Though ultimately an 80-minute promo for his coffee-table book about the adult film world, Michael Grecco's "Naked Ambition: An R-Rated Look at an X-rated Industry" is an entertaining, adeptly crafted documentary that treats its provocative subject matter with refreshing respect. Top celebrity portrait photographer Grecco turned his cameras on the 2006 and 2007 Adult Video News Awards -- "The Oscars of Porn" -- and their accompanying conventions, during which he held a dizzying number of photo shoots with the events' anything-goes participants.
Michael Grecco's Naked Ambition was reviewed recently in the Los Angeles Times - "Where Porn Takes The Prize" . To view online click on the Los Angeles Times link below.
Grecco vividly captures an eclectic array of newer and veteran porn stars (with an emphasis on the ladies), along with the various fans, fetishists and sex gear vendors who descend upon Las Vegas for these four-day extravaganzas. In order to "take pictures that tell a story" for an eventual fine art companion book, Grecco attempts to dig beneath the shapely surfaces of such adult movie actresses as Sunny Lane, Joanna Angel, Nautica Thorn and Janine Lindemulder as he expertly snaps away. The emotions he unearths aren't terribly deep, but these candid conversations and backstage glimpses help frame these self-described exhibitionists as real people filled with ambition, savvy and, most of all, pride in their work -- things the talented Grecco clearly has as well.
-- Gary Goldstein "Naked Ambition: An R-Rated Look at an X-rated Industry." MPAA rating: R for pervasive strong sexual content, nudity and language. Running time: 1 hour, 20 minutes. At Laemmle's Sunset 5, 8000 Sunset Blvd., West Hollywood, (323) 848-3500; Laemmle's Monica 4-Plex, 1332 2nd St., Santa Monica, (310) 394-9741.
