Alternately distressing, instructive, contestable, and fascinating, Juliet Bashore’s quasi-documentary plunge into the 1980s porn industry takes an unsparing look at issues of misogyny, drug abuse, and exploitation via the story of two women caught in a toxic romance: the naive newcomer Tigr and her partner, the magnetic, imperious porn veteran Sharon Mitchell. Mesmerizing and unsettling, Kamikaze Hearts is both a fascinating record of pre-gentrification San Francisco’s X-rated underground and an intense, searing love story. The film offers a disturbing glimpse of the modification of bodies, feelings, and lives.
Blu-ray Extras Include:
Documentary on the making of the film and its enduring legacy, featuring actors Sharon Mitchell and Howie Gordon, author and critic Susie Bright, sexologist Annie Sprinkle, artist Beth Stephens, and director Juliet Bashore
Audio commentary by director Juliet Bashore, actors Sharon Mitchell, Jon Martin and Howie Gordon, and performance artist Shelly Mars
Crash (1990), a short film by Juliet Bashore
Original trailer
