The Auteur

Studio: Tigard Film Society
Director: James Westby
Cast: Melik Malkasian, Katherine Flynn, John Breen, Michael Fetters, Victor Morris, Katie O’Grady, Tyger Hudson, Denise Dubois, Tony Marcellino, Holie Barker, Loren Hoskins, Casey McFeron, Ritah Parrish, Bryan Coffee, Viva Las Vegas, Malice 666, Scott Belllomo, Leslie Taylor, Cara Seymour, Ron Jeremy. Music by Jason Wells.

Portions of this review also appeared on Fleshbot

In an alternate universe where porn directors are feted with retrospectives, where their films are officially selected at festivals, and where there is enough money (or concern) to chauffeur these directors from the airport, celebrated porniste Arturo Domingo arrives in Portland.

The conceit of “The Auteur,” as evident from its title, is that the people who make porn movies are taken as seriously by the public as the auteurs take themselves. And that is an old joke. But what is new and beautiful about this 2008 film by James Westby, starring the dedicated, dead-on Melik Malkasian, is that the joke is a jumping-off point for a poignant and quirky tale of Redemption in the Pacific Northwest.

Domingo is a Spanish-born, USC Film School-educated porn auteur with hauteur. Malkasian plays him throughout his career, as a wild-haired avante-gardist framing popshots with his hands, putting an “h” in front of every word that otherwise begins with a vowel, and sporting dark glasses and turtleneck in his Late Period.

“The Auteur” finds Domingo at a low ebb. Sure he’s the subject of a film festival, but his career has tanked. He has parted from both his greatest collaborator – Frank E. Normo, the Kinski to his Herzog – and his wife, Fiona Hannigan, whom he drove away with his artist’s rages.

Normo, played by John Breen (a ringer for the adult world’s Rod Fontana), was Domingo’s go-to dude for epics such as “Five Easy Nieces,” “Requiem for a Wet Dream,” and “Broadway Danny’s Hos,” with each of these porn adaptations excerpted with humor and skill.

But Domingo’s excesses and paranoia overwhelmed him during the filming of his magnum opus, “Full Metal Jackoff,” in which Ohio stood in for Vietnam and Normo stood in for Domingo with the latter’s wife. Domingo loses them both after this “Magnificent Ambersons” of his career, and now, with the ever-bankable Normo out of his life, Domingo cannot return to glory with “Gang Bangs of New York.”

While Domingo rediscovers himself at this crossroads, we discover Portland, photographed lovingly, and with a soundtrack by Jason Wells worthy of “Juno” by way of Wes Anderson. One great achievement of “The Auteur” is that Westby parcels out who plays what for laughs, so Katherine Flynn’s Fiona gets a bright and complex performance for her reel.

Another is the film’s resistance to becoming self-aware, which tempts everyone from Christopher Guest’s ensembles to Woody Allen’s. Instead, “The Auteur” takes an oft-parodied business and allows it just enough face time to let the audience decide for itself how silly it is.

In the end, Domingo only gets back one of his great loves, and the bittersweet finale is like a little death.

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