Hardcore

Hardcore est un thriller à l’ancienne assez captivant qui nous emmène, en compagnie du personnage principal, dans les coulisses du porno des trois grandes villes californiennes (Los Angeles, San Diego, San Francisco). La musique country décontractée du début et de la fin du film contraste avec l’intensité progressive de l’exploration de lieux de plus en plus sombres, dans lesquels un père désespéré recherche sa fille perdue. Des méchants dépeints de manière convaincante, une atmosphère étouffante, et une confrontation affirmée entre l’innocence de la jeunesse et le visage corrompu de la société adulte… Le film ne choque plus autant de nos jours, mais en construisant une histoire dramatique aux nuances humaines délicates (la prostituée qui apporte son aide, le dialogue avec la fille), il fonctionne toujours à merveille. Season Hubley est à la fois belle et animale. La ressemblance avec 8MM ne peut pas être un hasard ; le film repose sur les mêmes bases psychologiques. Il s'agit pratiquement d’un remake. (08/05/2023)

A clear inspiration for 8MM, with Schumacher's later film not only drawing on the theme, but even carefully copying some scenes. What starts out as a staid church flick turns into a compelling insight into the porn industry with a concerned dad looking for his daughter in this messy cesspit. The transformation of George C. Scott is fascinating, from a naive Christian guy who confusedly moves from one porn establishment to another making you feel his anxiety, to a confident fighter who, after being taught a lesson, has to change his search tactics, and you watch with interest as he unravels the clues with meticulous consistency, just like Nicolas Cage would do 20 years later. Schrader always hit the mark in his scripts and the huge boom of the porn industry in the 1970s was perfect for his incisive commentary. PS: Note to Malarkey: The 1970s were anything but "puritanical". After the peak of the sexual revolution at the turn of the 60s and 70s, Western society went all out and open in hard sex, with the grindhouse, midnight and 'adult' cinemas plus sex businesses that were all over the tabloids. (12/02/2023)

I wouldn’t expect anyone in the puritan 1970s America to film a crime investigation movie revolving around the pornographic industry. Hardcore is an interesting change that doesn’t shy away from anything. I even felt as if the creators found the actresses at Woodstock, because a lot of them had no control over themselves and it added to the movie quality; and I don’t mean considering the hookers, I mean considering how realistic the movie tried to be. And as far as the story goes, I gave it a solid three-star rating; especially thanks to the lead role, but also thanks to the classic 1970s America atmosphere. But then came one of the most brutal endings that immediately knocked me out and showed me one of the roughest scenes I’ve ever seen in a 1970s movie. I didn’t even know anything about the movie, that’s how much it blew me away. (03/09/2014)

A disturbing story, brought to attention again by the more watchable Schumacher version. Yet it's hard to watch such a film and compare it to the situation we know in the Czech Republic where we were introduced to porn clumsily and in a big way after the revolution. Understanding a snuff film combined with the North American version of the Dutch Reformed Church is not easy. Still, I dare say that if so-called adult entertainment became sophisticated and truly entertaining, snuff films might not stand a chance at all. This means that confused little girls from broken homes would have a slightly safer path to pubescent defiance. It is on this level that Hardcore got only halfway there. What's the point of the father's harrowing journey, whom the daughter forgives right away? (31/03/2010)