This is the story of the most successful porn film ever made. While the documentary’s claim that Deep Throat has made over 600 million dollars has been challenged, there is no denying that it WAS a huge success, and was a cause c�l�bre. We meet all the major players in the making of the film (minus, of course, the late Linda Lovelace), its distribution, and its prosecution. There are also plenty of interviews with cultural commentators of one sort or another, ranging from Annie Sprinke to Camille Paglia to Erica Jong to Wes Craven and Hugh Hefner.Though the directors make their feelings pretty clear in the commentary, to their credit, they leave some room for argument in the film (in other words, there is a level of ambiguity and unanswered questions of the non-rhetorical variety that Michael Moore would find intolerable). There are times when I felt a bit frustrated, where I wanted some issues explore a bit more fully, but any film that leaves me thinking as hard as this one does deserves serious plaudits. There are also some truly hilarious moments – the interviewees are a right lot of characters, all right. All in all, a vital document of the ongoing culture wars in the US.
Audio
The sound is, of course, dependent on the source material. The new interviews are, with the exception of one or two moments, free of distortion. The old stuff can sound pretty raw, but that is hardly the fault of the transfer or the filmmakers. There are a couple of nice surround music cues, but generally the songs that are playing aren’t given a very full mix, remaining almost completely in the realm of the front speakers.
Video
Much the same story here as with the sounds. The new footage is blessed with strong colours and contrasts, and is usually pretty sharp (though there is some softness in long shot). The vintage footage is what it is: just what are you expecting from thirty-year-old porn and TV clips anyway?
Special Features
Directors Fenton Bailey and Randy Barbato engage in a spirited, passionate discussion on their commentary track. There is clearly much more that they want to convey than could fit in a 90 minute film, and so the DVD release indulges them. The second commentary track is an assemblage of interviews that did not make it into the final cut, and then there are FOURTEEN featurettes, which are yet more unused footage, looking at this or that aspect of the film and (frequently) its legal difficulties, but also its ongoing cultural influences. And then you have your trailer. Not bad, eh? The menu’s main screen, intro and transitions are animated and scored, and the secondary screens are scored.
Closing Thoughts
Sharp, fascinating, witty, thought-provoking. Great stuff.
