Layout

As Woody Allen said of Los Angeles in Annie Hall, "They do nothing but give out awards here!" True--for even the adult film industry hands out hardware, from several different organizations. Perhaps the most prestigious are those doled out by the trade publication that covers the biz, Adult Video News. They give out their awards in January at the Adult Entertainment Expo in Las Vegas. There are several dozen categories, from Best Anal-Themed Release (won by Ass Worship 10), Best MILF Release (It's a Mommy Thing), and Best Oral-Themed Release (Face Full of Diesel). There is also simply an award for Best Film, and in 2008 it went to one titled Layout.

I've been reviewing adult titles for several years, and am amused by the dual-thinking that goes on. When adult films started (probably about five minutes after the invention of the film projector) they were simply short scenes of people having sex. Starting in the seventies the typical porn film began having a plot; in fact, they had to, as court rulings mandated that such films have a "socially redeeming" qualities in order not to be prosecuted. But when film gave way to video, and legal restrictions were relaxed, pornographers realized they didn't need to bother with such pesky obstacles as scripts or acting, they returned to the roots, and simply ran a camera while two or more people were having sex. This style of adult film became known as "gonzo," and it dominates the industry today.

However, as with Hollywood, who have magnates who chase Oscars even if it isn't in there best financial interests, some in the adult film community fancy themselves artists and try to make good movies that just happen to have sex scenes. Some of these films are very successful, usually catering to the couples crowd (as opposed to the single male crowd, which uses the films primarily as whacking material). For example, a big-budget extravaganza called Pirates was one of the best-selling adult DVDs of all-time, and now has a sequel.

Layout comes from Vivid, which is an outfit that has always tried to be classier than the rest. Their top line are shot-on-film releases which aren't particularly kinky, have plots, and are easily edited for cable-TV. One of their more ubiquitous directors is Paul Thomas, who was a performer himself back in the day and once said on a DVD extra that he likes to think himself as a director of "small French films." Pretentiousness, it seems, oozes into every art form.

Thomas is the director of Layout, which I must say is a fairly decent film, but no one would care about it if it didn't have sex scenes. It's also not a surprise that it won a top honor from Adult Video News, as the movie is about the editors of a magazine that is suspiciously similar. We have the jaded, self-loathing editor-in-chief (Tom Byron), the crazy owner (Tyce Bune), the new kid on the block (Marcus Leon), who becomes romantically involved with an older porn star making a comeback (Kylie Ireland), and an associate editor (Penny Flame) who likes to seduce the new starlets. Many of the sex scenes in this film are dispiriting, perhaps none so much as the one in which Flame has tied up her latest conquest, Joey Valentine, in her bathtub and drips candle wax on her.

The tenor of the film is that everyone in porn is filled with self-hatred, which might be true, but I don't really care to know that. There are scenes that ring true, like when Byron chides Leon for writing a bad review of a film from a company that is one of the magazine's biggest advertisers. There are also warts-and-all depictions of performers, especially by Briana Banks, an artificially-bosomed actress with a voice like a honking goose who plays a very unpleasant person.

I don't know how Layout did with the general public, but it appears to me that it was made for those in the industry to sadly nod their heads in recognition. Some of the scenes are sexy, but for the most part they are disturbing and depressing. All in all, I much preferred the winner of the Best Gonzo Release: Brianna Love is Buttwoman. Now that was some good porn.