The Las Vegas Courtesan

Been quite busy lately, and I will admit that Twitter has made me somewhat of a lazy blogger! It’s a shame I know, but at least it’s a good way of keeping up with what I am doing. Like I was saying on there I am pretty excited for this upcoming week with some big conventions in town. This past Monday-Tuesday I was actually quite bored and had some down time, which I took the opportunity to watch “Girlfriend Experience”. I had heard some good words about it and since it was Steven Soderbergh, I figured it was worth a watch.

First of all I liked the way it was shot. The photography of the film is dark and rich in colors, which is something I always like in photography in general. Some of the out of focus shots I liked but one in particular shot in a bar scene was more annoying than artistic, but the nice contrast and feel in colors throughout the film I enjoyed.

The one thing I always have a hard time with shows about escorts or prostitutes is the believability of the characters and of the script. I feel the same disconnection when I watch Secret Diary of a Call Girl as well (which I need to watch on my DVR the new season 3!), and almost watch these shows or films as complete fiction and imagine a man wrote the screenplays. Some things that I found frustrating in the film was the poor acting by Sasha Grey despite the good reviews on the cover (I know those are always slanted). She came across as this emotionless, dull, and an easily manipulated character. At first I thought they were trying to portray her as a smart independent escort then I came to realize that she was written as a clueless, emotionless drone who let people tell her what to do and how to do her job, and believed every word they said. That disturbed me (especially the parts with the manipulative hobbyist that we’ve all read on message boards), since she fell into the trap of his game of trying to increase her traffic from websites or message boards. It shows these types of people that if you play games like the hobbyist did maybe the girl will actually be dumb enough to fall for their scheme. The line where he said, “I don’t think you realize what I can do for you” made me literally laugh out loud because I have heard silly lines like this all the time. Makes me respond, “I don’t think you realize what I can do for myself!”

Other things I thought were a misrepresentation were the listing of outfits and brand names like we are all very materialistic hookers only concerned with how much we can spend on name brands for the clients (most girls I know buy the expensive bags and shoes just for themselves to feed their shopaholic side not to flaunt to the client). In fact I have had some clients say, “I like girls who dress up and look like nice, normal women, but when I see a girl overly dressed in high end fashion it makes me feel less comfortable”, but of course to each their own. Another unrealistic thing is the screening process she went through with client from the website. Are you married? How many children do you have? I would have probably hung up on her immediately. Men want to escape to someone else’s company, not feel guilty about their personal life at home.

Seems like I am being quite negative about the film, but the very emotionless attitude of the main escort’s character bugged me as if to say we are all somewhat miserable and bored, and can’t be a happy cheery escort providing a service to people. The one part I did identify with the film was the way the conversations between her and some of the clients went. Most people like to vent and have someone listen, which I do a lot of, but I also enjoy participating in the conversation and seem interested than just sit there saying, “Yea, uh huh” every so often like she did.

So in conclusion, I think it’s a good stab at making a film that was about an escort’s life but fell pretty short. The cinematography was quality but the script and screening of actors could have used some work. I wish I could sit in and help Hollywood make a decent, realistic film… maybe one day 🙂