INSIDE LARA ROXX (Mia Donovan, Canada). 81 minutes. Rating: NNN
Photographer and filmmaker Mia Donovan pursues her interest in the commodification of sexual desire in this disturbing film about the first female porn star ever diagnosed with HIV.
Donovan tracks the naive Lara Roxx, whom we first meet in a psychiatric ward in Montreal, abandoned by the media that made her story a sensation, as she prepares to head back to L.A. to reinvent herself.
There are some very tender moments, especially with Lara’s mom, but the film doesn’t really get going until Roxx returns to Montreal midway through the film. Still, Donovan does good work in probing the relationship between filmmaker and subject.
