About Cherry (2012)

About Cherry has a simple story, girl grows up in family were the mother is an alcoholic so she needs to go away, to run from home. She has a boyfriend who introduces her to quit her job at a laundry and go for a photo shoot. What she doesn't know is that the shoot will be used to be put online but it pays well so she agrees. But with her beautiful body she needs the money and knows that it earns the green colour easily so she moves to San Fran and before she can say a thing she moves from a girl online to a porn set. What this flick is trying to show is how easily you are tricked by a stupid photoshoot to a set were you have to proof you have other abilities. being written with an actual porn star this should show you how the business works and how you are fooled by the porn industry but some things doesn't work. What it shows is that you can have lots of money a day by doing lesbian things. of course a man-woman situation pays more so our girl here do moves to that part. What this flick had to show is that once you are into the porn industry you can't leave it that easy.I came across this flick due James Franco being in it but he isn't in it that long and his character doesn't work at all. He's a big spender who falls in love with the girl and gives her expensive clothes and drugs. that's all. Be advised that this flick has a lot of nudity and especially from Ashley Hinshaw who plays Angelina or once a porn star Cherry. For me the decay that should be seen from Cherry isn't there, she's doing it all with a big smile, leaving friends and family behind, going for the money and having a lesbian relation with her boss...Gore 0/5 Nudity 3/5 Effects 0/5 Story 2,5/5 Comedy 0/5

This film tells the story of a young woman who enters the pornographic industry to make ends meet.The lead actress, Ashley Hinshaw, is very beautiful and sweet. She is surely the girl of many guys' dream. It is quite a pity that her character has to do whatever it takes to make ends meet. Her life has no sugar coating, her family is dysfunctional, while the boyfriend is a drug addict. How she manages to keep sane is quite impressive.Though there are lots happening in the story, it is not that intriguing and is not enough to pique my interest. To me, "About Cherry" looks more like glamourised porn rather than a film about a young woman's tough journey.

I'm not going to pretend to have liked the film's beliefs. It show us – although vaguely – the 'behind-the-scenes' of the internet porn industry. I believe we have watched them 'making-of-porn films' before: 'Boogie Nights, 1997'; '8mm, 1999'; 'Wonderland, 2003'; 'The Girlfriend Experience, 2009' and so it goes. These movies showed us the consequences of choice and greed; it was one of those first-times when you learned about the dark side of something you acquired pleasure from. 'About Cherry' doesn't show you consequences, it does not make you feel sympathy for the lead and by doing so we start to dislike her halfway into the film. Breaking most rules of the genre, 'Cherry' takes us somewhere the movie itself doesn't know yet (maybe few months from now and we will have theories). It however succeeds in giving rise to emotions long buried. It made me uncomfortable in a hateful way. I disliked the lead character, played brilliantly by Ashley Hinshaw who is mostly holding back her emotions throughout the film, well at least more than her clothes. We've seen this before, the dysfunctional family, the runaway under-age who ends up being a porn star; 'Star 80, 1983', anyone? The movie doesn't show us the disenchantment, the humdrum of making a porn movie although Hinshaw's transformation is something the filmmakers can be proud of; transformation into a successful person in the business of sex. Just what are they trying to tell us, is what makes you want to pull the hair. All bad things happen to good people; this movie crosses that out and says: bad people deserve bad things. The only trouble with this is that the 'bad' looks pretty alright to me, maybe even nice. Money and sex and suits with breathtaking view of San Francisco and what have you. There's one more thing I'm not going to do here; not judge. Getting laid every damn day and getting paid for it and also enjoying it (to hell with the tears, we've seen them done better) – as the movie suggests makes me not like anyone but Dev Patel's character. The charming, junkie-lawyer/ex-painter Franco is a treat alright but what in the Lord's name happened to Heather Graham? She's brooding most of the time and when she's not brooding most of the time she's having sex with another woman (dykes!). To top that, in a film filled with scenes of nudity and explicit sex she does not bare, not even a flash. In the end the movie is a build-up to more movies about internet-porn, like the upcoming 'Middlemen'. Lili Taylor also starred in 'The Notorious Bettie Page, 2005', which is an effective film, if I remember well. In the end it is also a beginning to an era of showing the glitz and glamour of the thirteen billion dollar porn industry and that it can be unending if you want it to be.

It's nice to see another take on the adult film industry. I don't have any experience or know anyone in the adult film industry, but I can see things like that happening (or at least similar to those depicted in the movie). You might think the same, if you watched the special feature/interview that is on the (german?) DVD. Hopefully they included this on all discs, because you can see the sincerity of the writer of this movie coming through.The movie still has some dramaturgy issues, some character based actions might not be that well explained, the overall experience is a good one (if you forgive the pun). And while there is nudity and some sensual scenes, the movie overall is not meant to excite that much in that category. There is always more than one story that can be told about something. Question is, are you open enough to see this particular one?