Time: 1:56, Director: Jacky St James, Date: 2015
Screenshots: On our Tumblr
On the web: New Sensations Catalog, IAFD
Cast: Natalia Starr (22yo), Richie Calhoun, Keira Nicole, Ryan McLane, Jade Nile (23yo), Logan Pierce (24yo), Jillian Janson (20yo), and Chad White (27yo)
Source: 1920×1080 downloaded from the New Sensations subscription site
Pleasure ✓+, Passion ✓+, Balance ♀
Review
A collection of four vignettes, all involving stories of couples who are taking steps either to reignite their passion for one another or to keep it alive.
The best scene, to us, was the third. Logan is a photographer who often shoots nudes, and his wife Jade has asked him to shoot her, to help her become less self-conscious. It's a cute premise, and even as short as the story is, it's hot to see how she changes. They are very convincing as a couple and do an excellent job carrying the story into the sex, which is hot and passionate, and she has two or three orgasms, at least.
The first scene starts out really good. The way she teases him, not letting him touch her, is very sexy, and he seems genuinely desperate to get at her. But it is a very long scene, with the sex lasting about 27 minutes, and there wasn't enough variation in what they were doing to keep our attention focused. The more serious problem was that she never seems very near orgasm. Those are also problems in the second scene, though we thought it a bit more successful overall, largely because the connection between them is better. The oral sex sequences are particularly good.
The last scene didn't really do it for us. It revolves around sex and working out, which isn't much of a fantasy for us, and the sex isn't terribly passionate.
One unexpected bonus here is that the music is very good and very different from most porn music. We were actually disappointed that it did not continue for longer, which is the opposite of how we usually feel. Unfortunately, there is no mention of its source in the credits, though we wonder whether Eddie Powell was responsible for it, as he was for the music in The Submission of Emma Marx: Boundaries. It has a somewhat similar feel.
Overall, then, we enjoyed this movie and recommend it.
Scene 1: Natalia Starr and Richie Calhoun (♀♂)
Time: 31:43
Cumshot: Tits
Features: Footjob, Tit Fuck
Pleasure ✓, Passion ✓, Balance ♀
Tuesdays are a special day for them: They celebrate their marriage and each other by planning a night just for them. This week, she is the one planning their night, and she leaves some champagne on the table for him, then appears in black lingerie, stockings, and heels. She tells him he can look but not touch, then proceeds to sit on his lap and stroke him all over, while refusing to let him touch her.
It's a fairly long scene, with about 27 minutes of sex, so it needs to be really good to hold attention. And, while it's good, it's not really good. The introductory section, which lasts about five minutes, is narrated by Calhoun, but it is entirely focused on Starr, in particular on her showering and getting dressed. As a result, that whole part feels a bit "male gaze". When she starts teasing him, it is very sexy, especially his desperation to get at her, but the way he talks to her felt a bit pornish. And his eating her felt a bit routine at first (though the way he masturbates her, looking intensely at her, is very hot), and there is not great passion between them once they start fucking.
She seems to over-act it a bit, too, and her vocalizations are not always convincing.
The camera work is pretty good, as one would expect in a movie in this series. Once they start fucking, though, there are more genital close-ups than we would prefer, and she becomes more of the focus. Though the closer shots are counter-balanced by wider ones, the close-ups do tend to linger for longer than we would prefer. But there are some really interesting shots, and the overall feel is fairly balanced.
Scene 2: Keira Nicole and Ryan McLane (♀♂)
Time: 29:29
Cumshot: Stomach
Features: 69, Massage
Pleasure ✓, Passion ♀, Balance ♀
Michael (Ryan McLane) and his wife Veronica (Cosima Knight) have grown a bit too comfortable just two years into their marriage. So she puts a "love letter" into his satchel, hoping to re-ignite things between them. He writes her back and leaves her "a little something" he wants her to wear for him. Which she does, and he surprises her with flowers when he comes home that night.
The story lasts about three minutes, so the sex lasts around 26 minutes, so this is again a longish scene. But there is a very good connection between them, throughout, even though they do not do much to carry the story into the scene. And we appreciated how long they pleasured each other orally. The 69 sequence was better than most we have seen, by far. The problem is that, though she does seem to enjoy herself to some extent, she never seems terribly aroused.
The camera work overall is strong, and we especially liked how the 69 was shot. The overall feel is very close and intimate. But there is a POV-ish shot when she is sucking him that we found very unsexy, and once they start fucking, she becomes much more the focus. But, while he is out of frame occasionally, that is not the dominant feel of the scene.
Scene 3: Jade Nile and Logan Pierce (♀♂)
Time: 25:43
Female Orgasm: Multiple, Cumshot: Pussy
Features: Analingus
Pleasure ♀, Passion ♀, Balance ♀
Jade has always been kind of shy about her body and her sexuality, but has always wanted to be more confident. So they have decided to have Logan—who works as a photographer, often of nudes—photograph her naked. The plan works, and she ends up inviting him to photograph him from close as she sucks his cock.
The story lasts about four minutes, leaving about 21 minutes for sex.
The whole premise here is extremely sexy, and she is very convincing in her role, as is he. There is a pretty good connection between them as well, and they are fairly convincing as a couple. But she seems to overact the sex a bit, and the sounds she makes do not always seem natural. On the other hand, though, she does a pretty good job of carrying the story into the sex, and she seems to cum two or three times.
The camera work is generally very good, though we did not like the long POV-ish shot when she was sucking him. Those sorts of shots just feel far too "male gaze" for our taste. But, overall, the camera work is better than in the first two scenes.
Scene 4: Jillian Janson and Chad White (♀♂)
Time: 27:10
Female Orgasm: Yes, Cumshot: Stomach
Features: 69
Pleasure ♀, Passion ✓, Balance ♀
"Working out was our foreplay", she says, but only recently—since she stared going to the gym with him, and then after they built a home gym so they could "have sex right then and there".
It's a short story, just over three minutes. The exercise fantasy does not do a lot for us—and it's pretty prominent—but they play it well, and there is an excellent connection between them at the beginning, which adds greatly to how sexy the premise is. But the sex itself ends up feeling fairly routine, and she seems to overact it a bit, once again, though she does seem to have at least one genuine orgasm.
The camera work is about as average for these, with a good mix of shots, and with a few more closeups than we would prefer.
I've just found your blog and think it's so fab and so necessary! :) I find generic porn boring and offensive also. Me and my boyfriend have been trying to find decent films we can watch and both enjoy together... Thanks for these well thought out run downs :) I'll be checking some of these out.
ReplyDeleteMy only other thoughts/challenges are to do with these statements...
"The more serious problem was that she never seems very near orgasm."
"The problem is that she never seems very near orgasm, though she does seem to enjoy herself"
I'm not sure why this is such a huge problem, considering lots of real women don't orgasm every time they have sex anyway... especially where there are loving/close relationships involved, it's not always just about that.
I'm sure this isn't where you are coming from and that you will have an insightful response to this... but viewing the female as an orgasm machine is a little disrespectful, too. She isn't there solely for the male in the films pleasure, and she isn't there solely for our (the viewers) pleasure. She is there mainly for her own pleasure, whether that reaches a 'conclusion' or not. As long as she is authentically enjoying the whole experience, of course.
Obviously when you can see someone tipping over the edge, it's super hot. But you mentioned yourself, she seems to be enjoying it whether she orgasms or not... so what does it matter if she reaches orgasm?
Aren't we striving for real-ism?
I'd love to hear your thoughts on this!
Sarah
Hi, Sarah. Thanks a lot for the comment, and I'm glad you find the blog useful.
DeleteAnd I'll say right away that I think you're right, in many ways. I agree of course (I'll just speak for myself here) that sex doesn't always have to be about orgasm. Just having an orgasm doesn't mean the sex was good, and it's perfectly possible (even for men!) to have great sex without orgasm. It's even possible to have really enjoyable sex without its being physically pleasurable, if you just happen to be really into giving that particular time. Emotional connection, closeness, and so forth are really important, not just in real life but in porn, too.
In some porn scenes, that kind of connection can shine through. Sometimes one really does have a strong sense of a loving relationship between the characters, and of one or both of them being really into the sex from an emotional point of view. (Check out the second scene, in "The Temptation of Eve" for a great example.) I *hope* that we wouldn't make the kind of complaint you mention in that kind of case. I *hope* that when we say that kind of thing, it's because the sex seems to us primarily to be about pleasure and orgasm. And when it is, what bothers me (and now I think I can say "us", too) is the asymmetry you usually see in porn. How many scenes are there where the guy doesn't have an orgasm? Not many! But there are *tons* where the woman doesn't. In the worst of them, it really does seem as if the woman is only there for the guy's pleasure. But even when it's not that bad, it doesn't seem as if her pleasure is always given equal weight and attention.
Usually when we make these "not close to orgasm" complaints, it's a way of saying that the female performer (or the character she was playing) never really seemed that into it. In the first scene, for example, when we complained that "The more serious problem was that she never seems very near orgasm", we also said that "his eating her felt a bit routine at first" and that "there is not great passion between them" and that "she seems to over-act it a bit". So when we said, "She also never seems near orgasm", what we meant to say was: You know, she never seemed to be all that aroused either, so she really didn't seem that genuinely into it. In the second scene, where we said, "The problem is that she never seems very near orgasm, though she does seem to enjoy herself", I think what we meant was that, even though it's supposed to be a married couple, the sex felt to us like "sex sex", and so we felt like he ought to be paying more attention to her pleasure. But I can easily see why someone else might disagree.
And I definitely agree that we ought to find a better way to say what we really mean. Our language is a bit lazy and thoughtless.
Along the lines of the "realism" issue, I wrote a long piece about that on this page:
http://femporn.blogspot.com/2014/10/authenticity-and-acting-in-porn.html
It's a tough question.