“Kamikaze Hearts” (1986, recently restored by Kino Lorber) and “Jonathan Agassi Saved My Life” (2018, Heymann Brothers Films) may be 30 years apart, but these brutally honest portrayals of two charismatic queer porn stars are indelibly linked by blood, sweat, and other fluids. As Ninja Thyberg’s fictional look at a young girl’s ruthless rise to fame in LA’s porn industry was released by Neon last week, two considerably more legitimate documentaries took a bow, playing theaters in New York and Los Angeles. Though “Pleasure” has been (some say wrongfully) hailed as an authentic portrayal of the porn industry, discerning viewers have other options for films made with the full consent of the participating talent.
