Many films discuss what porn, prostitution and drugs do to people, but we wanted to show it, not talk about it, and we had a hero who was willing to go all the way,” says Tomer Heymann, the director of Jonathan Agassi Saved My Life, talking to me from Israel. As a researcher of porn myself, I approached Heymann’s 2018 documentary about the fall of a gay porn star from my own viewing position, namely, as an authority on porn. This position, it turns out, made my viewing experience an especially sobering and, at times, uncomfortable one.
“There is definitely a ‘shock value’ for most audiences,” Heymann agrees. “This movie is hard to watch and it brings with it a lot of eccentric, explicit, sensual and emotional weight. It can be too much to handle.”