I got to say I like a movie (or book, CD, any work of ‘art’) that lets me make up my own mind; After Porn Ends, the new documentary by Bryce Wagoner let’s the viewer do just that.

Featuring interviews with Mary Carey (recent star of one of those Doctor Drew VH1 shows), the infamous Houston (who I happened to review here: Mensa member (which seems to be a very big part of her life) Asia Carrera, a truly engaging Randy West, Amber Lynn, a delightful Richard Pacheco (the male porn stars here seem to have had a better time in their life than the women…no surprise there) and Shelley Lubben telling it like he thinks it is, plus a host of others, you are pretty much left to make up your own mind on what you think about the porn life, before, during and after one is in the skin business.

As you’d imagine, there are some harrowing stories here (mainly from some of the women, mostly those who had left or been kicked out of their homes at any early age) lots of models/strippers slowly introduced into the life by friends who knew somebody who could get them into a movie. West tells of relationships more than the others, of how he met some startlingly wonderful women he wishes he could have gotten to know better (ironic as that sounds) and how as much as he had a great time working in porn he would have liked a life with a wife and kids (his tale gets quit touching at times) but as you’d expect from a movie named After Porn Ends, we get a good peak into what’s doing now in the lives of these people. Houston went on to kick ass at selling houses, Asia lives as quiet as a life as she can with her child, people like Seka and Nina Hartley (interviewed here as well) are still on the scene, doling out solid honest opinions on the life and the people in it…I always find Nina Hartley’s thoughts very refreshing (that’s when I can get my attention off the lady’s magnificent booty).

After Porn Ends is a great movie, really. It’s worth watching, even more than once actually, to digest all the information coming at you, all these different opinions and views of ‘the life’, pro and con.

Available at Netflix and Amazon.