Time: 1:52, Director: Jacky St James, Date: 2013
Screenshots: On our Tumblr
On the web: The Romance Series, IAFD, Porn Valley Vantage, Rich Moreland's Website
Cast: India Summer (38yo), Xander Corvus (25yo), Remy LaCroix (25yo), Tommy Pistol (37yo), and Bailey Blue (24yo)
Source: 1920×1080 downloaded from the New Sensations subscription site
Pleasure ✓+, Passion ♀-, Balance ✓+
Review
This is an absolutely fantastic movie. It is no surprise at all that it won the 2014 Feminist Porn Award for Steamiest Straight Move and the 2014 AVN award for Best Romance Release. Jacky St James also won for Screenplay of the Year at the XBiz awards.
The story is one about love and lust, reality and fantasy, the old and the new, and the temptations Eve (Remy LaCroix) faces as she and her boyfriend Danny (Tommy Pistol) struggle financially. It is hard to put into words just how well Jacky St James manages to convey Eve's shifting emotions: her attraction to Brandon (Xander Corvus) and yet her disgust about how he uses and then discards people—and, she thinks, once used and discarded her. St James also does a wonderful job conveying Brandon's complexity. He is, in many ways, an asshole, but he also cares for Eve and for Danny, and he goes out of his way to help Danny get a new job. It is, in fact, not so clear in the end that Eve was just another conquest to him, and so he ends up being something of a tragic character.
The acting here is excellent. LaCroix is outstanding as Eve, and she swept the Best Actress award in 2014, winning at the AVN, XBiz, and XRCO awards. Corvus is absolutely perfect as Brandon, too: despicable yet attractive, and oozing with sexuality.
The camera work is also fantastic. The different sex scenes are shot in different ways, ones that befit each individual scene. The best illustration of this is the intimate and dark way the second scene is shot, as compared to the somewhat pornish presentation of the third scene.
My only complaint about this movie is that the sex scenes could be better. The two with LaCroix are both excellent, but the third feels slightly gratuitous, and the first is merely good. And, although all the women seem to enjoy themselves, there are not a lot of female orgasms here.
Scene 1: India Summer and Xander Corvus (♀♂)
Time: 17:30
Female Orgasm: Yes, Cumshot: Ass
Pleasure ♀, Passion ♀, Balance ✓
Eve goes into Brandon's bedroom and reads his journal, masturbating as she reads a story about one of his tenants, Veronica (India Summers), who shows up at his house for a paid sexual encounter.
The sex here is passionate and a bit nasty. There is a pretty good sense of connection between them, too, and she seems to cum two or three times. But her vocalizations are a bit overdone, which is not typical for her.
There is a great line from Xander, which must have been spontaneous. As she is moaning, "Oh, Jesus, God", he responds: "You can just call me Brandon".
The camera work is very good, with a nice mix of shots. He is almost never gratuitously out of frame. But there are some edits that feel a bit abrupt, which detracts from the realism.
▷ Synopsis
She gets on the couch on all fours, and he rips her pantyhose off, then flips her over, pulls her panties aside, and eats her. She rubs his back with her foot, and he puts a finger into her. She cums, or at least comes very close to doing so, at about 10:20. He kneels up, and she undoes his pants. She takes off her bra, and he lies back on the couch. She lifts his shirt and kisses his chest, then pulls down his pants and shorts and sucks his balls while stroking his cock, then sucks him. She then gets on all fours again, and he kisses her ass, then fucks her from behind, taking off his shirt as he does so. He stops to lick her from behind, and they sort of fall into a spooning position. She asks him to make her cum, and he reaches around to rub her clit. She cums at about 17:30, and he keeps stroking her.
She then sucks his cock again as he sits back on the couch. She squats over him, reverse, and he reaches around and rubs her clit again. She then lies on the couch, and he kneels over her, leaning down to kiss her. She reaches down and rubs her clit, slapping her pussy a bit, then asks him to rub her clit for her. They switch to doggy style, and he cums on her ass.
Scene 2: Remy LaCroix and Tommy Pistol (♀♂)
Time: 16:00
Female Orgasm: Yes, Cumshot: Stomach
Features: Analingus
Pleasure ♀, Passion ♀, Balance ♀
Eve wakes Danny up in bed, saying it's been weeks since they made love. So they do.
The sex is pretty good, but the scene is so well integrated into the story, and it is so well acted, that that almost isn't the point. There's a sense of desperation to the way they make love that perfectly fits her state of mind. She needs to have sex with him to convince herself of something, but she can't stop thinking about Brandon and how great the sex was with him. And yet there is something loving and familiar about the sex she has with Danny.
The camera work here is really interesting, sort of dark and foreboding. Brandon takes the place of Danny a few times at the beginning of the scene.
▷ Synopsis
She sits atop him and humps him as they kiss, and he then turns them over and goes down on her. He reaches up and squeezes her tits, then pushes her legs back, and she holds them to her chest. He kneels up over her and enters her, leaning over to kiss her. He gets up on his hands and knees and fucks her quite hard, and then he gets on his back, and she sucks his cock. She gets astride him on her knees and grinds onto him. They switch to spooning, and she reaches down and rubs her clit, asking him to make her cum. She gets on all fours, and he licks her from behind, her ass as well as her pussy, and she reaches underneath and rubs her clit, at his invitation. He puts a finger into her, then gets up and fucks her from behind, briefly, before they go back to spooning. He cums on her stomach.
Scene 3: Bailey Blue and Xander Corvus (♀♂)
Time: 14:00
Female Orgasm: Maybe, Cumshot: Tits
Features: Blowjob
Pleasure ✓, Passion ✓, Balance ✓
Brandon brings home Jen (Bailey Blue), the woman who stole Eve's job, and has sex with her right outside Eve's bedroom door.
This is something of a weird scene. The sex at the beginning is interspersed with the conversation Eve and Danny are having about how annoyed they are. The way it is shot is very different as well. It has something of a pornish feel, though that is appropriate to the scene, in a way. Nonetheless, the sex is just not that great, and the scene is a bit disappointing, overall. There's a point to it in the story, but the point could have been made a lot more quickly.
She keeps saying she is going to cum "again", but it's not clear that she ever came a first time, and she never actually does seem to cum "again", either. But she does seem to enjoy herself, at least somewhat.
▷ Synopsis
They stumble into his house, and she gets on her knees and sucks his cock in the hallway. He then pulls her dress around her waist and rubs her cit, then gets on his knees and eats her. They switch positions, and she sucks him. She then stands up again, and they fuck, with her holding herself up by her hands and wrapping her legs around him. She then turns around, and he fucks her from behind. She turns around again and lifts one of her legs as he fucks her from the side. He then sits on the floor, and she sucks him briefly before squatting over him, reverse, as he reaches around to rub her clit. He then stands up, and she kneels down and sucks him again. He cums on her tits.
Scene 4: Remy LaCroix and Xander Corvus (♀♂)
Time: 15:00
Cumshot: Pussy
Features: Analingus
Pleasure ✓, Passion ♀, Balance ♀
As Eve is about to leave for Seattle, she checks the house one more time for anything they might have left. She finds a journal on Brandon's bed containing reminiscences of the sexual weekend they had together. It turns out they first had sex in the bathroom at a party, when they were there with different people.
The beginning of the scene is wonderfully passionate, with a very realistic feel, and there is a genuine sense of attraction between them. They never do the same thing for very long, but that feels appropriate to the story. The sex is desperate in a different way from the second scene.
She seems to have a pretty good time, but she never seems terribly aroused. He cums on her pussy.
The camera work is intimate, as befits a scene in a bathroom, and very good, overall, with a nice mix of shots.
▷ Synopsis
They kiss in the bathroom, and he lifts her onto the counter. They start to take off their clothes quickly, and he kneels down and eats her pussy. He stands up and kisses her, and she gets onto her knees, drops his pants, and sucks his cock. She then stands up and turns around, lifting one leg onto the counter, and he fucks her from behind. She then turns around and sits on the counter, lifting one leg over his shoulder. He stands her up and moves her against the wall, fucking her from behind again. She disengages and gets on her knees to suck him, lifting his cock and sucking his balls as she strokes him. He sits on the toilet, and she squats over him, bouncing on his cock. He then gets behind her and licks her pussy as she leans over the counter, then fingers her as he licks her ass. She sits on the counter again, lifting her right leg over his shoulder, and he cums on her pussy.
