Video Essay: Indecent Proposal — Would You Do It?

Kentucker Audley unearths his "lost" video essay about the 1993 drama, which he created in 2017 but is only now sharing with the world.

It’s been almost three years since I released my last video essay about iconic films from the 1990’s. I return to you today with a “lost” video essay that I made in April of 2017 but never released. It’s about Indecent Proposal — an under-appreciated gem of the era — and the reason I didn’t release it was because it was much darker than my other essays. Normally my process was to pick a basic Hollywood film (Powder, Richie Rich, She’s All That, etc.) and treat it with the reverence of a cinematic masterpiece. But after watching Indecent Proposal several times, I realized it was no basic Hollywood film — it was a knockout that left me emotionally wrecked every time I watched. After making my video, I realized it wasn’t that funny. Because the movie was too good. So why release the video now? In retrospect, I think it stands alone as its own thing and is still funny in a way, just a heavier way. Thanks for watching and thank you to Talkhouse for providing a platform for artists to talk about art.

Kentucker Audley is a filmmaker, film programmer, actor and Movies hat salesman. His latest film, Strawberry Mansion (co-directed with Albert Birney), premiered at Sundance 2021. His previous directorial effort, Sylvio (also co-directed with Albert Birney), debuted at SXSW and was named one of the Best 10 Movies of The Year by The New Yorker. As an actor, he’s starred in indie films such as Christmas, Again and Sun Don’t Shine. He also founded NoBudge and Movies Brand.