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Hardcore (1979)
  
Review
Paul Schrader's matter-of-fact,
unsentimental direction drives this contemporary delve into the
seedy underworld of pornography and prostitution in late 1970s
California forward with an ensnaring, icky combination of piety
and voyeurism. Schrader's script is a logical follow-up to
Taxi Driver,
and very 1970s in essence. This was an era when a person's private
life was so private that no predilection was to be questioned, but
also so public that no behaviour was to be shunned. You needed a
righteous, chaste single parent from the Midwest in order to lift
the sheets and ask ethical questions about the liberation of
sexuality. And you needed a filmmaker with the confidence and
integrity that Schrader had at the time to venture into the budding
porn business with as little temporal distance as was the case with
Hardcore. This gives the film a proximity and relevance about it
which keeps it constantly interesting despite an
ever-present whiff of pretension. Season Hubley is effervescent
as the prostitute George C. Scott's character strikes up a
partnership with along the way. Ilah Davis is less convincing as his
runaway daughter. The occasionally atmospheric photography is by
Scorsese's regular cinematographer Michael Chapman.
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