King Cobra was the pseudonym of Bryan Kocis (Christian Slater) who managed gay porn production company Cobra Video from his home in the middle of the 2000’s. He found the hottest new discovery Sean Paul Lockhart (Garrett Clayton) in no time who went on to become one of the most popular gay porn stars under the name Brent Corrigan.

Business is tough, business is fickle, business is corrupt. Director Justin Kelly (I AM MICHAEL) races through the rise and fall of the protagonist in an uninterested way. In one scene the TV is playing and Hurricane Katrina and George W. Bush are on – the context has been established. The conditions of the porn industry and the question of social acceptance of (homosexual) porn actors and Cobra Video itself are only there to serve character development. The film doesn’t use the story to talk about the business and is more interested in the people. There’s Bryan Kocis who leads a double life, an official one as a renowned photographer with a family and a secret one wherein he reveals how lonely he is to his young star Brent. There’s Sean, who dreams of making movies and follows a path that others disregard (“oh, I thought you meant real films”). There’s porn couple Joe (James Franco) and Harlow (Keegan Allen), who make a destructive decision that leads to self-understanding. At first glance KING COBRA is a film about failure, but at times we get to see more through the camera’s gaze because it is free of real world conventions.

Hardy Zaubitzer

Translation: Elinor Lewy