Late to the party

I saw Oxyana not long after it came out, read interviews with the director Sean Dunne, and wanted to keep up with his work.

But I didn't discover Cam Girlz until just now, coincidently only 3 days after it becoming "free" to watch because of a sponsorship with Chaturbate, obviously a sex cam site.

First off, overall, I really liked the film. There were moments that just seemed magical, whether it was the mood, lighting, or a perfectly composed but authentic strangeness that created it. These short pieces of the film are enough by themselves to earn it 5 out of imdb's 10 stars.

However, and still speaking to the movie, it started to feel repetitious about half way in. At that point I had no idea how it was going to run the whole hour and seven minutes. I almost never lose patience with a movie, no matter how subtle or slow the story is. In this case, given the range of material presented, I think it could have made for an amazingly brilliant 25 to 30 minutes. Stretched out for over an hour, and not having any other angles but audio interviews with the girls (Synced to their performances) it sucks to say, but the repitition started to give the movie more and more of a one dimensional feel. That's not to take away from enauthenticity of the characters, or from anything, but the short vingetes with the "guys" while excellent and badly needed, wasn't enough. It was a great movie nevertheless.

This point is actually why I decided to post-- because I didn't have any background or context going into this film, and because it had just been made "free" due to the sponsorship with Chaturbate, that, combined with the almost too positive take on empowerment, freedom, female courage, etc., etc., gave the strong impression at times that this was (or, rather, could be) one long infomercial. An infomercial combined with what the adult industry has always done in parallel to market itself, and that's to challenge social norms and advocate for a more progressive view of sex in general. The word "freedom" is used a lot.

What sucks, though, is that I think this is a genuine misstep. If the movie existed as its own entity up until now, relying on Kickstarter funds and making money from VOD on Vimeo, then, assuming no conspiratorial moves were made, the movie should retain its integrity.

But I think that this movie's integrity is now potentially called into question with a sex cam site now THE "sponsor" of the film. It has perhaps turned what was (or should have been) a movie with a trustworthy and brave message into what can now be interpreted as verging on social propaganda.

And like I mentioned above, the repetitive nature of the film and the themes that were repeated over and over-- probably an honest collection of decisions about how to tell the story-- now instead, coincidently, act to only cheapen the message. Because now, the movie is brought to you by a company with all the incentive in the world to hammer those themes home, over and over.

I wish I could have seen Cam Girlz before it was "sponsored," because I think this sponsorship now has the potential to drastically reduce the power of the film, and even to roll back much of the genuinely positive and progressive gains it made prior.

If nothing can be done, I hope that I the very east that screen shot of Chaterbate can be edited out of the movie. That plug cemented the beginning of my skepticism in the faith of Dunne's vision and real commitment.

Just my two cents.