The Escort

The Escort

As I am skeptical of what is self-promoting praise for almost every other movie, I surely am very much aware of the envelope saying: ‘this is the exact corner of the film and its creators that I should no comment on and instead try to understand this sector of the artist in a multidimensional perspective’.

Considering that I only review indie productions and knowing that some of them continue to read this text means that the chances of the authors ever stumbling upon the review are relatively high thus this plays a factor in the evaluation making it a bit more challenging to draw honest observations. In this case we begin with a situation where I do not wish to put someone’s dreams in a shredder but at the same time, it is clear I cannot and will not recommend a work that I believe to be bad just for the sake of the creator; unfortunately, this is one of those cases.

It all starts with the nervous fellow coming over to meet with a woman whose flat he hasn’t seen before. Hitting the feminist trope, he walks in and is immediately asked to make a ‘donation.’ He explains that no one offered him a donation before and that it is the first time there is such agreement; but it is honestly quite obvious that the bemusement is bordering on throwing money at the physical aspect of the conversation. She positions herself to go out of the room and teases him with promises that she will soon come back and dress up in something different a t-shirt, bred from somewhere.

Right after we see him trying and failing to elicit laughter she walks down in her underwear and offers him a cookie. After the niceties he states that he does not wish to have sex rather he wishes to set the record straight. He desires her to quit this profession. He stands up and pulls out a speech he had composed earlier regarding love at first sight and starts reciting it to her. According to him, she is a beautiful woman.

He then advances the ridiculous claim that the three things that a woman looks for in a man is wealth, social status and power, and it is hard for me to contain myself and not raise my blood pressure at such a blatant falsehood. He explains with illustration how The Wizard of Oz is an allegory to gay liberation ok, I’m not sure where it fits but the rationale is a bit of a stretch to say the least, but who cares.

In his words, the hour will be used to make sure that she has feelings for him. She mentions changing clothes again because she does not want “to have that discussion like a whore”. He states that 90% of people do not like their work well, I do not buy that for a minute. There is some dialogue as she excuses herself upstairs to change clothes and her side is faintly audible, which I am sure provides realism, but is not much to the plot. He then reads her escort profile of herself saying it is “degrading” and “self-loathing”.

So he’s able to explain his reason for hiring an escort by saying he’s ‘rescuing’ her. She calls him a self-righteous asshole and to be fair, he has it coming, but right after that insincere excuse of an apology, he says she is ‘lowering herself’ and ought to be ‘above this’. Peters goes into the loo, seeking a certain tablet (hey, just like how it always has to be a cough that’s indicating someone is ill, what a giveaway) and for some reason, she thinks sorry for being angry is somehow appropriate!!

She says please try to convince me by telling her about himself and try making her love him. So Eric, played by Kevin Leslie now asks her for her real name, to which she purportedly replies Kimberley, played by Olivia Moyles.

The pleasantries are over and he then taunts her about sleeping with other women’s husbands and “destroying homes”, conveniently overlooking the fact that she was not the one who made the commitments. To him, she is somebody’s toy. Good job getting her affection there, friend. Eric doesn’t have any manners and keeps addressing Kimberley after she has literally thrown him out of her house.

As usual, the exchange of words feels unnatural and rehearsed and quite distant from everyday conversations. Leslie comes across as particularly poor but then again, the character is handed the ridiculous lines to spout. He is prepared to give up his ethics to be with her; how very generous of you, random man. Since we know that gentlemen who insult us and disregard our professions, are the most attractive, she invites him in again.

A detail about how Kimberley became an escort is narrated by her in the most anticlimactic manner and should be regarded as the best part of the film. This is the only sequence which expands on the neglected emotional context, and Moyles interprets that sequence beautifully.

Eric needs to stop as I have lost respect for him especially when it comes to his sexist views considering the fact that it is not ok for him to say these things even if he is feeling unwell. I also think that they have never heard of a condom and every time Eric mentions the word “pussy” I get the goosebumps. The ending is both utterly predictable and dully unsatisfying. Simply put, it’s a mediocre film from its composition to its sound as made by writer/director Bizhan M. Tong and it seems even the continuity editors did not bother to do their job with a jump cut amongst other things.

Honestly, I couldn’t tell if the film is dramatically sexist to the point of it being an attack on women or even characters within the film. In any case however, I would like to point out that I found it an irritating thing to watch. Sex should not be viewed as something to be ashamed of and I wouldn’t want this type of mindset in any films that I watch. I also dislike the portrayal of sex workers in this film as there is more to these businesswomen then just being considered to be vulnerable people at the mercy of abusive people.

This film has a perfect example where it feels like if you were in an elevator with a right wing idiot who tries their best to blame others for everything and in this case a story about how “prostitution leads to porn and many other evils” in which it is a shame that the woman in question is in fact an escort.

It might have taken place in the duration of one hour, but it was a moment spent with an arrogant, self-righteous bore that felt like an endless nightmare. This film should have worked, but the director had to give himself such a high pedestal. No one is a fan of being told off, least of all, in this childish, misogynistic and over the top manner. During the end of the film, the [filmmaker is] grateful for those women who spoke to them and offered their experiences. Considering the way they were portrayed, I hope none of them feel guilty for their input.

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