The Girlfriend Experience (2009)
Shot during the early days of the economic crisis & when the pre-election hype is heating up, Steven Soderbergh's
The Girlfriend Experience is a slow paced interesting look at how the culture of money turns love and desire into something you want to control. The escort, Chelsea aka Christine, is played by Sasha Grey, a real-life adult-video star who offers "the girlfriend experience". Most of her regulars "date" her rather than merely having sex with her. Those appointments often consist of dinners, nights at the movies, and lots of talk. In other words, she provides the perfect companionship of an actual relationship for a few hours. And then she gets paid very well for it and goes home. The sex is often secondary, and sometimes it doesn't happen at all. The movie is like a documentary about a fictional character. We see her out with her clients; wrangling with her live-in lover, a gym trainer who pretends her job doesn't bother him; and in meetings, some sinister, that promise to advance her career. Chelsea's clients all seek ''the girlfriend experience,'' but they aren't alone; she, too, tries to barter herself into romance.
There's little nudity and no sex in the movie; instead, much of the movie is a series of kinda dull conversations Chelsea has with clients, a journalist, a fellow call girl, and Chris about her life & desires. Somewhat decent to look at, but overall unsatisfying.
>>: C
Eraserhead (1977)
Weirdly...freakishly genius!
>>: B+
The Bicycle Thief (1948)
The most beloved film of world cinema. I just put it at a very top rank of my all time favorite films (Non-Horror).
>>: A+