Pornography: exploitation of women or courageous act of empowerment? We'll leave the debate for your Feminism 101 class tomorrow afternoon, but until then you can take a look at the trailer for "Cherry" which presents an unconvincing case for the latter.
Penned by NYU writing grad and porn star Lorelei Lee and Stephen Elliot (who also directs), the film presents the tale of a young woman who pursues a career in porn, while juggling an array of unsavory characters around her. As we noted in our review of the film from Berlin, "Cherry" seems to actively avoid any real, tough questions about the decision to make smut films for money and while the performance by the lead Ashley Hinshaw is sound, it's hard to back her character when so much is left unexplored. "It is difficult to critique this film without coming off as a prude whose ingrained sexual conservatism will simply reject any positive portrayal of the sex industry. But, not to be crude about it, there is a difference between having no hang ups about your sexuality and getting fucked on camera for money. But it’s a distinction the film glosses over time and again," we noted.
Anyway, you take a look at the trailer which is worth it mostly just to watch James Franco say "I exist" with bugged out eyes. Heather Graham, Dev Patel and Lili Taylor round out the cast; there is no U.S. distribution for the film just yet.