[yasr_overall_rating]
Alice is a camgirl with principles. She doesn’t do public shows, she doesn’t tell her fans she loves them, and she doesn’t fake her orgasms. But when a mysterious lookalike takes over her channel, the rules no longer apply.
Christopher Booker claimed in a very thorough tome that there are really only seven basic story plots:
- Overcoming the Monster
- Rags to Riches
- The Quest
- Voyage and Return
- Rebirth
- Comedy
- Tragedy
While Booker’s book is just as heavy in bias as it is in explanation, it is an interesting concept to note. However, every now and then, there comes a film that is simply difficult to categorize.
Alice, a.k.a. Lola_Lola (Madeline Brewer) is a young woman, newly living on her own, making ends meet fairly well with a secretive and seductive career path as a cam girl. Alice lives in a small town, her mother is a hairdresser, her brother is turning 17, and a former classmate just started working at the Dollar General. Without overstating it, the film paints subtle strokes of the vacuum of possibility in Nowhere, USA, where even the purchase of a large, overstuffed sofa is a mark of “success.”
Not only that, but Alice is good at what she does and she is not without principles. She has rules:
- No public shows
- No faking orgasms
- No promises of love to her Johns
Still, she hasn’t been able to bring herself to tell her mom; only her brother is aware of her titillating endeavors. Oh, and maybe she has one more rule: she doesn’t go full nudity. It wasn’t clear if it was a company policy or just hers, but in the actual camming industry of sex workers, non-nude modeling is a thing. In lieu of nakedness, the girls connect with their viewers through playful scenarios, clothed teasing, bubble baths, skin coated in glitter. The cinematography of the 3-5 minutes of film time used to give us snapshots of the variety within the industry was mesmerizing with how approachable and do-able this reality is.
Really, the cinematography was mentionable throughout the entire film. Even the most normal item, such as a whistling teapot, being introduced through an unexpected viewpoint forced an arousal of the auditory senses to compensate for the visual blankness. Not unlike being blindfolded for sex. Other movements of the camera panning through hallways and doorways were so similar to human walking that the film took on a very personal and accessible sensation.
Not only that, but Alice has her own style of cinematography as a cam girl. She is obsessively pursuing a ranking as one of the top 50 girls and while she doesn’t get naked, she’s not afraid to use blood or even feign her own snuff film. This is where the gore gets a little gory, if only because it is these acts of self-cruelty that seem to drive her rank upwards. The twist comes when Alice discovers that a look-alike has stolen her channel and she has been locked out of her account. This film is a great selection for Fantastic Fest because it is a heavy dose of verifiable reality while being infused with tantalizing elements of fear, psychosis, brilliance, blood, and subterfuge. Even in the end, you may not be certain that you really understand Lola_Lola. But you will know this: she is damn good at what she does for the cam.
“Cam” recently had its U.S. Premiere at Fantastic Fest
