This Girl's Life

I liked this film, mainly because of it's "real life" feeling. It plays out almost like a documentary. It is populated by real people who have real problems in real situations. I think Ebert says all about this film in just one phrase: '"This Girl's Life" is an imperfect movie with so many moments of truth that you forgive its stumbles.'

That's about it, this is a very realistic, believable film with a couple of excellent performances by Juliette Marquis and James Woods. The Direction by Ash (who has also written and produced this movie) is also worthy of mention.

Definitely worth watching!

In fact, "This Girl's 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 judgements 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 on the first part.

All in all, a movie that deserves to be seen... but it's just a shame that the end isn't just a bit less "common"...

The porn star Moon (Juliette Marquis) spends her time working, nursing her widowed father (James Woods) that has Parkinson disease and with her friends Jessie (Kam Heskin) and Martine (Rosario Dawson). Her boss Aronson (*Tomas Arana) gives a new contract to Moon to be signed. Moon has a blind date with Jessie's friend Kip (Kip Pardue) and they feel a great attraction for each other. When Jessie asks Moon to test the fidelity of her boy-friend, Moon decides to offer the service to other customers. But when she meets the dangerous Terry (Michael Rapaport), she reevaluates her life and her relationship with Skip.

"This Girl's Life" is an underrated movie that follows the pattern of Ken Russell's "Whore", with the lead actress talking to the camera like in a documentary. This is the first work that I have seen from the director Ash and the gorgeous actress Juliette Marquis and I liked what I have seen. The story begins with frontal male nude (I do not like to see penis wherever) but in a perfect timing and insertion in the context. James Woods proves again that he is one of the most underrated actor in Hollywood, with an amazing performance of a man with Parkinson disease. But the star of this movie is the unknown and extremely sexy and gorgeous Juliette Marquis that has a magnificent performance in the role of a porn star. Her body is astonishing, her eyes and face are impressively beautiful and she can act with a stunning performance! I am looking forward to have a chance to see her again. My vote is seven.

Title (Brazil): "Maiores de 18" ("Greater than 18" literally, meaning "Rated-18")

This Girl's Life is the story of a not so average porn star and her not so average life. She makes it known right off the bat that she has not been abused by her father, uncle or priest and she is not on drugs or any of the other things you hear about your average porn star. In fact, she seems to be a very well adjusted young woman who has about 99% of her priorities in line. This is the story of Moon, played by a positively ravishing Juliette Marquis.

Moon's mother died in a car accident when she was young and takes care of her father who has Parkinson's Disease and is willing to drop anything she is doing if he needs her. She even meets a guy that seems to suit her on a blind date while she struggles with wondering whether or not he was told what she does for a living and if that is in fact, the reason he is there. He turns out to be a decent guy and it seems Moon has everything going in the right direction for her. She just happens to be a porn star.

There are hardly any negative characters in this movie. For the most part, everyone gets along and is likable to the viewer. The character development could have been a bit better. I knew who everyone was but did not know most of the names. Maybe I should pay closer attention but I had to figure out most of the character names from this site. Moon shows no attitude of being a successful porn star and even her boss, Aronson (played by Tomas Arana) was a likable guy. Later in the movie, a friend of Moon's asks her to hit on her boyfriend to see if he would cheat on her if given the opportunity and you get a few unlikeable characters once this happens (good job by Michael Rapaport). This is also where the movie takes a bit of a darker turn, but nothing huge.

Juliette Marquis is a very good actress who has the looks and talent to become the next big thing in Hollywood. I believe she just needs her "big break". I truly hope to see big things come of her.

James Woods was Pops, the Parkison's ridden father, who played that part to a tee. I compare his performance here to Edward Norton's in The Score. Woods proves he is an incredible actor.

All in all, I could give this movie pretty high recommendations. The ending was a bit anti-climatic and I was a little let down by it, but the rest of the movie makes up for it. This is the first movie I have seen by director, Ash, and I will make it a point to see more of his movies. 8/10

After the success of the inexpensively made trade movie "Boogie Nights," one might expect a series of even cheaper and less skillful ripoffs. The usual trajectory for ripoffs would be more sex and less character.

I suppose in some ways, we wouldn't have "This Girl's Life" if we hadn't had "Boogie Nights," but this film is actually pretty good. If the earlier film was mostly an ensemble effort, this one depends on Juliette Marquis. We see things almost exclusively from her point of view. She's a porn star with a heart of gold and some brains. It sounds like a cliché, but she pulls it off okay. She's not exactly beautiful but she is sexy and exotic and has a nasal voice that sometimes drops into the lower register.

But Marquis gets surprisingly good support from such mainstream players as Rosario Dawson, and adequate support from Cheyenne Silver, a genuine star of sex films who has a fresh-faced attractiveness that suggests she grew up on a farm and fed on nothing but cream and ripe strawberries. Anyone who wants to see what she looks like all over can easily have his curiosity satisfied with a bit of effort.

James Woods is super as Pops, Marquis' father who is stricken with Parksinson's disease. He's a courageous actor, wandering around in public with what seems to be an enormous head and a shrunken flabby body. The only investment of ego on display is his talent.

If "Boogie Nights" showed us that the sex movie industry of the 1970s was like a family, "This Girl's Life" demonstrates that the family is not entirely functional these days. The head of the studio keeps carrying on paternally about how we are all one big -- incestuous -- family, but when he wants one of his girls to do something that she does not want to do, he prompts her to do a line of coke and shoves her roughly against a wall. Spare the rod and spoil the child, you know.

The director has Marquis talk directly to the camera on several occasions, as if this were a reality TV show. She shows us how a microvideocamera works, a "spy camera" like that used in police and FBI stings. And there are times when scenes appear as if shot with one of those tiny cameras, all fuzzy and with horizontal lines. Not sure what the point of that was. And I'm not sure what happens to Pop either. His case seems to be hanging in the air at the end when, after a violent encounter with a man whose life Marquis has just professionally put an end to, she takes off with her naive young monogamous lover.

I assume -- I HOPE -- that she finally got back to taking care of Pops, because his disorder is rather advanced and it would take him an hour to peel a banana.

In any case, the very amateurishness of some of the performances contributes to the documentary feel of the film, but it's a documentary that is emotionally charged.

A surprise, well worth watching.