The Pornographer (1999) Review
Director: Doug Atchison
Cast: Michael DeGood, Craig Wasson, Monique Parent, Katheryn Cain, Marjorie Harris, George Hertzberg
Cert: 18 (tbc)
Running time: 89 mins
Written and directed by Doug Atchison (who penned 2006’s Akeelah and the Bee), this erotic drama is receiving a 27th anniversary re-release, having first debuted in 1999. As such, the reissue of the film feels timely and appropriate, as it addresses issues of male behaviour that are strongly relevant today.
The film centres on Paul Ryan (Michael DeGood), a wholesome-looking 25 year-old office worker who is nonetheless socially awkward with women, preferring to divide his time between strip clubs, visits to sex workers or indulging in his extensive collection of pornography on VHS. Increasingly frustrated with the poor quality of the material at his local VHS rental place, Paul gets a video camera and makes his own amateur erotic film, with the help of a sex worker and his stoner neighbour Tom (George Hertzberg).
When Paul takes his tape to porn producer Spano (Craig Wasson), he finds himself hired as a director, providing he can recruit a young woman into the business. Accordingly, Paul sets his sights on innocent, smalltown aspiring actress Kate (Katheryn Cain), only to find himself at the centre of a series of moral crises.
DeGood is extremely well cast as Paul. He’s fresh-faced and likeable and somehow manages to never come across as sleazy, despite his pornography obsession. Similarly, his passion for filmmaking, for caring about the quality of the work, is rewarded and presented as a good thing.
The supporting cast are equally good – Wasson is terrific as Spano, all charm and wisdom on the surface, but manipulative, exploitative and ruthless at his core, while Cain is superb as Kate, and her smalltown naivety is heart-breaking to watch. In addition, there’s strong work from Monique Parent as Charise, a porn performer-turned-producer who begins a working relationship with Paul and makes him a success.
Atchison’s thoughtful, considered script intriguingly explores both sides of its central theme, giving equal weight to both the positive and the negative sides of pornography. Crucially, Paul is not demonised for his actions, but at the same time, his fresh-faced charm is directly responsible for essentially seducing Kate into doing something on camera, and it’s easy to see that as a stand-in for the industry in general when it comes to recruiting new performers.
Ultimately, the film could have used some other male viewpoints, because Paul isn’t exactly corrupted by his experience – if anything, his success as a pornographer teaches him to be more confident around women and sympathetic to their needs, at least on the surface.
On a similar note, the film raises some interesting ideas, but then fails to explore them. At one point, Charise turns the tables on Paul by secretly filming their sexual encounter, but nothing really comes of that development, and Paul doesn’t seem to learn anything from the experience, whereas it should have been a way to give him an eye-opening insight into exploitation.
As for the sex itself, it’s extremely tame for a film called The Pornographer, essentially amounting to a handful of softcore topless shots and not much else. That said, the film does offer fascinating insight into a little-seen industry and it’s worth seeing for that reason.
In short, this is a sensitively written, well acted erotic drama that finds surprising sympathy for its characters and explores both sides of a provocative issue, ultimately leaving the audience to make up their own mind.
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