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After Porn Ends

Stars: Mary Carey, Asia Carrera, Luke Ford, Nina Hartley, Houston, John Leslie, Shelley Lubben, Amber Lynn, Neil Malamuth, William Margold, Sandra Margot, Crissy Moran, Richard Pacheco, Raylene | Directed by Bryce Wagoner

After Porn Ends is a documentary that examines the lives and careers of some of the biggest names in the history of adult entertainment and what happens to them after they leave the business and try and live the “normal” lives that millions of other Americans enjoy. Asking questions about what makes a man or woman go into porn? Can adult stars really live a normal life after porn? And what the hell do retired porn stars do?

Featuring interviews with some of the most famous and infamous porn stars of the past four decades, including superstars such as Nina Hartley, Asia Carrera, John Leslie, Amber Lynn and Mary Carey, After Porn Ends starts out as...

In 2007, porn star Sasha Grey went on The Tyra Banks Show as part of her transition into acting that doesn’t require penetration (although she probably hasn’t ruled out working with Lars von Trier just yet). Her blunt defense of the industry as she had navigated started a new conversation about pornography which yielded a lot of discussion and hand-wringing but very little internal change. Still, it would be disingenuous to claim porn doesn’t have a firm place in our culture; it’s an industry that pulls in billions of dollars of proof that it caters to a specific need that’s in high demand. The new documentary After Porn Ends has taken a look into that fascinating industry from the other side of it. What happens when a porn star wants to quit? By interviewing and examining the experiences of stars like Asia Carrera, Houston, Randy West and others, the...

By Allen Gardner

Quadrophenia (Criterion) Franc Roddam’s 1979 film based on The Who’s classic rock opera tells the story of working class lad Jimmy (Phil Daniels) struggling to find his identity in a rapidly changing Britain, circa 1965. Jimmy is a “mod,” a youth movement dedicated to wearing snappy suits, driving Vespa motor scooters bedecked with side mirrors, popping amphetamines and obsessed with the new sound of bands like The Who and The Kinks. Their other pastime is engaging in bloody brawls with “rockers,” throwbacks to the 1950s, who listen to Elvis and Gene Vincent, wear leather biker gear, grease in their hair and drive massive motorcycles a la Marlon Brando in “The Wild One.” Often cited as a worthy successor to “Rebel Without a Cause” as the greatest angry youth picture ever made, it is that and more, including a first cousin to the “kitchen sink” dramas of scribes John Osborne,...

"Porn star" as a title on your resume will severely limit your career options. It will also likely complicate your romantic and familial relationships.

A new documentary, "After Porn Ends," examines the personal lives and careers of stars of the adult industry. It focuses particularly on the transition to life after porn and features porn stars Asia Carrera, Mary Carey, Houston and others.

The film describes a career in porn as a "brief shining moment" of fame, sex and money. "Nobody thinks it's going to end," a man in the film explains. Former porn stars also discuss the de-humanizing element of porn that insiders often don't want to admit.

"I just started feeling really depressed about it. I can't do anything else. This is what I'm good at. This is all I know," former porn star Crissy Moran said.

Part of the biggest struggle is trying to leave their pasts behind.

When you stop to think about it, porn is a fascinating subject. Even going back thousands of years, we can see pornographic images on ancient artifacts. Of course, then you have to stop and ponder if people were jerking off to porn pottery. But it’s always to serve a practical purpose. Trying to review it as cinema reminds me of Kevin Nealon’s bit about “Interesting…more interesting…really interesting…completely captivating…not so interesting.” So does this make the performers nothing more than subjects?

That’s why I first found the idea of the documentary Exxxit: Life After Porn a cool approach to the subject. There’s a line Ron Silver said in a canceled Fox TV series that no one remembers called Skin: Porn is a like a tattoo and there’s no way to get rid of it. That’s true, but porn stars are...