Netflix
From Netflix and filmmaker Rachel Mason comes this involving, insightful and deeply personal documentary about the legendary Los Angeles adult book store, Circus of Books.
Netflix is fast becoming known for its reputation of delivering a slew of entertaining, thought-provoking and massively engaging documentaries in both series and feature form. Tiger King is perhaps its most recent example and Circus of Books continues a dynamite run of quality.
Circus of Books focusses upon a couple who, in the mid-1970s, took over an adult bookstore West Hollywood, California. The married pair, Karen and Barry Mason, took over the store following different career paths previous; Karen a successful, published journalist and Barry a former special effects engineer who had worked on the likes of 2001: A Space Odyssey, before inventing dialysis equipment. Their daughter, Karen, steps behind the camera to intimately bring to the screen their story of how they became the owners of the legendary adult store and one of the biggest, if not the biggest distributors of gay porn in the United States.
Mason, the director, obviously has intimate access to the pair and has lived the story herself, so this makes for quite a personal watch. She delves into the history of the store, including the time before it fell into the hands of her parents. The original Book Circus opened in 1960 and was known for its hardcore merchandise and also the notorious Vaseline Alley, a cruising spot located directly behind the store. Mason documents this and the controversies of the time in the first part of her movie, guiding us through to when her parents first took over after distributing magazines for Larry Flynt’s growing empire. Rachel Mason personally interviews and follows her parents, herself appearing on camera throughout. This is combined with archive material, including home camera footage; the different aspects of the older Masons’ life from when they were younger; from their ‘work’ to their more reserved, conventional home life bringing up three children.
We’re taken through the heyday of the industry in the ’80s, to the impact of the AIDS virus on the industry, as well as employees and customers of the store, all of the way through to the eventual downturn of the adult business with the advent of the internet. There are further personal aspects, including a sting which sees Barry Mason arrested, charged and potentially looking at jail time, and the moment when the Masons’ son came out as gay the day before he went to college.
Circus of Books is a thoroughly engaging watch. It’s superbly constructed by director Rachel Mason and will have you involved from the off, all of the way through to the uplifting ending – despite one of the last segments covering the eventual closure of the legendary shop. It shows that business practices can be more than just bricks and mortar and while the Circus of Books may be no more, its legacy will live on forever.
Circus of Books is now streaming on Netflix.
