Some Like It Microwaved

Finally, what everyone hasn't been waiting for: a character-driven XXX-rated art film. Reports Stephen Holden of the NY Times, this year's TriBeCa Film Festival will include two screenings of "9 Songs," a 70-minute indie about two nice people who while not in love regularly take time out of their busy schedules to make the funky monkey.

It's all perfectly normal, except for some kinky maneuvers at the end. And of course, that clever little camera showing us stuff that not even the lovers can see (because their eyes are located on their heads).

Years ago, observes Mr. Holden, the line for such a film would have stretched around the block. But today, why bother? It's so much easier to stay home and watch tumescent organs flail away on your computer.

The "9 Songs" gimmick is to combine porn explicitness with conventional narrative. But as Holden notes, this makes the viewer feel like a voyeur.

Now, a defender of "9 Songs" might say that's exactly the point: to discomfit us by connecting the action below the neck with the action above. And who would argue against such a connection? Real sex with a real person is presumably what most of us seek.

But usually this search does not entail spying on others. What's weird about this movie is that its starting place is not sex in the world but porn on the screen. The guests of the TriBeCa Film Festival will decide whether that is worth lining up for.