Madlen


I was so glad to see Madlen accept that modeling was not the job for her and happily walk away. I know it said she was 2k in debt to the agency but I think if she stuck around she would have wound up way worse off. She did the right thing by calling it quits when she did. It was the one bright spot of the film for me.

That, and when she was so brazenly challenging Ashley in their little cube apartment. Madlen didn't feel the need to put on a pretend happy face. She just laid it out for her, I don't have any work this week, I don't have any work next week. And when Ashley was trying to dance around it, Madlen just made her point again. She wasn't booked for any paying jobs.

reply

I didn't really understand that dialogue about not doing any work this week and next week. I thought that Madlen was kind of stupid. But now, the way you explained it, I understand that she might have been quite clever and bold, actually.

reply

Yeah Ashley was trying to say, who knows, maybe you'll get booked
(meanwhile they do not, in fact, have any actual work actually lined up)
And Madlen was saying, No, we don't have work, we have interviews.

reply

[deleted]

Ashley just blatantly lied direct to the Camera at the end when she said, "Every model has success in Japan, unlike other markets where they might go into debt, they never do in Japan, they only win." (The filmmakers even pointed out that both Madlen and Nadya were in debt).

Did she not notice all the Cameras pointed at her, especially the Documentary Maker's camera? I'd say she's a part of the scam, and she is as rotten a person as Tigra and Messiah.

And I agree is was good to see Madlen give Ashley a hard time and stare her down and out of the apartment ...

reply

She appeared to be a plucky girl. Unaffected and strong. I liked her a lot.

reply

bluesdoctor^

I totally agree with your post.

Heck; everyone but the girls appeared as pimps in this film, IMHO.

The girls weren't expected to get any REAL modeling jobs by the people who sent them to Japan -- they weren't expected to earn any money for themselves -- they are lured to a foreign country, taken out of their element intentionally and away from their families (after all, isn't that what predators do?), and are left with no supervision or true care -- so that tons of pics could be taken of them (and I too was wondering about hidden cameras), printed off en masse so all that chicken porn could be sold for lots of money, and, adding insult to injury, they stick these poor girls with the bill, making them pay for their own exploitation.

They want 'fresh' faces because that's what sells. They don't want a girl who is over-exposed. All that BS about them not getting work because they don't have enough photos. Uh-huh; pull the other leg, bud. You're taking LOTS of shots now -- you want very young girls who haven't been overplayed in the chicken porn market yet. The sleazier the outfit, the more 'fresh young faces, etc.' are in constant demand.

All those cut-up pics that 'Ashley' was playing with?

Well, of course. We only saw the PG versions. In addition to the foot fetish shots, I wonder what heads are put on which bodies to further sell as porn. She isn't playing with those as some kind of game -- she is making money from those, too.

However: I think Ashley lies to the girls and their families, and to the camera, but I don't think she lies to herself. I think she knows very well what she is doing.

She is lying and crying all the way to the bank.







"I'm here because I believe in a free Narnia."

reply

You mentioned Russia, but not Japan. How come?

reply

They starve, they cry and are confused


It just killed me when Nadya's mother asked her on the phone what she was eating and Nadya said she had no money to buy food.

reply