We got the first images from one of James Franco’s many upcoming films, Cherry, earlier this month ahead of its debut at the Berlin Film Festival. With its premiere behind it, and having received somewhat mixed reviews since, the first trailer for the film has now landed for us to make our own judgments.
Author Stephen Elliott makes his directorial and co-writing debut on this, with adult film star/NYU writer graduate Lorelei Lee writing the script with him.
“Eighteen-year-old Angelina works at a launderette and is determined to make something of her life. After earning a bit of cash posing for nude photos she uses the money to escape her white trash background and dysfunctional family and run off to San Francisco with her best pal. After several jobs she gradually drifts into San Francisco’s porn industry where, using the moniker Cherry, her naïve yet sexy aura soon brings her success and the opportunity to explore her own sexuality. This self-confident young woman also has to cope with the many prejudices that exist for someone in her line of work; a lawyer who wants to ‘save’ her turns out to have problems with addiction. Finally, she finds an understanding friend and partner in her director, who has similar problems with her own lover. Before long, Angelina decides to try her hand at directing her own porn film.
In his cinematic debut, director Stephen Elliott’s creates a portrait of a young woman in search of herself and her place in the world that is devoid of false morality and voyeurism and approaches its myth-laden topic of porn with a gaze that is fresh and dispassionate.”
Ashley Hinshaw (Chronicle) stars as the lead, Angelina, with the supporting cast including Heather Graham, Dev Patel, Lili Taylor, and James Franco as a cocaine-addicted lawyer.
The film hasn’t yet picked up distribution, so no word yet on when we’ll get to see it either here or in the US, but hopefully we’ll have more news on that soon too. For now, the trailer for your viewing pleasure. (Is it just me, or does Hinshaw and the boy she’s with at the very start of the trailer look like younger versions of Gwyneth Paltrow and Jared Leto?)
Source: THR.
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