Very Cool!!!

Don't listen to the negative reviews

The performances transcend the film's tropes, grounding it in characters that feel more complete than this subgenre often produces.

By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

Yet another film with The Pornographer in it's title, this one also rated R, which like it's previous one, made six years prior, which was more sleazy, here is a better and rather interesting little film, that' needs more word of mouth. De good, dead, solid, perfect play a socially inept loner, who strikes out with a few women, after being encouraged by a prostitute he sees on a regular basis. It's painful to witness his rejected advances, in an all too commonly real scene, while his office acquaintances score all too easily. To get himself off, he has to feed his sex habit, other ways, through pornography, his closet, a bulk library of pornos. A sickening proportion, in fact. The pornographer is a painfully real tale, one of the most painful of it's type, of a lonely soul, who so many others, needs a girlfriend, so bad, we're sad witnesses to his hungry addiction where his sexual needs must come from other sources. A real pretty woman, sweet next door type, who's just moved to L.A, budding actress, of course, this big ray of sunshine, walks into his life. For De good, it's instant attraction. Having just recently taken up, making his own pornos, influenced by the store clerk that's seen him at open conflict with De good, prior, on account of the crap quality of XXX pics, he's been hiring, he sees this as a chance to fall in love and help her. They do make a nice couple too. It's just what Paul (De good) needs, after previously getting into a feud with two beefcakes, father and son, on the account of asking the pretty young daughter out, where he had misjudged her age, where in no way, did she look as young as fifteen. Craig Wasson, a greedy, heartless and sly porn distributor, nicely played, I must say, becomes Paul's manager, where later, again, fate really deals Paul a bad hand. Not only that, but he's given a cold stare by that underage girl who returns to the park. In one sense, The Pornographer is quite an amazing film, where you have to look under the surface to see it's beauty, an all too painfully real, if at times uneasy account of loneliness, with those all too painfully situations of constant rejection, where you keep coming up against a brick wall. It was sad how Paul's fate ensued, that saw him doing time for his troubles, while sleazy Wasson just gets away with it, laughing all the way to the bank. Primarily Wasson is the best performer here, but don't dare look overlook De good's great performance too. Something very tasty and different, don't evade this one. You'll be somewhat surprised of the movie's effect it will have on you, and some of the messages it channels out. Recommend this highly. Just don't pick up the wrong 'Pornographer' tape.

I saw this listed in my TV guide as playing at around 2:30 in the morning. It had no film synopsis, just "Film, starring Michael DeGood." Michael DeGood sounded like a porn star's name and it was named "The Pornographer" so I figured it was some low-grade porn flick. I didn't expect to watch it, but as I was flipping through channels late on Friday night I came across it and was immediately interested because of the fact that, despite its cheap "feel" and porn-film style, it was NOT a porn film and was in fact a very interesting character piece.It seemed to be a movie like "Taxi Driver" -- an examination of a morally degraded man unable to make contact with the outside world. DeGood is no Robert De Niro but he did come across as a very realistic person.Whereas "Boogie Nights" was an excellent satire/examination of the porn industry, "Pornographer" is more of a realistic examination of a porn addict and an average man. It's more honest than "Boogie Nights" through the fact that it's less stylistic and more raw and dirty -- more nudity, often appearing as if it's a porn film, but never losing sight of its goal.I liked the honesty of DeGood's character. He can't talk to women but he can watch a porn film and talk dirty to the screen. Somehow it seemed very real. A balding, average guy seemed to me the perfect choice for the character of Paul.Overall "The Pornographer" isn't as good as "Boogie Nights" but for my money it's more of an honest portrayal of a man rather than an industry. It's a really good character piece -- don't be deceived by the title!

It doesn't take much thinking about the porn industry to realise that the issues involved with it are complex. To its credit this film manges to present most of the issues lucidly and without moralising. There are a heap of problems with the coherence and logic of the script, but the characters are strong and credible, which helps to overcome this to some extent. The film attempts to analyse users and makers of, and participants in, porno videos and continues with this as the theme throughout until the concocted ending, which like a few other situations within the plot (for example the arranged second meeting with the girl in the park) is quite irritating. No doubt like a lot of other viewers I kind of wish that I could have taken the script and ironed out the problems with it, as it does have a lot of strengths.

There were many problems with the film, with plot threads that don't really go anywhere, some cheesy dialogue and daft ideas (that all male porn directors think they are making art - yeah right). However it succeeds in showing the reality of being a lonely male, and the various male needs that lead to use of porn. It looks at different sides of the argument but seems to come down fairly firmly against porn and the industry (the only decent characters are the anti-porn female boss and the naive actress). Makes a valid point that many men would deplore the treatment and exploitation of some women in the porn industry, yet enjoy watching the films. Although the production is pretty bad in some places, it does leave you pondering the issues, which means the film is a success.