The Last Rose

Porn shouldn't be complicated, but on some level The Last Rose was.  I felt as if I had walked in on one of the main characters lives and was only allowed to watch and not ask questions.  As the movie ended, none of my questions were answered and I was left just as confused as I was at the beginning.  This is one of those movies that I will be thinking about for days trying to reconcile it in my mind. That's not to say I didn't enjoy it, I was sitting on the edge of my seat through most of the movie waiting to see what was going to happen next.

Randy Spears plays Michael, a man trying to come to terms with his past and living with regret.  He's never really recovered from the past tragedy of his life.  Sasha Grey plays Thersa, the woman who walks into his life and forces him to face the past where he can move on. 

Winter.

The movie opens with Sasha Grey looking for an apartment.  She is sitting in the car looking at the ad for a loft.  She enters to look around and finds Randy Spears standing at the window looking out.

"Are you the realtor?" She asks.

"No."

They both appear to be waiting for the realtor in some awkward silence.  When she finally approaches him he puts his hand between her legs and brings her to orgasm then walks away.  Needless to say I was wondering what the hell this was all about and hoped that the movie would explain itself quickly.

Sasha returns home to a pregnant Ryder Skye.  I am even more confused but decide quickly enough that they are a couple.  The next scene of Sasha she is it work caught up in her thoughts, I assume about her chance encounter with Randy, masturbating.  There is something strangely erotic about the idea of two strangers meeting, barely saying two words to each other, having a sexual encounter and then moving on.  To have that kind of instant chemistry with someone is how many fairy tales romances start.

Randy returns to his own home where he is caring for a sick and dying Nina Hartley. 


There are a handful of quick sex scenes between Randy and Sasha.  In one she tells him that for Christmas she wants his name.  He refuses.  Interspersed with these scenes are flashbacks to a happier time in Randy's life before he met Sasha.

Fast forward to New Years Eve.  Sasha is celebrating with Kelly.  We never do see a Ryder pregnant and naked and Ryder is on the giving end of things and not the receiving.

Randy is sitting at Nina's bedside thinking about a New Years Eve two years before.  He and his wife are hosting a New Years Eve party with swingers.  Stephanie Swift plays his wife, and she doesn't look to pleased with the idea of this party.  As the party goes on, she warms up to it a little more.  I don't understand why everyone at the party was supposed to change into costumes before the sex.  That seemed random, yet, at the same time, it lent to some weird sexual fantasies that somehow had me thinking of the movie Eyes Wide Shut (a movie that made no sense to me what so ever).


Randy and Stephanie make their rounds between the couples.  First they happen upon Barrett Blade and Kelly Skyline.  Seems they got sidetracked going to put on their costumes because they were still in their party clothes, more or less.  Next they watched Eric Masterson in a weird golden mask with Kimberly Kane and Jandi Lin.  Last but not least they watched Evan Stone command marionettes Dana DeArmond and Ryder Skye.

Yes, I said Ryder Skye, the girlfriend of Sasha Grey in this movie.  I am not if she was playing one role or two or if the audience wasn't supposed to notice it was Ryder.  I am still trying to decide if Sasha's and Randy's lives weren't intertwined somehow prior to their meeting the first time at the loft.


As Stephanie and Randy are watching Evan and his puppets, Randy encourages her to join them if she wishes.  He assures her that he will be right there watching.  As Evan and Stephanie are having at it Randy's phone rings and he leaves the room sending Stephanie into a panic.

The morning after is always the worst.  Not only do you have the aftermath of a party to clean up after you are left dealing with other outcomes.  Randy found a note on the table telling him that Stephanie had gone to the loft.  He got there just a little to late.  A note was left...


Is this the explanation for Randy caring for Nina?  We are never told.

New Years day finds Sasha and Randy in the loft again.  Randy learns that Sasha lied to someone where she could meet him.  A lovers quarrel reveals that they agreed they would meet for sex, no names exchanged, no details on the others life.  On this day, after sex, they exchange names and admit they have fallen in love.  Sasha demands to know what happened in Randy's life that is holding him back.  He never does tell her.  He just leaves.

Spring.

The baby is born and Nina passes on.  Randy is talking to Freddie Lincoln and Fred is telling Randy how he and Nina met, got into swinging, and how their relationship fell apart with one single action.  Fred tells Randy if he ever finds love to hold on to it and not let it get away as he had.

Not all stories have a happy ending and this is one of them.  I wish that David Stanley had been sitting next to me explaining to me what was going on, what he was thinking when he wrote each of the scenes, maybe then I wouldn't be wondering about things.  What was the point of the costumes at the party?  Was Ryder playing two roles or one?  The father of the baby, who was he?  Was he a name on a test tube at a fertility clinic or was this part of the reason at times that the relationship between Ryder and Sasha seemed strained and Sasha wandered into a weird relationship with Randy?  What was the reason Stephanie took her life and what part did Randy play in it?  So many questions.

This doesn't mean that I didn't enjoy the movie.  As I said, I felt like I was invited into someone else's world and allowed to only watch and not ask questions.  It takes some real talent to tell a story like that without the storying feeling incomplete somehow.  Being left with unanswered questions and being left with the sense that the story just wasn't well formed are two different things.   

The sex scenes will be too short for some people while others will love that this is a true erotic drama with the sex just as important as the storyline.  In fact, the sex is crucial to the story because it is what divided people and at the same time brought others together.

The final question that I am left wondering about is this.  In the special features David Stanley said that The Last Rose was originally written for Randy Spears to direct it but he stole it.  Would The Last Rose be the same movie if Randy Spears had gotten to direct it?