Destricted (18) <!-- none onestar twostar threestar fourstar fivestar -->
Seven artists and film-makers were asked to make films representing their views on sex and pornography. But while - both in porn and in real life - sex has a strong story-line, most of these films try to make a virtue out of abandoning any sense of narrative. Matthew (Cremaster) Barney's Hoist lasts 14 minutes and 38 seconds, most of which consists of shots of a naked man with a turnip growing out of his bottom rubbing his penis against the driveshaft of an enormous earth-mover - ouch! Sam Taylor-Wood's Death Valley depicts a man masturbating energetically but without outcome in the middle of a desert landscape. The tedium is indescribable. The exception is Larry Clarke's Impaled, in which he interviews several young men about their experience of pornography and its influence on them, then selects one to appear in his own porn film. Apart from the sociological interest - all these boys shave their pubic hair - the combination of wish-fulfilment and exploitation bites deep.
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments