As viewers will discover in the first episode of this six-part Sundance Channel-aired documentary series, the “gals” of the Chicken Ranch—a legal brothel in Nevada—don't ever leave the premises, except for three hours once a week to visit a doctor for their regular recertification as being STD-free. Unfortunately, the fact of their near-incarceration is all but forgotten as filmmakers Joe and Harry Gantz, who made HBO's similarly voyeuristic Taxicab Confessions, tend to focus more on made-for-reality TV-style shenanigans, including catfights between “girls” competing for customers. Overall, the problem isn't that the Gantzes aren't sympathetic with their subjects (the worthy thesis here appears to be that these ladies are people rightfully deserving of respect), but the fact remains that these women are still being turned into commodities (instead of being packaged as sex toys for paying customers, the show turns them into objects of fascinating pity for prurient audiences). Actually, the women profiled in Pleasure for Sale are stronger and more psychologically together than you might expect, and some viewers will feel that the series' perspective is rather akin to that of the preacher here who thinks he's being “helpful” and “Christian” toward the “whores” (his word), but comes across as insulting and condescending instead. Pleasure for Sale includes brief glimpses of sex, but as Variety critic Stuart Levine aptly put it, viewers will see “a lot more crying than fornicating.” DVD extras include 40 minutes of deleted scenes. Optional. Aud: P. (M. Johanson)
Pleasure for Sale
(2007) 158 min. DVD: $26.95. Docurama (avail. from most distributors). ISBN: 1-4229-2116-6. Volume 24, Issue 2
Pleasure for Sale
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