The Sasha Grey Experience

Well I finally got around to watching The Girlfriend Experience last night. I've been intrigued by Sasha Grey ever since I watched her in a not so flattering interview with Tyra Banks and then became more so when she popped up all over the place in magazines and interviews to promote this movie. As curious as I was about this young women who was so confident and secure with her sexuality and career choices I wasn't that interested in seeing the movie. I didn't think it sounded very interesting, in fact I thought the only thing interesting about it was that a porn star was playing the role of high class escort. Then last night I saw the movie listed in a play list on a free online movie site and thought why not? Overall the movie was pretty interesting and while I was impressed with Sasha Grey and her acting abilities I was less impressed with Steven Sonderbergh who's done such movies as Traffic which is probably his best work ever and also Solaris which is another favorite of mine by him. The basis of the movie was that Chelsea: a high class escort that specializes in the girlfriend experience, is also in a committed relationship with a (very cute!) personal trainer and is working on upgrading and expanding her business through different outlets while also falling for a client risking her year long relationship in the process. What kinda baffled me was how Sonderbergh decided to chop parts of the storyline up and jump from point A to point C and then end with point B. Even if he had done this well which he didn't, it just didn't flow with the story. In a mystery movie sure and some other genres have gotten away with it but it just didn't make sense here. It was like he wanted to make the movie more artsy and complicated and in the end he took away from the complicated artsy indie movie he had created naturally. Sasha Grey's character isn't what you'd expect and her storyline is more about her day to day life with clients she's built relationships with and you get the feeling while she's playing a part she also likes to believe at least at moments that she is the characters she plays. What I found most interesting was when she's being interviewed by a journalist and he mentions that right when he feels like he's getting to see her real side and get her honest perspective on what she does, he See's her retreat behind her armor and asks her if anyone can ever slip through the crack of her armor to get to the real her and she says "No, most people don't" it's in this moment when you see that the armor is a huge part of who she is and I think that's what makes the character somehow despite what she does for a living so relate able. It's a simple movie about normal complications... ok what's normal for some people and yet I do think Sasha Grey shines through as the star even more so than the movie as a whole. It's definitely worth a watch, and I don't think this is the last "main stream" acting role in we can expect from her... at least I hope not.