Thirty years after Hollywood adapted Jacqueline Susann's The Love Machine, another motion picture's been released with the same name. But other than an obsession with sex, 2000's The Love Machine has little in common with the 1971 movie co-starring Dyan Cannon. Indeed, this turn-of-the-century indie may be the first film entirely about the adult Internet.
The Love Machine opens with credits for Crystal Pictures and Olympia Pictures, as a computer's heard dialing up and logging on, and then seen in close-up. Graphics appear on the monitor, including the word "anonymously," an animated heart, and shots from various Websites, intercut with characters describing themselves.
Cinema verite-style, Becca, who seems to be a documentary director and on-camera host, interviews computer science graduate student Marcus in a New York University computer lab. Marcus identifies himself as the Love Machine Website's inventor, and the independent film's title appears: "The Love Machine, A Study of Sexual fantasy on the Internet," followed by "A film by Becca Campbell." The shaved-head computer geek explains how the Internet works. "It's under nobody's control, complete anarchy," Becca notes. "Since presently three quarters of its users are men, it's no surprise lots of its content is sexual."
Lab adviser Axel interrupts the filming. "Everybody's hung up about the sex because of the commodification. They can make money off of it," Axel sniffs. After Axel exits, Marcus logs on to the Love Machine site he's secretly set up on a university server, providing free pages to what he calls "crazy amateurs" to post whatever they want. Becca gets contact info off the site's directory, and recruits subjects for what she claims is an experimental student film.
University students, an administrator, and lecturer all feign little or no knowledge of cybersex - although they all have adult sites. Julio teaches a course in Latin American studies; the politically correct academic complains about celluloid stereotypes of Hollywood's Hispanics. However, the married man is a cliched Latin lover who specializes in seducing his students - and posting nudie pix of them on his site. Shino is a Japanese foreign exchange student; on her site are photos of her flashing at various Manhattan locations. Akira is also a Japanese student, who insists he's straight and has a fiance - although his site features Mapplethorpe-esque photos of him embracing nude roommate Xavier. African-American Chip is a grad student with a site featuring full-frontal photos of himself, along with his dating preferences and dislikes. Administrator Beverly seems like a staid, middle-aged divorcee, but her site's explicit Web diary details her affairs with two younger men.
Marlene Forte, who also starred in Eriksen's 1997 Lena's Dreams, plays the moralizing Becca as a cross between Geraldo Rivera, Bill O'Reilly, and Dr. Laura, scolding shotgun interview subjects, and revealing secrets sites and private lives. Her camera crew surreptitiously follows Julio as he romances students and confronts him, his lovers, and wife with online and 16 mm proof. Thanks to an online personal ad, Shino enjoys a threesome with her live-in lover and Serena, and breaks up with Mike on camera. Beverly waffles over whether she's really dating Tom and Jerry or if they're just fantasy, and romances the doc's producer. While checking e-mails at a cybercafe, Chip finds the man of his dreams - who's nothing like the preferences listed at Chip's site. Akira comes out of the closet on film; fiancee Kyoko blames their split-up on Becca.
Meanwhile, puritanical Axel discovers the illegal Love Machine site on the university's server, and shuts it down. "This is not a free speech issue," he grouses. "Any child can get onto that site and see people having sex with chickens."
Becca muses: "The Internet's been described as the consciousness of its users. Collective unconscious would be more appropriate."
It's only revealed during end credits - including "Written & Directed By Gordon Eriksen," followed by actors' credits - that The Love Machine is indeed a feature film, not a documentary. Eriksen is an award-winning veteran indie director, dubbed by MovieLine as "one of 10 independent filmmakers to watch." His mockumentary played on the film festival circuit and had a limited theatrical release in 2000. Last November, The Love Machine played on the Independent Film Channel, and Eriksen told AVN Online it'll be aired monthly on IFC during 2003, and is hoping for it to be released on DVD by Christmas.
"The proliferation of adult content on the Web seemed like a good setting for a story," Eriksen confesses. He should know. Eriksen's "day job," as it were, is as VP of User Experience for Synergenic (www.synergenic.com), described as an "e-business consulting group that develops innovative products, brands, and Web-based services" for a variety of clients. Eriksen also builds "small art sites for friends" through his design studio, Orange-M (www.orange-m.com).
Eriksen's 21st-century comedy of manners ends with Marcus joining forces with former nemesis Axel to set up an adult pay site. "Hey, this is America," Axel declares. "As long as I'm making money." According to production notes, John Chidiac (Marcus) and Randolph Graff (Axel) are "grumpy anarchist computer wonks working on an as-yet-unnamed adult Website." Eriksen said the site turned out to be AnoushkaTV.com.
Art, it seems, really does imitate life.
