Switching from merely humping for a living (and thousands of times at that) to producing porn videos by the bushel basket for his own eponymous banner, James Deen more than overreaches with the pretentious "Stockholm Syndrome", a waste of a good title. This drek is anti-entertainment and almost anti-porn due to lack of filmmaking bona fides.
It's the third straight David Lord video, in which he operates in various capacities including d.p. or producer, where the visuals are terrible: drab, not sharp in focus, poorly lit, you name it. Even crummy gonzo product is usually "Wide World of Sports" clear so the fans can see the participants go at it in explicit XXX fashion, but not this time. Even the camera placements and closeup versus long shot decisions are poor.
Taking nearly all the creative screen credits, this J.D. (translates as juvenile delinquent or James Deen/Dean), unlike his iconic namesake of the '50s is a repellent anti-hero. He robs people coming out of gyms (to catch them off-guard or weary) for a living, and though as auteur in the BTS short subject he is adamant about shooting a romance film, the lengthy porn video is one of those cold, inhuman "Action Man" exercises so beloved by critics - take Ryan Gosling in "Drive" as the most recent example. Too bad great filmmakers like Walter Hill in them good old '70s wrote the book on that genre (as did much-hated but a personal fave of mine Michael Winner). Deen's version is atrocious.
One gimmick of his is worth considering, if not adopting. He structures the porn so that only the couplings of star Remy LaCroix with himself, James Deen, get a cum shot. When he humps a hooker (tattooed but otherwise miscast Nina Elle) there's no money shot (she even complains about this in the BTS!) and in the film's major set-piece, character lead and nominal villain Steven St. Croix doesn't shoot visibly on either LaCroix or his secretary well-performed (but with zero dialog assigned) by Kalina Ryu.
The BDSM dominance/submission of that key scene for St. Croix is the film's main subtext and so misogynistic as to be nearly unwatchable, as he abuses trophy wife Remy and she meekly and unconvincingly puts up with his exaggerated nonsense. Sure, we know she will cotton up to unlikable Deen after he kidnaps her at the absurd suggestion of Steven's nefarious partner Charlie (played by, you didn't guess it, producer David Lord himself), since the video's title tells us so. But the details of the kidnapping - the $20,000,000 ransom action, the drop, the standoff and the ridiculous shootout are all bungled by neophyte director Deen. I can see even Fred Olen Ray out there somewhere turning off his DVD player in disgust watching that "action" aspect of this porn.
So a dumb and cornball happy ending, yet another reason to wish the old Hollywood Code of "crime cannot pay" was reinstated as an instant improvement for contemporary garbage scriptwriting,
Ultimately we are left wondering the bigger question: Does anyone act as a gatekeeper anymore for failed junk or do distributors, in this case the previously reliable Girlfriends Films of lesbian content fame, just happily contract for any old thing as long as it's delivered on time and at a price? Having just watched the new "Trumbo" feature after screening "Stockholm Syndrome" I merely note that even Z-grade Hollywood indie producers like the King Bros. of old, were rather strict in what they created, even with the proviso that they knew they were making crap in a generic sense. That sounds like a contradiction, but I don't think so - if you are stuck in the porn racket, then you owe it to us poor slobs who are your patrons to try your best, just as the King Bros. in their own inverted and convoluted way did ("Gun Crazy" being their most famous and possibly best movie, though my personal favorite is Barry Sullivan in "The Gangster" which Trumbo co-wrote).
It's the third straight David Lord video, in which he operates in various capacities including d.p. or producer, where the visuals are terrible: drab, not sharp in focus, poorly lit, you name it. Even crummy gonzo product is usually "Wide World of Sports" clear so the fans can see the participants go at it in explicit XXX fashion, but not this time. Even the camera placements and closeup versus long shot decisions are poor.
Taking nearly all the creative screen credits, this J.D. (translates as juvenile delinquent or James Deen/Dean), unlike his iconic namesake of the '50s is a repellent anti-hero. He robs people coming out of gyms (to catch them off-guard or weary) for a living, and though as auteur in the BTS short subject he is adamant about shooting a romance film, the lengthy porn video is one of those cold, inhuman "Action Man" exercises so beloved by critics - take Ryan Gosling in "Drive" as the most recent example. Too bad great filmmakers like Walter Hill in them good old '70s wrote the book on that genre (as did much-hated but a personal fave of mine Michael Winner). Deen's version is atrocious.
One gimmick of his is worth considering, if not adopting. He structures the porn so that only the couplings of star Remy LaCroix with himself, James Deen, get a cum shot. When he humps a hooker (tattooed but otherwise miscast Nina Elle) there's no money shot (she even complains about this in the BTS!) and in the film's major set-piece, character lead and nominal villain Steven St. Croix doesn't shoot visibly on either LaCroix or his secretary well-performed (but with zero dialog assigned) by Kalina Ryu.
The BDSM dominance/submission of that key scene for St. Croix is the film's main subtext and so misogynistic as to be nearly unwatchable, as he abuses trophy wife Remy and she meekly and unconvincingly puts up with his exaggerated nonsense. Sure, we know she will cotton up to unlikable Deen after he kidnaps her at the absurd suggestion of Steven's nefarious partner Charlie (played by, you didn't guess it, producer David Lord himself), since the video's title tells us so. But the details of the kidnapping - the $20,000,000 ransom action, the drop, the standoff and the ridiculous shootout are all bungled by neophyte director Deen. I can see even Fred Olen Ray out there somewhere turning off his DVD player in disgust watching that "action" aspect of this porn.
So a dumb and cornball happy ending, yet another reason to wish the old Hollywood Code of "crime cannot pay" was reinstated as an instant improvement for contemporary garbage scriptwriting,
Ultimately we are left wondering the bigger question: Does anyone act as a gatekeeper anymore for failed junk or do distributors, in this case the previously reliable Girlfriends Films of lesbian content fame, just happily contract for any old thing as long as it's delivered on time and at a price? Having just watched the new "Trumbo" feature after screening "Stockholm Syndrome" I merely note that even Z-grade Hollywood indie producers like the King Bros. of old, were rather strict in what they created, even with the proviso that they knew they were making crap in a generic sense. That sounds like a contradiction, but I don't think so - if you are stuck in the porn racket, then you owe it to us poor slobs who are your patrons to try your best, just as the King Bros. in their own inverted and convoluted way did ("Gun Crazy" being their most famous and possibly best movie, though my personal favorite is Barry Sullivan in "The Gangster" which Trumbo co-wrote).