NAKED AMBITION

Back in 2006 photographer Michael Grecco went to the AVN Awards and Convention -- the porn equivalent of the Academy Awards, with a trade show mixed in -- to shoot a coffee-table book in three days. That book was reviewed here. A documentary of this endeavor was also filmed during this project. Naked Ambition: An R Rated Look at the X-Rated Industry follows Grecco and talks to many of the adult entertainment folks he photographed.

Naked Ambition seeks to explore both Grecco's creative process and the culture of porn as seen through its biggest ceremony -- but this movie is a little superficial on both fronts. Grecco's voiceover continually has him explaining that he's not shooting porn ("this project is a portrait of a culture") and there's not much more on his creative process here. Most interview subjects just talk about themselves, creating a patchwork of people rather than a portrait of the culture Grecco is after. And the closest to a storyline here is a slightly longer focus on Sunny Lane, an actress hoping to win Best New Starlet, and Grecco's concern about not getting to photograph Larry Flynt or Jenna Jameson. (The latter issue is covered in about two sentences.)

There are some good things here. The bonus features give more of an overview of this culture, from the role of men to the fans at the AVN Convention. Some of the folks interviewed are interesting, like the sophisticated regal dominant or the chance encounter between co-stars, friends, and lovers Julia Ann and Janine Lindemulder. Overall, though, there have been better documentaries on porn (several of which I've reviewed here), and the book Naked Ambition works better than its behind-the-scenes documentary Naked Ambition.

Overall grade: C-
Reviewed by James Lynch

NAKED AMBITION: AN R-RATED LOOK AT AN X-RATED INDUSTRY

Awards ceremonies are wonderful opportunities for photography: They provide not only celebrities dressed in their finest but also a chance to glimpse behind the curtain at the personalities and standards of their industry. Naked Ambition: An R-Rated Look at an X-Rated Industry is a photographic look at the porn industry's biggest awards show: the Adult Video News Awards.

Photographer Michael Grecco took over 13,000 pictures at the 2006 and 2007 AVN Awards to create "an experiment in journalism, using portraiture and still life photography as a document of an event, a time, and a culture." The photos selected became the 224-page coffee table book that is Naked Ambition.

The photos are almost all of the female and male professionals of porn, along with scattered shots of industry, er, toys and accessories. Each photo of a person or people has their name, a nickname ('The Tall and Short of It," "The Fountain," "The Archer," "The Import") and often their comments and brief biography. As the title suggests, these photos could be considered rated "R": no full nudity, but plenty of glimpses.

Naked Ambition also has forewords by Dave Navarro (lead singer of the Foo Fighters), Larry Flynt, and Michael Grecco. Lann Friend and Rob Hill wrote the biographies of the stars, and the celebrities often provide some thoughts and stories of their own.

Naked Ambition works quite well in its goal of documenting the biggest awards ceremony in adult entertainment. While the photos are all posed (no candid shots here), they're not touched up, giving a more human side to the folks than one might see in their films. Naked Ambition covers the spectrum of people in this world, from mainstream adult celebrities (like Jenna Jameson and Tera Patrick) to classic stars, alternative performers, people with, er, specialties, lawyers, older folks, transgender performers, and even one very tattooed fan. I also enjoyed Navarro's parallels betwen rock stars and porn stars.

There are a few problems with Naked Ambition. There are no page numbers (and therefore no index), so there's no simple way to go back to a picture you want to see again. There's no rhyme or reason to why some folks get biographies and others just have their name and nickname. And, on occasion, a single photo is split between two pages, sometimes bisecting the subject between the two pages. (On a personal side, I got tired of all the navel piercings pretty quickly.) There are also several typos throughout the book.

Despite those flaws, Naked Ambition: An R-Rated Look at an X-Rated Industry is quite good at capturing the essence of the AVN Awards and its stars and performers. The photos are very well done, and for those who read the words the bios that are present are amusing. Having this on your coffee table will certainly generate interest!

Overall grade: A-
Reviewed by James Lynch