A Swedish journalist (Stefan Nylén) travels to the US to seek out his all time favorite porn star from the 70's and 80's in this cool little documentary from Magnus Paulsson & Christian Hallman. Seka was a platinum blonde sex goddess who ruled the big screen (35mm film), as well as the little screen (home video) back in the golden & silver age of porn. However, in the 80's she up and vanished, leaving the business behind her. Where is Seka? How is she doing? Why did she leave it all behind? These are the questions posed during the film. Along the way, Stefan travels to a porn convention in Las Vegas, interviewing several of the people in the business who either knew Seka, or worked with her at one point in time. He also travels to Los Angeles on his quest for answers. Apparently Seka wasn't too hard to find, and Stefan eventually travels to Chicago to meet his American Idol. What fascinated be about this movie was the actual Seka herself. This is now a woman who by simply looking at her today, you would think she was your next door neighbor! However, she conducts herself freely in her interview with Stefan, which I found to be quite refreshing and entertaining. I really enjoyed the concept and execution of this film. Very much recommended if you like documentaries, and/or the history of porn and the adult film industry.
2 Reviews
Finally finding Dorothy
nixskits18 December 2009
I first saw this a few years ago and realized many porn actors are not all that different from average folks, other than their publicly smashing down certain "values" still deeply entrenched in North American society to this day. Watching this film, you'd probably think Nina Hartley, Veronica Hart or Seka herself would make a more appropriate babysitter/teacher for your child than, say, any televangelist from the 80s!
Dorothy grew up in Virginia and was a virgin till she first married (imagine that in today's X- rated community!). The creation of Seka came at a time when adult film was shifting over to a home video marketplace and the pre-internet universe was going to see a much different fan base than the 70s restricted these flicks to. Linda Lovelace/Marciano was now a vehement opponent of the genre that made her world famous. And actual talented actors like John Leslie and Kay Parker were never going to earn "legit" roles in mainstream projects.
Teenage boys could unofficially "borrow" (read, steal!) their father or older brother's Seka videotapes and have a radically more carnal fantasy figure than the ladies they saw on "Charlie's Angels" or "Wonder Woman". Along with Ginger Lynn, the still youthful and hot Marilyn Chambers, exotic and wild Vanessa Del Rio and pre-fallout Traci Lords, men on both sides of the legal age fence were seeing Seka in her prime and not needing the run down porn theatre circuit to accomplish it. Before the pushing of a few computer buttons made any kind of stuff you wanted free and easily available, the VHS/Beta medium ruled!
Seka/Dorothy eventually tired of the biz and, not wanting to end up like some professional victims in many lines of work, walked away on her own terms. She lives a down to earth life and it's great to see and hear her in this rewarding look back at how coy and fun a lot of porn was in those days before explicitness for it's own sake took over.
This disc is full of extended interviews and they're all worth watching. Porn has it's fair share of ridiculous people, but we're looking at the sensible ones here (with the possible exception of not yet homeless Al Goldstein, clearly on his way to the gutter, yet still full of some hardly acquired knowledge about this world and his place in it). The women who speak at length are no one's pawn. They're in public fornicating (Jerry Seinfeld's term I'm modifying), or were, because they want(ed) to be!
Dorothy grew up in Virginia and was a virgin till she first married (imagine that in today's X- rated community!). The creation of Seka came at a time when adult film was shifting over to a home video marketplace and the pre-internet universe was going to see a much different fan base than the 70s restricted these flicks to. Linda Lovelace/Marciano was now a vehement opponent of the genre that made her world famous. And actual talented actors like John Leslie and Kay Parker were never going to earn "legit" roles in mainstream projects.
Teenage boys could unofficially "borrow" (read, steal!) their father or older brother's Seka videotapes and have a radically more carnal fantasy figure than the ladies they saw on "Charlie's Angels" or "Wonder Woman". Along with Ginger Lynn, the still youthful and hot Marilyn Chambers, exotic and wild Vanessa Del Rio and pre-fallout Traci Lords, men on both sides of the legal age fence were seeing Seka in her prime and not needing the run down porn theatre circuit to accomplish it. Before the pushing of a few computer buttons made any kind of stuff you wanted free and easily available, the VHS/Beta medium ruled!
Seka/Dorothy eventually tired of the biz and, not wanting to end up like some professional victims in many lines of work, walked away on her own terms. She lives a down to earth life and it's great to see and hear her in this rewarding look back at how coy and fun a lot of porn was in those days before explicitness for it's own sake took over.
This disc is full of extended interviews and they're all worth watching. Porn has it's fair share of ridiculous people, but we're looking at the sensible ones here (with the possible exception of not yet homeless Al Goldstein, clearly on his way to the gutter, yet still full of some hardly acquired knowledge about this world and his place in it). The women who speak at length are no one's pawn. They're in public fornicating (Jerry Seinfeld's term I'm modifying), or were, because they want(ed) to be!
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