A documentary written and directed by Mia Donovan. 77 minutes. Playing Feb. 3 to 7 at the Royal. 18A

from www.thestar.com – At age 21, Montrealer Lara Roxx went to L.A. in 2004, hoping to make a few adult videos for some quick cash, thoughts of stardom and a big payday in her head.

After her first day on the set performing a frankly horrific sex scene that the naïve actress was talked into doing, she ended up infected with HIV.

Roxx did indeed become well known, but not in the glamorous way the frail, doe-eyed young woman imagined. Instead she made headlines as a victim of the porn industry while the adult movie community scrambled to deal with the fallout.

In her often difficult-to-watch Jutra-nominated documentary, Inside Lara Roxx, Canadian director Mia Donovan shows us the result of five years spent in Roxx’s world, including struggles with drugs and alcohol and a stint in a psychiatric ward. Roxx battles with her demons, tries to reconnect with family and, in a heartbreaking scene, meets with a former teacher who saw great promise in her as a child.

Donovan’s camera follows a hopeful Roxx as she goes back to L.A. for the first time since her diagnosis, aiming to convince people in the porn industry that condoms must be used on sets. She is treated as little more than a cute nuisance. It’s a portrait of a vulnerable woman looking for answers and a sense of peace who returns to Canada shattered by the offhanded way she is treated.

Roxx drops off Donovan’s radar soon after. The filmmaker finds her again, troubled and addicted to crack.

As the relationship between filmmaker and subject gets more personal — Donovan takes on an almost sisterly role — the doc loses some focus. Donovan’s involvement occasionally muddies the waters, but her loyalty reminds us that Roxx rarely had access to people she could trust. And she paid dearly for it.