SPOILERS THROUGH:
I haven't heard of to many movies that center on the phone sex industry before. I went into this movie not knowing to much about it although I did know it was a Spike Lee picture. And after seeing it I must say I thought it above average though I'm not surprised a lot of people may not like this as it is definitely not a mainstream flick.
Girl 6 seems to be a very polarizing film in that people seem to either absolutely love it or despise it. I feel neither way, I liked it a lot and could see maybe loving it after I see it again a few times but as it stands now I see it as an interesting, unusual film that takes on a little bit of a taboo subject and features some great performances but that still has some flaws.
I'm not going to get into reviewing the plot but will say that Theresa Randle should really be a household name as she was excellent. This would have been a very very difficult role to play (and play well) And she did that. I think the performance was perfect. I will also say I disagree with a lot of critics about the fact that this film almost makes the phone sex industry look to glamorous. I don't agree with that view at all, in fact one of the film's strength's to me, was how strong it was on mood and atmosphere. I do not think this was an industry made to look glamorous, I can't see many people watching this film and thinking:there's an easy, glamorous, exciting fun job. Quite the contrary, this film did with phone sex what "Boogie Nights" did with the porn industry and that is show the inner workings in a detached, dispassion rather monotonous way. I think the film's to be commended for that.
Then there's the question of the movie maybe being unrealistic in Girl Six's gradual addiction to the job. In terms of that, it would be difficult for me to comment as I have no idea whether phone sex workers ever do in fact become addicted, but I will say that there isn't much in life that someone, somewhere, probably has not had an addiction to and I think Theresa Randle does a wonderful job in painting a poignantly sad picture of the loneliness that envelops Judy/Girl 6 so whether or not this plot line maybe realistic, strong character development helps with that. And I did enjoy the small appearances from some well known people such as Madonna and Tarrentino.
As much as I enjoyed this film there were things that I didn't like although maybe I shouldn't call them flaws, more like frustrations. First, something that others have mentioned is the "why factor". I wanted to see more things explained and less ambiguity. A good example would be when she gives Bob her phone number. There's a lot that's not explained and I wish there had been at least one time we'd gotten to see Girl 6 actually interact with one of these customers in person or at least seen more character development of the men. I felt a lot of time was spent on the fantasy scenes, which I know many liked but that I thought went on to long. I felt to many scenes lasted to long, while others that seemed more interesting were dropped to quickly. I felt the movie was to disjointed at times and was a bit to arty for my tastes at times, with the camera work and some of the imagery.
So I'd have to say, for me, this was a daring picture, an above average picture, a well acted(wonderfully acted) picture, but not a fantastic picture. Personally, I think many would hate it, even if it had little to no flaws at all. I mean any film that takes on a controversial subject matter is going to have a lot of detractors. My vote is 7 of 10. I'd definitely recommend it and see it again but there were a lot of moments I wasn't that into as well. Still worth seeing though and really should not have received some of the bad reviews it did from some critics considering all the garbage out there. My vote's 7 of 10.
I haven't heard of to many movies that center on the phone sex industry before. I went into this movie not knowing to much about it although I did know it was a Spike Lee picture. And after seeing it I must say I thought it above average though I'm not surprised a lot of people may not like this as it is definitely not a mainstream flick.
Girl 6 seems to be a very polarizing film in that people seem to either absolutely love it or despise it. I feel neither way, I liked it a lot and could see maybe loving it after I see it again a few times but as it stands now I see it as an interesting, unusual film that takes on a little bit of a taboo subject and features some great performances but that still has some flaws.
I'm not going to get into reviewing the plot but will say that Theresa Randle should really be a household name as she was excellent. This would have been a very very difficult role to play (and play well) And she did that. I think the performance was perfect. I will also say I disagree with a lot of critics about the fact that this film almost makes the phone sex industry look to glamorous. I don't agree with that view at all, in fact one of the film's strength's to me, was how strong it was on mood and atmosphere. I do not think this was an industry made to look glamorous, I can't see many people watching this film and thinking:there's an easy, glamorous, exciting fun job. Quite the contrary, this film did with phone sex what "Boogie Nights" did with the porn industry and that is show the inner workings in a detached, dispassion rather monotonous way. I think the film's to be commended for that.
Then there's the question of the movie maybe being unrealistic in Girl Six's gradual addiction to the job. In terms of that, it would be difficult for me to comment as I have no idea whether phone sex workers ever do in fact become addicted, but I will say that there isn't much in life that someone, somewhere, probably has not had an addiction to and I think Theresa Randle does a wonderful job in painting a poignantly sad picture of the loneliness that envelops Judy/Girl 6 so whether or not this plot line maybe realistic, strong character development helps with that. And I did enjoy the small appearances from some well known people such as Madonna and Tarrentino.
As much as I enjoyed this film there were things that I didn't like although maybe I shouldn't call them flaws, more like frustrations. First, something that others have mentioned is the "why factor". I wanted to see more things explained and less ambiguity. A good example would be when she gives Bob her phone number. There's a lot that's not explained and I wish there had been at least one time we'd gotten to see Girl 6 actually interact with one of these customers in person or at least seen more character development of the men. I felt a lot of time was spent on the fantasy scenes, which I know many liked but that I thought went on to long. I felt to many scenes lasted to long, while others that seemed more interesting were dropped to quickly. I felt the movie was to disjointed at times and was a bit to arty for my tastes at times, with the camera work and some of the imagery.
So I'd have to say, for me, this was a daring picture, an above average picture, a well acted(wonderfully acted) picture, but not a fantastic picture. Personally, I think many would hate it, even if it had little to no flaws at all. I mean any film that takes on a controversial subject matter is going to have a lot of detractors. My vote is 7 of 10. I'd definitely recommend it and see it again but there were a lot of moments I wasn't that into as well. Still worth seeing though and really should not have received some of the bad reviews it did from some critics considering all the garbage out there. My vote's 7 of 10.