Search - The Life (Unrated Edition) on DVD

Unexpected

William A. Howes | Nashville, IL USA | 03/12/2008

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Realize that the G-rated Hannah-Richards storyline involving the friendship of an anthropology student with a prostitute is very short...maybe 20 minutes of the film. Intercut are numerous bits from a series of actual interviews of prostitutes of all types, a few madams, a dominatrix and a couple porn film performers, as well as some clients, a couple porn photographers, and a cold-eyed young Eastern European sex-slaver. The link between the two disparate elements of the film appears to be Richards' character's ongoing interviews for a book on prositution she's doing and, under Hannah's tutelage, a first-hand foray into prostitution when her grant money runs out. As far as I can tell after one viewing, no effort is made to explain why the interviews are done, for the most part, in subtitled Spanish, obviously shot in Europe. Without knowing the background, it appears to me the producers tried to market what would have been a routine documentary with a fictional storyline and some star appeal, whether or not it was taken from a book. If true, it is an interesting marketing ploy. The storyline is disappointing, the interviews good, and the whole treatment was unexpected."

Meditation on prostitution

Reader | Boca Raton, FL | 08/23/2007

(2 out of 5 stars)

"Half movie fiction, half documentary, this film is presenting male and female prostitutes and porn stars trying to make a distinction between the two professions. In the midst of prostitutes confessions as to how they got into the oldest trade, are two female characters: young graduate student in anthropology (Denise Richards) and her neighbor failed actress/high class prostitute (Darryl Hannah). As every prostitute has a story on what got them into a trade, so do these two major characters. While one is already a high class prostitute, the other is being carefully guided into becoming one. Interesting meditation on how people get into the situations like these and why they get stuck in there."