Porn at the Red Vic?

Oh, Red Vic. You been a wonderful movie host for my time at San Francisco. With the help of your four movie punch card, I’ve watched The Lives of Others, Operation Homecoming, and Rock the Bells. But it’s been two months since my last movie with you and my time left in the City is now measured in days. So when you gleefully highlighted The Glamorous Life of Sachiko Hanai on your homepage, I saved my last punch for it. I had such expectations for your recommendation.

But when I left the theater, I was so puzzled. Sure the movie had it moments, but it felt like I just watched a pornographic movie with about two dozen of my closest strangers. (By closest, I mean coincidentally sitting in the same theater with any previous meeting or connection.) I can only imagine that this is how people got their porn fix in the days before the internet, DVDs, and the VCR. Thank you for the time warp. Even the Mitchell Brothers don’t provide this sort of anachronistic (but social) environment anymore.

Yet, I struggle with the idea that, somehow, I’ve missed something. Just because the cadence of the film is dialog, sex, dialog, sex, dialog, dialog, sex, dialog, sex, and so forth, doesn’t make it pornographic, right? After all, Justice Stewart’s standard was a test for obscenity, not pornography.

Or maybe I should consider that just because a movie is pornographic, doesn’t mean it can’t have some artistic (or some other non-sexual) merit. For Sachiko Hanai is only a pink film. With the hard-core material available today (such as the material produced by the fine folks at Extreme Associates), The Glamorous Life might be considered… a bit tame. Thank you Miller Test and San Francisco!

So I’ll just have to say that I just didn’t really like some of the jokes. And I wouldn’t mind if they edited some of the sex scene to get a better pacing for the movie. Sure there were a few really funny moments. And yes, ladies, you can count on me working on my “Bush technique” for you. (Imagine that line said in a Barry White voice.) But other than that, Sa-chan is just not quite my type. (From a personality point of view, of course.) As much as I like smart girls, invoking the name of “Chomsky” isn’t enough.

~ by esleavings on August 20, 2007.