6.2 | / 10 |
Users | 3.5 | |
Reviewer | 3.0 | |
Overall | 3.4 |
Biopic based on the life of the eponymous '70s porn star. A year after an unplanned pregnancy forces her to move back into her parents Florida home, 19-year-old Linda Boreman falls under the spell of manipulative local bar owner Chuck Traynor, and ends up marrying him shortly after. Traynor, however, quick to exploit an opportunity, soon produces a private film of Linda performing various sex acts that comes to the attention of porn director Gerry Damiano. Liking what he sees, the director immediately casts her, now under her new stage name of Linda Lovelace, in his latest release, 'Deep Throat'. But although the film becomes the most successful porn movie in history, Linda soon realises that she has become a pawn in the game, as she begins to suffer increasingly violent abuse and exploitation at the hands of her husband.
Starring: Amanda Seyfried, Peter Sarsgaard, Sharon Stone, Robert Patrick, Juno TempleBiography | 100% |
Period | Insignificant |
Drama | Insignificant |
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 1.85:1
Original aspect ratio: 1.85:1
English: DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1
English SDH, Spanish
25GB Blu-ray Disc
Single disc (1 BD)
Region A (C untested)
Movie | 3.5 | |
Video | 4.0 | |
Audio | 4.0 | |
Extras | 1.0 | |
Overall | 3.0 |
There seem to be a couple widely known "truths" about the pornographic industry, one of which is probably verifiable if one were to dig into the numbers, the other a little harder to quantify but nevertheless hard to dismiss. The first is that porn is the industry that truly drives home video commerce, not the mainstream hits on the digital shelves of Amazon.com. Second, it's that the performers don't exactly live the life of glamour, don't necessarily have fun on the set, don't aspire to be known for removing their clothes, and far more often than not come from, or are in some way forced into, abusive relationships and challenges that extend well beyond the screen and promiscuity for public consumption. It's mostly the latter that's the subject of Lovelace, a dramatized biopic of the once-famous porn actress whose star rose when she performed in an adult film called Deep Throat that, if this movie is to be believed, is considered the Gone with the Wind of the pornography industry. The film follows a fairly typical cadence that captures the highlights of the rise to stardom and the personal fall from grace. Structurally, it's hardly novel and dramatically, it's not particularly noteworthy. However, it's rather well done and offers a fascinating glimpse into a forbidden world of sensationalized sexuality and the darkness that brews beyond the immediate carnal pleasures that play out on the screen.
Happy for now.
Lovelace arrives on Blu-ray with a transfer that's quite gritty but pleasant in a throwback sort of way. It's fairly well defined, though it's a bit naturally soft and not revealing of the sort of pinpoint details other modern transfers provide. However, that's not the film's, and therefore the transfer's, aim. The lightly soft, slightly flat appearance helps sell the sensation that this is just as much a classic Documentary-styled, era-specific sort of film as it is a modern production. Under the softness and heavy grit does lie a nicely defined image that holds up as well as the natural texturing allows. Colors are a bit warm but lively. Flesh tones do show a rather heavy red push, but the palette in general shows oranges, yellows, and other 70's pastels beautifully. The gritty overlay does take on a fairly noisy appearance, but for the most part this transfer proves reliably satisfying within its context from start to finish.
Lovelace features a big, well-defined DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 lossless soundtrack. Unlike the video, which enjoys a throwback feel, the track is anything but era-modest. Instead, it's quite generous and enthusiastic. The film begins with a rather jubilant musical presence, a lively, enveloping sensation that plays clearly and with a wide, natural stage presence that's made more complete with a balanced surround support element. Music is usually the key piece to the track, whether the front-and-center notes or blaring background beats heard at a party in chapter three that are lightly muddled but potent, reflecting a pleasant lifelike sensation. Light ambient sound effects are handled nicely. There's very little in the way of aggressive sound effects, however. This is a dialogue film, primarily, and the spoken word enjoys good, center-balanced presence and lifelike clarity. This is a solid presentation from Anchor Bay.
Lovelace contains only one supplement. Behind 'Lovelace' (HD, 13:57) features cast and crew recalling the true life story of Linda Lovelace, its depiction in the film, and how it makes for compelling drama. The piece also examines the performances on both sides of the camera, the score, blending elements of Documentary filmmaking into the picture, and more.
Lovelace doesn't chart new territory or break much, if at all, from the classic biopic formula, but it does at least capture the very human element behind celebrity -- celebrity, in this case, by pornography -- quite well. As it explores the "rise and fall" of its protagonist, it does well to make its other characters more than cliché or a means to a dramatic end. Nevertheless, it all feels very much like a number of other movies, making it a rather difficult film to judge, to juggle the lack of novelty with the things the film does well. Ultimately, however, Lovelace proves itself a capable film and one that should be approachable by those familiar with the story and by those going in more or less blind to the true life beyond the stage name. Anchor Bay's Blu-ray release of Lovelace features high end video and audio. Unfortunately, supplements are limited to a single overview. Definitely worth a rental and perhaps a purchase at an aggressive price point.
2017
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