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41%
Overall Rating
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Ranked #10,401
...out of 20,698 movies
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An innocent and naive young woman arrives in Los Angeles to make it as a big-name actress, only to suffer though the pain and humiliation of the casting couch routine again and again thus getting a first hand look at Hollywood at its worst.
--IMDb
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Review by Chad
Added: October 5, 2007
Finally. That was the first thing to pop into my head when I picked up my copy of Chantal from the post office, and I'm pretty sure that most of the Misty Mundae / Erin Brown (hereinafter referred to as her stage name from the time) fans will be thinking the same. For the uninitiated, this film was actually shot over four years ago, and the trailer for it popped up on just about every Seduction Cinema / Misty Mundae DVD released from that point on. Why the wait? Well, back during her softcore prime, Seduction Cinema was pumping out somewhere in the neighborhood of ten DVD releases per year with Misty in the leading role, and needless to say, they feared that the audience would lose interest in her. How wrong they were, but nonetheless, they shelved a few movies that are finally getting released now that she's no longer working in the softcore business. So, it's a movie that the company didn't have faith in, and now they're releasing it to make a quick buck off of her name... right? Wrong: this is easily Misty's best film to date.
Director Tony Marsiglia borrows the basic storyline of 1969's softcore film Chantal, rewrites it into a serious film, and the results... well, the results couldn't have been better. In this version of the story, Chantal (Misty Mundae) is an innocent, naive teenager who has traveled to Hollywood with hopes of making it big in the movie business. What she finds is that she can't even get a spot in the latest Asylum production, and she also discovers that men and women alike prey on people like her to make a quick buck. She soon finds herself sinking lower and lower into the seedy underbelly of Hollywood, and the lower she gets, the more people treat her like shit until finally, she snaps. Julian Wells and Darian Caine show up throughout the running time to both love and help her, but as the old saying goes: "Don't trust anybody."
The basic storyline is the same, but it's the presentation that has been radically altered: no longer is the plot merely an excuse to show off some softcore scenes for the camera, but instead, it's a bona fide story with real characters and real twists. In fact, it's hard to even classify this as a remake; the idea is the same, but it's an entirely different beast altogether as the focus is almost entirely on the story this time. That is a very good thing, and the end result is a film that will at least have a shot at ranking in my year-end top ten list.
Chantal is not an inspirational film, nor is it a particularly cheerful one. Chantal finds herself getting fucked over (and also fucked, period) nearly from the moment she steps foot into the city, and things only get worse for her as the storyline moves along. Now, even though the little lady does suffer a lot of abuse at the hands of various people, don't think for a second that this is a simple exploitation piece: yes, there are some T&A scenes to be found here, but these scenes aren't just used to titillate the audience as they actually serve to further the plot instead of merely being eye-candy. Again, this is an honest-to-goodness movie, not just another Misty Mundae skinfest (not that there's anything wrong with those - just sayin').
What really makes the film work is Misty Mundae's performance in the leading role. Now, anyone who has read a couple of my reviews on this site may know that I really dig her work, but even Tony Marsiglia himself said it during the commentary track: Chantal would not have been as powerful with a lesser actress. Yes, Misty is more than just another pretty face, as she can truly act and immerse herself in the character. It certainly helped that - according to her - this was sort of an autobiographical storyline, and let me tell you, she truly brought her A-game to the table with this one.
Yes, I do believe that I'm going to have to claim that this is a perfect film. Those of you looking for just another one of the usual T&A displays from Misty may be disappointed, but those of you looking for a damned fine film that reveals the grittier side of Hollywood while also allowing Misty to showcase her excellent acting abilities will likely love it as much as I did. 10/10.
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#1:
waxtadpole3657
- added October 8, 2007 at 10:47pm
OH SHIT! It's finally coming out. I'm a HUGE Erin
Brown/Misty Mundae fan, and I saw the trailer for
this on...I think it was Sinful (which I got
signed by her when I met her; she's one of the
most gorgeous girls I've ever fucking met), and I
was really interested. I'll see pretty much
anything with her in it, whether or not she gets
naked.
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#2:
waxtadpole3657
- added October 14, 2007 at 6:34pm
WOO. I was surprised to see that they were already
selling this at the Rock & Shock convention this
weekend (well, it was Seduction Cinema that was
selling it at the con :p), so I promptly picked it
up. Gonna watch it later tonight. Also picked up
Dr. Jekyll and Mistress Hyde, SpiderBabe and
Bikini Girls on Dinosaur Planet. I love Misty
Mundae/Erin Brown.
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#3:
Chad
- added October 14, 2007 at 6:56pm
It's a great movie, well worth the purchase. Just
ignore the original version though (assuming you
got the two-disc version, it's on disc two).
Oh, and I don't usually say this, but
spend some time with the commentary track - very,
very interesting.
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#4:
waxtadpole3657
- added October 16, 2007 at 11:24pm
Yeah, I was reading the insert and it was
mentioning something about what Misty (or should I
say Erin) talks about in the commentary. I think
the only movie I've ever watched with the
commentary on is Donnie Darko, but I'll definitely
give this one a shot.
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