And when things fall apart, the safety of mom is there, waiting. When Agassi is alone, Heymann catches the performer vacillating wildly between self-awareness (about performance, desire) and naïveté. “Jonathan Agassi Saved My Life” achieves an impressive level of formal closeness with its subject while maintaining a critical distance from him, following his personal moments closely without over-sentimentalizing interactions.

That Heymann outlines Agassi’s family dynamics with such detail facilitates a dialogue between the two parts of Agassi’s life: his gay pornography and his home. (“Jonathan Agassi,” after all, is a pseudonym, a character.) In contrast, he does not like talking about his absentee homophobic father, to whom he refers by first name. It’s with her that he puts on pause his craving of being wanted and his desire to perform. She approves of his awards-show garments (harness, lace garters, heels) through the computer. She’s caring and supportive, albeit long distance. A sadly low percentage, however, are any good, which is why this week brings us significant reason to rejoice: First-time filmmaker Kelly Fremon Craig brings us the adorable, sprightly The Edge Of Seventeen. He Skype calls his mother from Berlin frequently, even as his stardom intensifies. It seems that every year another fresh crop of filmmakers make their debut movies, and a high proportion are coming-of-age stories. Agassi, now retired, shot to fame after appearing in the Lucas Entertainment gay porn film “Men of Israel” in 2009, and Heymann documents the actor’s aggressive rise to notoriety.