I saw Inside Lara Roxx last night at the Boston Underground Film Festival and was quite simply blown away.
This is an almost perfect film that follows a young woman for 6 years, after her discovery that she contracted the HIV virus after a wrong choice. Yes, that choice was porn, but the film is really not about porn, or the porn industry. It's really about the choices one young woman makes, and the consequences of those decisions. And it never judges Lara for those decisions. Instead it's a portrait of a girl who could be the girl next door. A girl who did the wrong things to impress a guy. Lara is quite possibly your daughter, you just don't know it yet.
The film's journey is an emotional roller coaster ride through the ups and many downs as Lara copes not only with the disease, coming to terms with it, and then not, but with the side effects of both the drugs to treat it, and the illegal drugs she takes to seemingly help her get through the day.
Director Mia Donovan herself becomes a part of the film as she befriends Lara, and helps her whenever she can. And honestly she probably helped Lara most by holding up this mirror to her, and allowing her to save herself.
It's brave filmmaking. It's thoughtfully edited. And having been on the film festival circuit for over a year with my Replacements documentary, I can easily say Inside Lara Roxx is one of the best documentaries of recent years.
If you're turned off in any way by the subject matter, don't be. This is a must see along the lines of Gasland or Devil And Daniel Johnston. It's a great film. It's an important film.
This is an almost perfect film that follows a young woman for 6 years, after her discovery that she contracted the HIV virus after a wrong choice. Yes, that choice was porn, but the film is really not about porn, or the porn industry. It's really about the choices one young woman makes, and the consequences of those decisions. And it never judges Lara for those decisions. Instead it's a portrait of a girl who could be the girl next door. A girl who did the wrong things to impress a guy. Lara is quite possibly your daughter, you just don't know it yet.
The film's journey is an emotional roller coaster ride through the ups and many downs as Lara copes not only with the disease, coming to terms with it, and then not, but with the side effects of both the drugs to treat it, and the illegal drugs she takes to seemingly help her get through the day.
Director Mia Donovan herself becomes a part of the film as she befriends Lara, and helps her whenever she can. And honestly she probably helped Lara most by holding up this mirror to her, and allowing her to save herself.
It's brave filmmaking. It's thoughtfully edited. And having been on the film festival circuit for over a year with my Replacements documentary, I can easily say Inside Lara Roxx is one of the best documentaries of recent years.
If you're turned off in any way by the subject matter, don't be. This is a must see along the lines of Gasland or Devil And Daniel Johnston. It's a great film. It's an important film.