Sasha Grey’s new production company with Oren Cohen (formerly of Tightfit and “Assraelis” fame), Grey Art, has excellent boxcover art evocative of low-fi comic books such as “Watchmen” and “The Dark Knight.”Grey is herself evocative of everyone from Audrey Hepburn to Christina Ricci to early-period Exene Cervenka and it is easy to mistake the hype for the person. It happens a lot in porn, and with Cat Stevens.
I was interested to see what Grey’s first independent project, “The Birthday Party,” would be like.
And it was just fine. I had to skip over a ponderous segment in which Grey attempted to eat green frosting through a gag (I hate wasting food and hosiery), but I believe “The Birthday Party” did everything porn should do.
Q. But Grams, Sasha Grey is wicked smart. Shouldn’t lyrical epiphanies be coming out the end of my penis just by watching one of her movies?
A. No, it’s just a porn movie, and lyrical discharge is one of the symptoms of gonorrhea.
But far more interesting was Grey’s brief “Girlfriend Experience” video diary included as a special feature. In it Grey walks through New York in the fall, looking much more at home than I’m sure she did in her native outer boroughs of Sacramento. In the interview she seemed alive; in the movie she seemed more of a creation.
And I determined that I like Sasha Grey more as a person than a porn star. I’m not sure what that means.
- Buy “The Birthday Party” here
Previously on Porn Valley Observed: Grey, Obama accept accolades humbly; God, grant me Sasha Grey; Sasha Grey – the end of innocence; Digital Playground preps “Pirates III: The Black Freighter”
See also: Sasha Grey
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