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Life Imitating Art

I didn't care much for Paul Schrader's erotic drama The Canyons, but I did enjoy the performance of adult film star James Deen as Christian. He's this charismatic and charming guy who has it all - a career financing indie pictures, a lovely girlfriend (Lindsay Lohan, also doing good work in this movie), and a sex life that most men only dream of having. And yet, as we go further into he story, we discover that it's all a mask to hide his controlling, abusive and borderline sado-masochistic tendencies. It's a surprising and solid piece of acting as this seemingly suave guy slowly being unraveled until we encounter the real Christian. In a scary twist of irony, the performance by Deen now rings all too true with his character's unraveling, as the famed porn actor has now been accused of sexual assault and rape this past few weeks.




Other adult performers have since spoken up in response to Stoya's harrowing story of abuse at the hands of Deen, from Joanna Angel, another former flame of Deen's, to various other colleagues and partners, opening up to abuse suffered by him. What was a really good piece of acting is now a deeply disturbing look into a man who we thought was charismatic and charming and it turns out that he's an abusive, controlling scumbag with sado-masochistic tendencies, no sense of professional and personal boundaries or restraint.
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