Released | Sep 30th, 2001 |
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Running Time | 111 |
Director | Antonio Passolini |
Company | VCA Pictures |
Cast | Julie Meadows, Gina Ryder, Mark Davis, Logan LaBrent, Tina Tyler, Steven St. Croix, Keri Windsor, Randy Spears, Chloe (I), Dillion Day, Voodoo, Evan Stone, Nicole Sheridan |
Critical Rating | AAAA |
Genre | Feature |
Chloe plays a role crafted, no doubt, by Thoreau's quote in Walden about most people leading lives of quiet desperation.
She's an office worker who hates her job and hates the people she works with even more. Steven St. Croix (credited as Jean Luc Goddard), playing her boss, is an asshole who takes touchy-feely liberties that at once disgust and attract Chloe. She fantasizes about letting herself surrender to his slimy wiles and fucking him while Tina Tyler takes notes. Passolini choreographs the scene well, shooting the usually out-of-control Chloe's sex scenes as reserved, which fits well in the context of the scene.
Chloe's home life isn't much better either. She comes home to a deadbeat boyfriend, Evan Stone, who is too busy flirting with Logan LaBrent to take any notice of his so-called girlfriend, who fuck while she's taking a shower, of course. Again, the scene is choreographed with them being as quiet as possible.
The voiceovers by Chloe are filled with dry, witty observations, this scene being the best example: "I don't know why they don't get together - actually, I do. That means one of them would have to work," and deep observations that don't go off the deep end: "There is no Monica English. There's an idea; a concept; a shadow. I walk, I talk, I eat, I sleep, I work; sometimes I even fuck. I go through all the motions of being a human being, but I'm simply... not... there." Beyond the VOs, she also shows damn good delivery: "Do you want white cheddar, or creamy parmesan?" she asks Stone with a combination of disgust and resignation at her situation. Pre-nom Chloe for Best Actress - Video.
Pre-nom Passolini for Best Videography for his dream sequence where Keri Windsor and Gina Ryder show up as the "girls from downstairs who dress like whores" and show Chloe why they do. The two take on Randy Spears in a industrial/factory sort of set. Good flat out-fucking; Pre-nom Best Group Sex Scene - Video.
Chloe snaps after the dream, in a sort of Fight Club-sort of way. She discovers her boss fucking around on his wife, and had videotaped it. She corners Tyler, and takes control of her like a dom. She ups the ante until she has Nicole Sheridan and Voodoo fucking for her amusement and taking on Mark Davis and Dillion Day, telling Stone to watch or hit the road.
But the story comes together, and wraps up nicely, in the denouement. Passolini weaves together a story that is at once believable and that goes beyond what's expected for typical porn couple's fare whose box (pre-nom that as well) matches the tone of the video perfectly.