Damaged: The Very British Obscenity of David Hamilton-Grant (2023)
Explores the salacious career of mysterious British filmmaker and distributor David Hamilton-Grant, who was the only supplier to be sent to prison for releasing a "video nasty". Hamilton-Grant navigated loopholes in the law in the 70s in order to produce and screen smut in an extremely censorship restricted Britain. When the home video boom hit in the 80s he was one of the first to capitalize on the initially far less regulated format... but he would pay the price. Then things get really dark and strange.
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This is a tender, generous movie that likes its characters and presents them as real people, full of flaws and strengths.
There's a good chance the film will make you laugh out loud, but if it doesn't, there's an even better chance it will make you openly sob.
There are moments in this movie where the great movie it could've been peek out... They're fleeting, here, but they're worth savoring, and they happen often enough to make it worth your while.
The movie is surprisingly subdued in its pacing, its characterizations, and its go-for-broke sensibilities.