Director Wash West has made the leap from straight to video porn, into 'mainstream' cinema with 'The Fluffer', currently on release. This video effort from 1999 shows he was already trying to break the conventions of adult film-making by having more than just the sex. Unfortunately it's pointless because that is the only reason to watch these movies, and wrapping it up in flashy visuals and storytelling is a redundant exercise. Here we have great wadges of screen time spent with the protagonist searching for the mysterious "Animus" giving a Sam Spade-style voiceover, and driving around in the dark on the eve of the new millennium, which just gets in the way of the main attraction. The sex, when it comes, is what you would expect, although the interrogation scene gives a whole new meaning to the phrase 'pumping for information'! The cast are good at what they do, and it certainly isn't acting.
If West continues to make movies for commercial cinema it will always be interesting to look back at these earlier films. But, if it's just good porn you're after, find something less pretentious.
If West continues to make movies for commercial cinema it will always be interesting to look back at these earlier films. But, if it's just good porn you're after, find something less pretentious.