“Pornstar Pandemic”: New documentary examines how gay male (mostly just soft core) stars re-engineer their lives during the sudden pandemic lockdowns
“Pornstar Pandemic: The Guys” , directed by Edward James, documents how gay porn stars and actors are making do during the coronavirus pandemic.
I would have thought studios could simply test them before acting, but that doesn’t happen. They stay by themselves in isolation during the stay-at-home orders when relatively little has opened, mostly during last March and April. The film was released July 28, which is a quick turnaround.
The film opens with Jack Loft, who had moved from Iowa to a big house in Atlanta to work. He is also a musician, and has set up a full composition studio in his room, with 88-key piano, a smaller device, and two monitors. He talks to guys in Sai Paolo and Barcelona, where the lockdown was draconian. Even so, Internet all works and the friend can function.
Jack more or less supervises the interviews of the rest of the film, which are largely managed as Zoom-like looks into the forced solitude of home life for the “stars”.
It then moves to Malibu (completely with potential wildfire exposure), where Dante Colle is inside a trailer (looks nice inside), stays in shape outdoors and creates subscription content by himself alone and actually can make money doing that.
One irony is that younger gay men, knowledgeable of the horrific AIDS crisis of the 80s, are living alone prudently and have become practically the safest population from coronavirus. (Some of them probably think Truvalda might be a prophylactic against it.)
Next comes Pierce Parris, who discusses the idea that many people don’t “get” the significance of spreading the virus to others even if they don’t get sick themselves, if they have the superficial infection in the nose and throat. He talks about fetishes.
The Elijah Wilde presents the Bronx (even near an empty Yankee Stadium). He misses the clubs and their opening back up (but will they? – will physical dancing be permitted?)
DeAngelo Jackson follows, from Atlanta, as a PoC star.
At the end, the men think that business will start to return to normal in the summer. But that won’t be possible without access to testing.
The DVD has a bonus shower scene, well, it’s NC-17.
Name: “Pornstar Pandemic: The Guys”
Director, writer: Edward James
Released: 2020
Format: 2.20:1
When and how viewed: DVD, purchased, 2020/8/31
Length: 132
Rating: R
Companies: Breaking Glass Pictures
Link: official Geekiary
Stars:***__
(Posted: Monday, August 31, 2020 at 7 PN EDT)