Customer Reviews

This Girl's Life

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

This review refers to the uncut DVD version. Like the other reviewers here, I loved this movie. The movie I would rate as 5 stars and it is indeed a stunning debut for the as yet unknown actress Juliette Marquis (from Ukraine no less). The image quality is not stellar as this was shot on digital video. I can undertand and accept that. This DVD however is a lousy Pan and Scan version. Some movies can be Pan and Scanned relatively unscathed because their photographers deliberately shoot them with future TV transfers in mind. But this movie was shot by someone who makes full use of the widescreen aspect and didn't make room for transfer to fullscreen TV. It is intensely frustrating to watch this damned DVD. You watch noses talking to half faces, half faces talking to ears, heads bobbing in and out of frame repeatedly. I am furious at the studio a__holes at Hart Sharp Video who sanctioned this Pan and Scan monstrosity. And they had the temerity to advertise on the back cover that it is in widescreen. To add insult to injury, they show pictures on the back cover and the insert, of screenshots in the original widescreen where you can compare the beautiful original compostion and the Pan and Scan cropped crap. Hart Sharp Video goes straight to my list of Never Buy From Again. By all means see this movie - at the theater. Or wait till a more responsible company releases a new DVD edition.

THIS GIRL'S LIFE is a surprise little Indie that is well worth watching. In a style not unlike a documentary Moon (Juliette Marquis, an impressive newcomer) shows us around a mini-camera rich home where she makes porn movies under the direction of Aronson (Tomas Arana), introduces her fellow porn stars and her friends (including Rosario Dawson as Martine), and ultimately brings us into her home life (she takes care of her Pops - James Woods - who suffers from Parkinson's Disease) and her past, including her reasons for entering into the porn star business.

Along the way she meets an ordinary guy Kip (Kip Pardue) who suggests that Moon may be ready for a relationship. Moon's friends gradually introduce her to a new role of 'sex investigator', using her seductive powers to test their boyfriends' or husbands' fidelity. One of these adventures results in an encounter with one Terry (Michael Rappaport) who has abusive issues that alter Moon's perception of her role.

How Moon deals with the new direction her life is taking provides the climax of this film. The movie is sparked by some very fine performances not only by Juliette Marquis, but also by James Woods, Kip Pardue, Ioan Grufford (Lancelot in KING ARTHUR), Rosario Dawson, and Tomas Arana. THIS GIRL'S LIFE is an inside look at a thriving business that deserves this kind of examination. Grady Harp, January 2005

i guess boogie nights opened the floodgates for these types of films, and some of them are actually worth checking out. i have to admit that i watched this movie while writing poetry and didn't really focus on it, but i got the whole reincarnation/transformation while living message, and i have to give kudos to ash for not pulling any punches with the sex, the scene at the opening of the film in which moon is getting banged from behind by some ananymous wasp hairy chested porn star was ballsy and realistic.... and all the more impressive is the fact that she delivered a monologue during the sex, wearing a cheesy blonde wig to boot. the kip pardue as himself thing was also clever... he was hilarious in rules of attraction... and he and moon made an attractive and realistic couple. definitely a dvd worth owning, and i expect hours of commentary by the director on the research and execution(i would love to know how many takes it took before moon could keep a straight face during the aforementioned blonde wig doggy style scene)bottom line... solid performances, realistic slice of the seedy side of porn.... and definitely pick this up if you are a fan of boogie nights, rated x, and films of that ilk, or if you have any curiousity about the sex industry in general.

I did not find this film to be particularly erotic. I only found it to be sad. It did, however, have a few redeeming qualities.

The story is of a beautiful young woman in the porn business. She was not forced into it. The money is only part of it. She does it because she likes sex. She works on the internet and makes a good living. She also takes care of her father who suffers from Parkinson's disease.

Through the course of the film, she undergoes a character change. She decides to go into the PI business investigating men for infidelity and that takes her to some even uglier parts of life. She seems amoral but there is some character in there. The problem is she is not sure what she wants. She thinks she may have found a boyfriend but is not sure. The factors in her life, stress, taking care of Pops, an aides scare, physical danger and such prompt an even stronger character change. Most people would consider it to be for the better.

The end is ambiguous. You know she has cleaned up some aspects of her life but we are not really sure how thorough the cleaning is.

The film is well acted and well done. The drama is real and some of the action is graphic. It does what a drama should do in terms of generating character development and change. Still, sitting through it was a trial for me. I am glad to have seen it but I don't need to do it again.

This film is about a young porn star who of course had tragedy in her life. When she was 12 her mother committed suicide. After her mothers death her father has a break down and later develops Parkinson's Disease. At 18 she enters the porn industry and fast forward several years later she seems quite happy with her voyeristic life. She juggles being a porn star with caring for her dad and hanging out with her crew of porn star friends and every day girls like her lifelong friend played by Rosario Dawson who is a law student and another friend who is a teacher. I really enjoyed this film but couldn't help but feel like the actress who portrayed Moon was doing her best Angelina Jolie impersonation, I mean she had Angelina down pat. James Wood deserves an Oscar for his role as the dad who has seen himself go down. I enjoyed this film, but like many other films I was frustrated with the story at times. It seemed to be all over the place sometimes. I never knew if the love story between Moon and her blind date was going anywhere, then we see Mon venture off into a new business, then the porn stars find themselves in mini-crisis'. Although it was all over the place at times, it was a great little indy film, the best indy film I have seen since "Secretary."

For a movie that promotes itself as a trashy Skinemax flick, it's sure trying hard to be quality. All the actors deliver their lines with a crisp delivery that makes you think that they are reciting Shakespeare and that Method Acting never reared it's mumbling head. The camera work is excellent and the characters are engaging enough.

The problem with this movie is that it doesn't know if it wants to be the sleazy movie that it's advertised as, or a serious drama about a woman trying to care for her father with Parkinson's disease. James Woods is giving it his all as the one character in the movie that mumbles and stumbles and falls. He's got enough energy to let you know that he was once a powerful figure and the way the disease tears into him is that much more heart breaking.

The only problem is that he's acting the hell out of this tragic character in the middle of a sleazy sex movie. So every time he shows up, he's distracting from a Skinemax scene, and as much as I admire the man's acting, he's not so good of an actor that his tragic character can overcome his interruption of the sleazy parts.

So this could have been a good movie - or it could have been two separate good movies, but instead it's one big mess.

In fact, "This Girls Life" seems to be two movies: first, it works over the relationships of internet pornstar Moon and the world around her - this part is truly great, with very well constructed characters (specially Moon herself and her ill father, played by James Woods) and cleverly avoiding making judgments about anything; the second, which comes up on the final third of the movie, is clearly weaker, more moralist and somehow desconstructing the characters so wonderfully built in the ifrst part.

I picked up this flick from the recomendation of an educated female friend of mine. We were discussing the fact that since pornography is purely exploitive by nature it is immune from exploitation and therefore might be the last "pure" art in America ( in very limited examples). She recomended this film for it's take on the subject. Suffice to say this movie doesn't do or say anything that others haven't. It's got the eye candy and James Woods channeling Michael J Fox (too soon?) but is ultimately disappointing in it's pacing, dialogue, and content. As I understand it this is Juliet Marquis's (a model from the Czech Republic I think) breakout role. She handles her part well; I personally could see her as the next Mila Jovovich B+ horror movie staple. In any case, if you're curious rent it then there's no shame in hitting stop early.

Can't give you the 75-300 word review, I'm to the point. The movie is GOOD! Not Great.

Juliette Marquis is a beautiful girl who can act and is very likeable. James Woods did a great job as her father. The movie is shot to look exactly like a straight to cable late night soft core movie but it's NOT. This is about how a pretty girl usually in a warm weather part of America believes wrongly that she's emancipated. This is a companion piece to Morena Baccarin's working girl's scenes in the TV series "Firefly."