Family Film Testimonials

What better way to bond with your family than to take in a porn movie together.  Crazy, you say?  Not so much.  Getting oral with your parents is a sure way to open a discussion that should have occurred years ago.  Unless you're Mormon.  Three tales from the World of Wonder follow.  (Do you have a story?)

Thanks to Randy and Fenton - and at the old age of 23 - I have finally broached the topic of oral sex and porn with my mom.  Even though I forced every single friend (and sister) to go see IDT in their local theaters, I never brought it up with my mom, only because that's gross, she's a prude, and that's just gross. How would I explain the film to someone who still tries to cover my eyes during a movie sex scene?

But my sister blew my cover and asked my mom if she had seen the documentary yet. So after yelling at me for not including her in my life, my mom saw it with a friend and absolutely loved it.  Which led to this really awkward conversation over dinner about how she remembers seeing Deep Throat at the Pussycat Theater in 1976 with my dad (GROSS) because "everyone was seeing it!" and all the other pornos of the time (Behind the Green Door? Jackie Kennedy? EVEN GROSSER).

But I guess it makes sense, since the film really is about her time. (She isn't THAT old; she's still in her early 50s.) Which I think is the best part about the entire documentary:  As crazy and liberating as [filming] the sex was, time still flew by and everyone still got old and wrinkly.  Porn stars retired and became grandmothers, mafia members got arthritis, and the thought of Damiano now as a wild swinger is more disturbing than enticing.

And this is where I say something incredibly profound about how nothing really matters in life, but I can't really think of anything right now.

- Moye Ishimoto

My dad and my sister came to the NYC premiere of Inside Deep Throat.  I was far too excited about the premiere to even think of the embarrassment factor until the lights went down and I looked across the aisle and there they were.  It suddenly occurred to me what we were about to watch.  Well, the thing is, my dad was laughing harder than anyone in the theater.  In fact, I quickly became more embarrassed by his piercing laughter than by watching hardcore porn in his presence.  And when it was over, he hugged me like only a proud dad can and I realized just how sophisticated my Italian Jersey family is!  Then again, there was an all-you-can-eat buffet afterwards, and my dad was the first in line!

- Randy Barbato

My parents went to go see IDT this past Saturday up in New Haven, Connecticut.  I was a little nervous to hear their response. I can't say I've ever had a conversation about porn with my folks. We had been talking a bit about the movie over the past year and a half, but more about the fact that Ron Howard's spikey-haired partner was producing it.  After the movie was over, I got a text message from my mom. "It was so good. Really funny."  Whew.  No awkward moment there. So I figured I'd dodged the embarrassing moment, and innocently wrote back, "Did you see my name in the credits?" to which she replied, "Yes. We were the last ones in the theater when it finally came on."  Nope, there it is.

- Jim Galasso