The Submission of Emma Marx: Evolved, from New Sensations Erotic Stories

★★★★☆

Time: 2:00, Director: Jacky St James, Date: 2017

Screenshots: On our Tumblr

On the web: IAFD, Rich Moreland's Website, Rich Moreland's Website

Cast: Riley Reid (26yo), Van Wylde (27yo), Violet Starr (21yo), Damon Dice, Jay Smooth (31yo), Penny Pax (27yo), Mick Blue (41yo), and John Strong (48yo)

Source: 1920×1080 downloaded from the New Sensations subscription site

Pleasure ✔+, Passion ✔+, Balance ✔--

Review

We were very surprised when we learned, from Jacky St James's blog, that this movie was in production. Partly because she'd left New Senstations some time ago. But more so because The Submission of Emma Marx: Exposed had seemed like such a natural end to the story. There's always the temptation to try to keep going, though, especially with a series as successful as this one has been. So, does it work? Well, half of it does.

Before we continue: You can't possibly understand this movie without having seen the earlier ones. So don't even try.

At the end of The Submission of Emma Marx: Exposed, Emma (Penny Pax) had begun a new D/s relationship after the death of Mr Frederick. That has not survived, and she has now given up the 'lifestyle' entirely. Her sister Nadia (Riley Reid) has split up from her husband Ray (Van Wylde), as well, though for reasons we are not told. Then again, Nadia and Ray are still having sex—hate sex, Nadia says—and she also claims it is the best sex she's ever had. Emma has moved in with Nadia, who, to be able to stay in the palatial house she and Ray had shared, has also gotten another housemate, Mariah (Violet Starr). Who, it turns out, is into fairly kinky sex, as Emma finds out one day when she gets trapped under Mariah's bed as she's having sex with one of her many 'visitors'.

That's roughly the first half of the movie (strictly, the first 42 minutes). And, basically, the story has hardly begun. Indeed, we found ourselves wondering at that point what any of this actually had to do with Emma. We've complained about this kind of thing before. It's one of the main, and only, complaints we've had about the Emma Marx movies: that the intitial sex scene, with Nadia and Ray, is never particularly good and delays the actual start of the story. Here, though, it is much worse.

The scene with Nadia and Ray is terrible. We have seen Riley Reid in a lot of movies, and we have never seen her over-act her pleasure the way she does here. It's about as stereotypically pornish as it gets. And then we are subjected to another such scene, with Mariah and her anonymous fuckbuddy. She once again over-plays her pleasure, and the sex itself is completely unconvincing. What's worse is that the photography in these two scenes is also stereotypically pornish, much of the time. The scenes with Nadia and Ray in the other films were never shot as interestingly as the ones with Emma. But this scene might just as well have appeared in some all-sex gonzo extravaganza as in what's supposed to pass for feminist porn (at least one from New Sensations, which are not nearly as extreme as what one sees from other studios).

In a way, there's a point to that: a contrast is set up, as always in these films, between Nadia and Ray's shallow sexuality and the considered, deeply personal experiences that Emma craves (or at least used to crave). But it's a point that could be made much more quickly, and without forcing the viewer to endure over half an hour of bad porn sex.

The good news, though, is that, once that's all over, the movie becomes everything you wanted it to be. Almost.

Seeing Mariah's bruises the next morning, Emma lets on that she knows more than a bit about BDSM. She shows Mariah some of her old toys, hidden now in a locked chest, willing to talk but unwilling to open up that part of her life again. But Mariah begs her to help her, and Emma starts to introduce her to the world of BDSM as her "temporary dominant". This part of the movie is wonderful, strongly reminiscent of one of our favorite parts of The Sexual Liberation of Anna Lee. We get a long series of little snippets showing us the evolving relationship between Emma and Mariah. See? You don't have to have a twenty minute scene to make a point that moves the story forward. (And, frankly, it would have been a lot better if we had a twenty minute scene with these two rather than with Mariah and her fuckbuddy.)

The rest of the story, we won't give away. Suffice it to say that it is filled with love, loss, and redemption.

The two sex scenes in this part of the movie are much better than the first two. The highlight is the third, when Mariah has her first experience with a male dominant (Jay Smooth). The BDSM here is realistic without being over the top, and the photography is much more reminiscent of the excellent work done in the first three films in this series. But, for much of the time, the last scene—in which Emma has one last experience as a submissive, with two male doms (Mick Blue and John Strong)—actually doesn't feel all that different from a whole lot of mainstream porn. The BDSM context is, of course, supposed to make a difference, but, while you know it's there, it's barely present in what actually happens.

The best thing about this movie, to be honest, is Violet Starr. She's wonderful as Mariah (even if her first sex scene isn't so wonderful), and her girlish enthusiasm for her new experiences is absolutely infectious. Indeed, for the most part, the acting is once again strong, though Riley Reid and Van Wylde are almost as bad during the argument that precedes their sex scene as they are during that scene. And Richie Calhoun's narration is a bit inconsistent, especially toward the beginning. But Penny Pax, as usual, is excellent, and her interactions with both Mariah and Nadia are convincing and touching.

So, there you have it: a very mixed bag.

Scene 1: Riley Reid and Van Wylde (♀♂)

★★★☆☆

Time: 15:00

Cumshot: Pussy

Pleasure ✔-, Passion ✔+, Balance ❌

Nadia and Ray have 'hate sex' in the midst of their separation.

The acting before the sex starts is, frankly, terrible. But they do a very good job staying in role during the sex, especially Reid. There's a reasonable sense of connection between them, but she badly overplays her pleasure, in a way she did not in the earlier films. (We can't possibliy over-state how bad that is.) It's possible she cums, but it's hard to tell, for that reason.

The camera work has its moments at first. But the dominant shots are pretty pornish, for example, behind her when she is on top of him. And as the scene goes on it just gets worse.

Scene 2: Violet Starr and Damon Dice (♀♂)

★★★☆☆

Time: 18:30

Cumshot: Ass

Features: 69, Deepthroat, Spanking, Vibrator

Pleasure ✔-, Passion ✔-, Balance ✔-

Mariah brings a friend over when Emma just happens to have been exploring her room. They end up having sex while Emma hides under the bed.

There's almost no introduction to this scene. Mariah demands that her friend handcuff her, and keeps making such demands as they continue, topping from below. There's no preparation, either, for the BDSM activities that follow: gagging, slapping, etc. She tells him what she wants, which is good, but it's like a laundry list, and completely unrealistic. Her alleged orgasms do not seem at all real, either.

It turns out that this is part of the point. Mariah is fooling around with BDSM without knowing what she is doing. But that is no excuse for how bad the sex is, and for subjecting the viewer to it. We could have been shown three or four minutes, until we got the point, and had a really good scene with Emma and Mariah later.

Starr badly overplays her pleasure, too, much as Reid did in the first scene, but even worse.

The camera work is once again not very good. It's better than it might have been, but not at all like the great camera work in the earlier movies in this series.

Scene 3: Violet Starr and Jay Smooth (♀♂)

★★★★½

Time: 25:00

Female Orgasm: Multiple, Cumshot: Stomach

Features: Bondage, Deepthroat, Footjob, Rough Sex

Pleasure ⚧, Passion ⚧, Balance ✔+

Mariah has her first experience with a real dominant, and with her first male dominant.

The main activities here are slapping, flogging, and spanking her tits, as well as the use of such devices on other parts of her body; some light bondage; a Wartenberg wheel, which is used across a lot of her body. There is also a lot of teasing and orgasm denial. And there is some mouth-fucking, but, unlike in a lot of mainstream porn, it is here clearly presented as BDSM, and it is not particularly rough. Eventually, she begs him to fuck her, which he does, though he pauses to have her stroke his cock with her feet, and adds a few more toys along the way.

Overall, we thought this was a really, really hot scene, and it has us pretty wet by the end (hell, by the middle). But we thought it went on a bit too long. We were ready for it to be over after she came the first time, but it went on for several more minutes.

The photography here is for the most part quite good, reminiscent, finally, of the first three movies in the series. But we do not see very much of him once they start fucking. Rather, she fills most of the frame, as so often in porn. Granted, this is more about her than about him, but we might have been encouraged more to see it from her point of view, and that means seeing him—at least once the blindfold is off.

Scene 4: Penny Pax, Mick Blue, and John Strong (♀♂)

★★★★☆

Time: 22:00

Female Orgasm: Multiple, Cumshot: Ass

Features: Anal, Ass to Mouth, Bondage, Butt Plug, Double Penetration, Vibrator

Pleasure ⚧, Passion ⚧, Balance ✔+

Emma has one last experience as a submissive, with two male dominants. We aren't told where she found them, nor where this takes place.

As far as the BDSM goes, there is some temperature play (ice); flogging and slapping (including of her tits and pussy); nipple play; a butt plug; and some light (and creative) bondage (including a blindfold). It is not too long, though—only about seven minutes into the scene—when more conventional sex starts, with John Strong fucking Emma, first in her pussy and then in her ass while Mick Blue fucks her mouth. And so forth.

To be honest, for the bulk of the scene, it does not feel all that different from typical porn (though it is not as rough even as other stuff from New Sensations). The focus is really on double penetration. Perhaps, as with some of Tristan Taormino's films, the point is supposed to be that it's fine to portray these kinds of activities, if it is done the right way. So here, it is all embedded in a BDSM context, which makes it all right, since it's all consensual, etc. But it doesn't quite work, because, as we said, other than a few verbal command, the BDSM context vanishes once they start fucking. You might not even have known it was supposed to be BDSM if you'd missed the first few minutes.

The photography is very good, at least at first. But, once again, it becomes much less good once they start fucking, and her torso fills the frame much of the time. There are some good shots along the say, but it's terribly inconsistent.