After Porn Ends 2 (2017)

Porn isn’t something you’d think of as having a golden age.  Today’s porn is different than when I was growing up.  All we had was VHS and you had to go to a store to get it.  There weren’t any of these fancy Web sites with their flashy banners and whatnot.  And there were big names, too.  Everyone knew at least one, even if you didn't watch the stuff.

Starring in an adult film could change your life.  It could define what you could do with your life, both during and after.  A few years ago, a documentary came out called After Porn Ends.  It showed how gaining that level of recognition could limit what you could do afterwards.  Not many people were able to hold ’normal’ jobs because everyone saw them as a porn star.

After Porn Ends 2 is a direct sequel to that documentary.  It doesn’t follow up on any of the previous stories.  Instead, we have a new batch of people who have made their living making adult films.  As with the original, many don’t work much outside of the adult industry.  Some market adult novelties.  Some have tried their hand at art.  Many have retired only to go back to what they know best.

In the first documentary, many of the stars had their regrets.  Here, a lot of the stars seem happy.  Again, many haven’t been able to move on.  Instead, some have embraced it.  A few talk about the movies they made and liking the recognition they get on the street.  Lisa Ann was able to play Sarah Palin in an adult film and became known for it.

This isn’t always the case. Janine Lindemulder was sent to jail for back taxes.  When she got out, her child had been taken away from her.  Between her tattoos and former career, she didn’t really stand a chance.  There’s also Darren James, who was diagnosed with HIV after coming back from Brazil.  It made headlines, forcing him to come out to his family about what he did for a living.  It caused the adult film industry in Southern California to cease production for several months.

There’s a much wider spectrum in this movie.  Each star is featured for a few minutes while we see what they think of having starred in adult films.  There are also a few people that are getting into the industry talking about how they expect their careers to go.  We even get to see adult stars going back several generations, including Georgina Spelvin, who is 81.

As you might imagine, this is not a movie for children.  Some of the stars go into explicit detail about what they did and what their plans were.  And yes, nudity is shown.  (There are several clips from adult movies.)  This is not a movie for children.  This isn’t to say that you have to watch porn to enjoy the documentary.  Each segment is short enough not to become boring.  I just wouldn’t watch it with your parents.

IMDb page

After Porn Ends = Profane Trends [ After Porn Ends (2012) ]

Note:  This review was originally posted to my Epinions account.

I remember someone on television saying that Monica Lewinski would never be able to get a job after her story broke.  No man would ever be able to go home to his wife and say, “Hey, honey.  You’ll never believe who I just hired.”  There would always be that stigma associated with knowing who she is.  Likewise, actors in the adult-film industry have a hard time transitioning to life afterwards.  You have the recognizably of being in movies with the stigma of showing your body for a living.

After Porn Ends shows several people, both male and female, who have starred in adult films as well as a few other people who can offer opinions.  The documentary starts by showing several actors and what their then-current profession was.  (Examples include stay-at-home mother and artist.)  Each recounts their attempts at a life after pornography.  Some have started families.  Some have tried different careers.

None of the actors have been able to really move on.  Asia Carrera moved to Utah in hopes that the illegality of pornography would afford her some relief.  (It didn’t.  Someone was able to look her up, despite the use of a fake name.)  Another actor was fired after being recognized -- a week before being diagnosed with cancer.  They all have that moment where someone figures out who they are.  Sometimes it ends well, but it usually haunts them.

This is why no one looks at acting in pornography as a legitimate career choice.  Many of the actors, particularly the women, were taken advantage of.  One was approached right after being thrown out of her house.  (The joke is that women strip to put themselves through college, but at least that’s plausible.  No one ever says that about acting in an adult film.)  Randy West points out in the movie that no one wants money from a porn star because of where it came from.

Asia Carrera seems to be the only one of the female stars that had any sort of an option going into it.  She had started college and is even a member of MENSA, although she had to set up a G-rated site for them to link to.  MENSA wouldn’t link to anything with an adult connotation.  Another actor, Tyfanny Million, is now a bounty hunter.  These are the only two female stars that seem to have had a life after leaving the industry.

The movie did seem to drag at points.  About halfway through, I considered turning it off.  I wanted to stick with it to see what else everyone had to say.  Many comment on their experiences working.  (And yes, the movie has sex and nudity.)  Some of the actors loved being paid to have sex on camera while others were numb to it.  Some loved learning everything about how the movies were made while others loved that they could put so little effort into it and still get good money out of it.

I remember coming across a question on a dating site asking if you’d want your kid working on adult films behind the scenes.  When I first saw it, I looked at it as knowing what your kids did even if it meant never seeing them on screen.  Now that I’ve seen this movie, I have a slightly different take on the question.  You may not have the recognition, but there might still be the lingering association.  Also, pornography isn’t something you graduate from.  It’s not like people write dirty movies, then get picked up to write network television.  (I can think of only one adult star that’s made the transition to mainstream acting.)

In some cases, it’s possible to empathize.  It’s possible to think in terms of what might have happened.  In a few cases, they had some idea of what they were getting into.  In others, it was more of a gradual transition from doing something else, like modeling or dancing.  There are varying degrees of regret, but it seems that there aren’t too many happy endings. 

IMDb page