness
(Karlson, 1960)
Summer and Smoke
(Glenville, 1961)
The Chapman Report
(Cukor,1962)
Bachelor Flat
(Tashlin, 1962) [on Hulu]
The L Shaped Room
(Forbes, 1963)
The Chalk Garden
(Neame, 1964)
A Thousand Clowns
(Coe, 1965)
You're a Big Boy Now
(Coppola, 1966)
The Whisperers
(Forbes, 1967)
Dark of the Sun
(Cardiff, 1968)
Skidoo
(Preminger, 1968)
Last Summer
(Perry, 1969)
The Comic
(C. Reiner, 1969)
1970-1974
The Revolutionary
(Williams, 1970)
The Landlord
(Ashby, 1970)
Diary of a Mad Housewife
(Perry, 1970)
Tropic of Cancer
(Strick, 1970)
I Never Sang for My Father
(Cates, 1970)
Sometimes a Great Notion
(Newman, 1971)
Marriage of a Young Stockbroker
(Turman, 1971)
The Music Lovers
(Russell, 1971)
Drive, He Said
(Nicholson, 1971)
The Steagle
(Sylbert, 1971)
The Last Movie
(Hopper, 1971)
Made For Each Other
(Bean, 1971)
The Day the Clown Cried
(Lewis, 1972)
Hickey & Boggs (OOP)
(Culp, 1972)
The Carey Treatment
(Edwards, 1972)
Pete 'n' Tillie
(Ritt, 1972)
Slither
(Zieff, 1973)
Man on a Swing
(Perry, 1974)
Open Season
(Collinson, 1974)
The Tamarind Seed
(Edwards, 1974)
Law and Disorder
(Passer, 1974)
Homebodies
(Yust, 1974)
Stardust
(Apted, 1974)
Celine and Julie Go Boating
(Rivette, 1974)
1975-1979
Rafferty and the Gold Dust Twins
(Richards, 1975
At Long Last Love
(Bogdanovich, 1975)
Hearts of the West
(Zieff, 1975)
Welcome to L.A.
(Rudolph, 1976)
W.C. Fields and Me
(Hiller, 1976)
Citizens Band
(Demme, 1977)
Twilight's Last Gleaming
(Aldrich, 1977)
Looking for Mr. Goodbar
(Brooks, 1977)
Girlfriends
(Weill, 1978)
Movie Movie
(Donen, 1978)
The Medusa Touch
(Gold, 1978)
American Hot Wax
(Mutrux, 1978)
Hot Stuff
(DeLuise, 1979)
Scavenger Hunt
(Schultz , 1979)
Players
(Harvey, 1979)
Rich Kids
(Young, 1979)
Nightwing
(Hiller, 1979)
Screams of a Winter's Night
(Wilson, 1979
When You Comin' Back Red Ryder?
(Katselas, 1979
1980's
Resurrection
(Petrie, 1980)
The Awakening
(Newell, 1980)
Simon
(Brickman, 1980)
God's Angry Man
(Herzog, 1980)
Fast-Walking
(Harris, 1982)
Twice Upon a Time
(Korty & Swenson, 1983)
Trouble in Mind
(Rudolph, 1985)
When the Wind Blows
(Murikami, 1986)
Housekeeping
(Forsyth, 1987)
The Glass Menagerie
(Newman, 1987)
Patty Hearst
(Schrader, 1988)
Drowning by Numbers
(Greenaway, 1988)
Haunted Summer
(Passer, 1988)
The Decline of Western Civilization Part II: The Metal Years
(Spheeris, 1988)
1990's
Old Times
(Curtis, 1991)
Prospero's Books
(Greenaway, 1991)
City of Hope
(Sayles, 1991)
The Baby of Macon
(Greenaway, 1993)
King of the Hill
(Soderbergh, 1993)
Dadetown
(Hexter, 1995)
SubUrbia
(Linklater, 1997)

Upcoming

January 8

Bitch Slap

Waiting for Armageddon

Wonderful World

Youth in Revolt

January 15

January 22

Drool

Extraordinary Measures

The Girl on the Train

Girlfriend Experience

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Steven Soderbergh's The Girlfriend Experience -- a not-half-bad indie-scaled pic about the life of an upscale Manhattan prostitute -- had a sneak preview at Park City's Eccles early this evening. Apart from the usual Soderberghian textures and intrigues, it should be immediately noted that Some Came Running's Glenn Kenny plays a sleazy erotic website guy who exploits the main hooker character ( Sasha Grey). He has the funniest lines in the film and, if I'm not mistaken, wrote the smart-ass erotic review that we hear in voiceover.

Steven Soderbergh during q & a at the Eccles theatre following showing of the not-half-bad The Girlfriend Experience, a recently shot lowball indie (it cost around $1.4 million) which he called a "work in progress." It seemed fairly complete to me.

I was pretty okay with The Girlfriend Experience. It smacks of right-now verite, is smartly written and very well made. (And recently shot also with all kinds of references to the Obama-McCain race and the economic meltdown.) No one would call it the stuff of high Shakespearean drama, but I wasn't bored for a second. It's smallish and low-key like Soderbergh's Bubble but set in Manhattan and focusing on a very pretty upscale prostitute and the various men in her life -- boyfriend, journalist, high-rollers looking to buy her favors, Kenny's character, etc.

I presume that everyone reading this knows that Soderbergh is far too dry, ironic and circumspect to be a provider of hot sex scenes or even mildly suggestive ones (as in, say, Alan Resnais's Hiroshima Mon Amour). He maintains a cool distance in this regard at all times, which is welcome considering the appearance of Grey's clients. Some of them, I mean. Two or three inspired a prayer from yours truly: "Please, God, I don't want to see any middle-aged butt cheeks or bloated stomachs or funny-looking feet."

Soderbergh frames most of The Girlfriend Experience with static medium and long shots -- there are almost no close-ups. He said during the q & a that the photography in Michelangelo Antonioni's Red Desert was an influence.

Grey, a real-life porn star, isn't as much of an actress as she could be. Scene after scene requites her to keep it all locked inside, and she's good at that. Grey's live-in boyfriend is played by 30 year-old Chris Santos, who delivers reasonably well in a somewhat layered and mildly challenging role.

I didn't know what the title meant until I looked at The Girlfriend Experience IMDB page. A trivia notes posting says that "a call girl advertising the provision of a 'girlfriend experience' is implying that she provides deep French kissing, 'full service' intercourse with protection, and oral sex without protection."

This reminded me of the services that Ashley Alexandra Dupree allegedly provided (or were sought out by) former New York Governor Eliot Spitzer. I wonder if the Spitzer scandal inspired this film to any extent.

Exactly<< previous | next >>Away and Gone

Posted by Jeffrey Wells on January 20, 2009 at 8:31 PM

comment #1

Josh Massey says ...

So he was lyin' to ya?

Posted by Josh Massey at January 20, 2009 9:04 PM

comment #2

Circumvrent says ...

This film's been in the works YEARS before Dupre's 15 minutes came and went.

Posted by Circumvrent at January 20, 2009 9:39 PM

comment #3

Circumvrent says ...

Also, how was Grey? Her acting, I mean.

Posted by Circumvrent at January 20, 2009 9:40 PM

comment #4

corey3rd says ...

from my time at the Bunny Ranch, i was under the belief that the girlfriend experience referred to a regular client who could take her out to dinner, see a casino show and then bang her in a real hotel room. Plus she would reply to his email between visits.

Posted by corey3rd at January 20, 2009 11:22 PM

comment #5

Renfield says ...

Stevie looks like he's got a serious beer belly going on in the top photo...

That's my Wellsian comment for the day. :)

Posted by Renfield at January 20, 2009 11:26 PM

comment #6

MilkMan says ...

This must be Soderberg's "gritty" look. He's a cinematic street guerilla making quick, sharp films. Kind of has that John Schlesinger vibe; I want to live on the edge as long as I know I won't fail. Soderberg is a cannibal. Richard Lester is missing two fingers on his left hand. Hopefully someday he'll have the balls to do a Michael Powell, but I doubt it. You're about as scary as a Lawyer out for dinner and at the Saddleback, and you look like one too.

Posted by MilkMan at January 21, 2009 12:59 AM

comment #7

Renfield says ...

MilkMan,

In the morning, I suggest you watch the South Park episode where Obama wins. I believe you may find it quite funny. Or... maybe wait until Thursday.

Posted by Renfield at January 21, 2009 1:51 AM

comment #8

MilkMan says ...

Ren: Okay. But I don't understand what I said that made you want to tell me that. But I appreciate the heads up. Thanks.

Posted by MilkMan at January 21, 2009 2:06 AM

comment #9

markj says ...

Does Soderbergh ever sleep?

Posted by markj at January 21, 2009 2:35 AM

comment #10

actionman says ...

Wells -- how graphic are the sex scenes?

Posted by actionman at January 21, 2009 5:25 AM

comment #11

actionman says ...

From Lou Lumenick's blog:

"...there's no more sex here than in Soderberg's 'Full Frontal'"

Well, that's a bummer. What's the point then?

Posted by actionman at January 21, 2009 7:27 AM

comment #12

btwnproductions says ...

Fleshbot.com had a clip of Grey displaying some of her abilities the other day...definitely not office-friendly, unless you work at Hustler.

Posted by btwnproductions at January 21, 2009 7:46 AM

comment #13

corey3rd says ...

just went to the Netflix queue with Lou's blurb

Posted by corey3rd at January 21, 2009 8:56 AM

comment #14

MindlessObamaton says ...

Been a fan of her acting for years.

Posted by MindlessObamaton at January 21, 2009 9:30 AM

comment #15

115thDreamer says ...

Well done, Mindless....yes, I've followed her acting career as well. She could act the chrome off a trailer hitch, I'd venture....

Seriously, though, it seems like I just read about this being in the works 1-2 months ago, and now it's done and showing? Soderbergh might want to take a vacation at some point....he's starting to get that intense, secret-serial-killer look about him.

Posted by 115thDreamer at January 21, 2009 10:29 AM

comment #16

air nike shoes says ...

Ren: Okay. But I don't understand what I said that made you want to tell me that. But I appreciate the heads up. Thanks.

Posted by air nike shoes at October 10, 2009 5:57 AM

comment #17

free games says ...

Been a fan of her for years.

Posted by free games at October 26, 2009 11:43 PM

comment #18

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Posted by MTS Converter at December 13, 2009 4:38 AM

comment #19

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comment #22

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Posted by lanceruch at January 10, 2010 11:24 AM

comment #23

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Posted by aris at January 31, 2010 11:24 PM

comment #25

high heels says ...

I have to agree with the San Francisco Chronicle
The smartest thing director Steven Soderbergh did in the making of The Girlfriend Experience was to cast Sasha Grey
Personally I did not care for this movie

Posted by high heels at February 1, 2010 4:02 AM

comment #26