The problem with Asia Carrera
Boy, I walked away from this with some pretty negative thoughts on Asia Carrera. First of all, the constant bragging about her intelligence, and her grades, and her Mensa membership was over the top. This is a woman who has been trying - since childhood - to prove to the world (and to herself) that she has value. It struck me as really sad that she's continuing in this effort. She felt the need to explain how she is Asia the intellect, Asia the beautiful sex symbol, Asia the groundbreaking porn star, Asia the super mom. She said her daughter is super smart; and we get to see her working out/running, and basically being the perfect woman. But nothing she said felt genuine. It felt like a big phony act, about as sincere and convincing as her on-film orgasms.
For someone who is so smart, you have to wonder how it is that she never made a good decision in her whole life. She spent an eternity telling us how successful she was, and how much money she made, and how she made hundreds of dollars an hour signing autographs, yada yada yada. Then when her husband died she said she had nothing. Absolute zero. A lot of porn stars leave the business broke, but Asia Carrera wasn't your average porn star. She was an A-lister; she was a certified genius, and she was in the porn business for 16 years. How the hell did she not save something or invest something somewhere in those 16 years? According to her, if not for her generous fans donating money, she would have ended up homeless. C'mon. Either she's not as smart as she's telling us, or the plea for cash was a scam.
She told us in great detail how she learned EVERYTHING she could about making a porno and how she could do any job on the set because she learned everything. In fact, she was the only person in the documentary to cite her imdb page, claiming that it proves how she did every possible job on the set. I checked her imdb page, and her story doesn't check out. In 1997, she directed and wrote 6 porn movies. That's it. She was in the porn industry for 16 years and starred in 280 movies. For approximately 2% of those movies, she had a hand in writing and directing over a period of 12 months. Outside of 1997, there's nothing. There are no credits for lighting, sound, special effects, grip work, etc. It looks like she experimented in writing/directing for a 12-month period and that was it. Yet another example of her making herself out to be more than she is.
In the final minutes of the documentary, she states how the porn industry was so great to her (despite leaving her penniless) and how she has no regrets (despite having to hide out and live as a hermit in a tiny Utah town where she is confronted by strangers about her past). She said she is doing great and life is wonderful. Then right before the closing credits, we learn that the woman with the perfect life is battling alcoholism. Oh, and apparently food addiction as well since she's gained 40 lbs in the two years since quitting porn.
They should've just left her out of the documentary. Nothing she said was based in reality and thus none of it had any relevance. Sad story. Fortunately, she can always rely on her loyal fans to bail her out.