Tag Archives: BDSM

Pretty Girl

by Rich Moreland, September, 2013

The Collar Photo Courtesy of Kink.com and Casey Calvert

The Collar on Pretty Girl
Photo Courtesy of Kink.com and Casey Calvert

Kink.com’s The Training of O (TTOO) website is the purview of James Mogul, a kinky director whose personas are flexible and guaranteed to bring out the best in any girl who shoots for him.

In James’ mind, all new girls are to be treated with caution and care. His plan for a performer named Casey Calvert is no different. But in fact, James soon discovers that she is quite different. Casey’s sexual masochism becomes his welcome playground and a carnal delight for TTOO viewers.

In crafting a rewarding experience for her, James takes one of Casey’s self-confessed shortcomings and turns it into a project. Her four days at Kink’s castle in San Francisco will convince this seemingly shy young woman that she is indeed a “pretty girl.”

The first three days are an exploratory journey. On Day One, for example, Casey has clothespins attached over her body while she is bound by wrist and ankle. James rips them away one at a time while Casey’s grimaces accentuate her sensual gratification. The trials continue for two more days; arduous tasks intermittently complimented with penetrative sex.

By Day Four, many girls who shoot for TTOO are running on vapors, but not Casey.

Admitting that shooting for James is rigorous—“TTOO is physically very hard,” Casey tells me—she was still energized in Day Four and disappointed when she was finished. “I was really sad to have to go home,” she says.

James’s design for Casey is slave training while wearing a corset. From what I know of Casey, she is thrilled, but this is a walk in the park for her. He laces one snugly on her, attaches a leash around her neck and has her parade in circles while wearing heels. A few things are going on here. Casey’s heels are a bit of style and glamor and the corset keeps her upright. The scene is reminiscent of pony girl training in which posture is the centerpiece of a girl’s task. Casey is learning to straighten her back while being disciplined in the manner of a horse controlled with reins. She loves it.

The Corset on the First Day Photo Courtesy of Kink.com and Casey Calvert

The Corset on the First Day
Photo Courtesy of Kink.com and Casey Calvert

For TTOO shoots, James gets to know the model early on then configures the rest of the days to challenge what the girl wants to accomplish. In his mission to convince Casey she is “pretty,” James works on her command of her physical presence. It’s his teacher persona and it works.

Casey admits that calling herself a “pretty girl” is “starting to get in my head.” And the corset is doing its job. “My posture is better,” she comments proudly.

Watching Casey Calvert in this setting recalls Victorian erotica in which disciplined girls are outfitted in period clothing. A cane on her backside would complete the image of traditional British spanking; shortly, James will do just that.

All Collars Must Be Earned

As the days progress, Casey Calvert admits that she has a “hard time doing something that is so easy for me.” Pony girl training looks nice for the fans, but doesn’t challenge this gorgeous brunette. James takes note; a goal accomplished with little effort has no value placed upon it.

The Tank Photo Courtesy of Kink.com and Casey Calvert

The Tank
Photo Courtesy of Kink.com and Casey Calvert

On Day Three Casey orgasms while her face is submerged in a tank of water and she is penetrated from the rear. She later concedes it is difficult to climax in a scary situation. “Too much mental stimuli,” she says.

For James Mogul, this is progress.

Though the numbers may be hard to believe, Casey Calvert is an orgasm machine. During the debriefing at the end of Day Four, she and James estimate that over her week of discipline, she had seventy. Of course, it doesn’t hurt that James is adept at finding her G-spot.

The self-proclaimed pain slut confesses that orgasms were lovingly forced out of her. Never fear, for Casey that’s a cracking good deal, part of her definition of what it means to be kinky. The combination of pain from the training and hard sexual penetration will “make me cum even if I don’t want to,” she says.

The Bench Photo Courtesy of Kink.com and Casey Calvert

The Bench
Photo Courtesy of Kink.com and Casey Calvert

Tied over a spanking bench, Casey’s bottom is struck repeatedly by the strap James uses to generate the stinging sensations she relishes in a fetish booking. The Hitachi Magic Wand is laboring as her moans increase with the intensity of each succeeding blow. Ouches are now “ows”. Eventually, painful murmurs morph into screams. James keeps up his interrogation, demanding answers about wearing a collar and the feel of vibrators.

The conflation of pain, the vibrator and the mental exercises defines being trained by James Mogul.

Casey’s mantra on this final day is “All collars must be earned.” She repeats it after each application of the leather. The speed increases.

Casey wails, then partial silence, before a constant low level of guttural sound returns. Her face is focused on some faraway place; her eyes begin to dim, hanging straight forward. The whole body shudders, she whimpers limply, another long and laborious moment of glee only a highly sexualized woman can appreciate.

James takes the collar from her hands, where it has been since the beginning of the scene, and places it around her neck.

“Thank you, Sir,” she mutters almost incoherently.

“Pretty” Stuff

After a break, the camera rolls again. Casey is standing before James, her image complete in corset, heels, and now the collar. The director assumes his drill sergeant persona, taking his slave through boot camp instructions. She is exercised to improve her stamina.

No problem for Casey because she’s an athlete having been a gymnast as a kid and later a rock climber in college. The drill instructor demands push-ups, running in place and jumping jacks. Later, Casey kneels on a platform while James’ riding crop reddens her bottom.

Casey’s amused expression is that of a little girl secretly watching her bossy older sister do the dirty deed with her punkish boyfriend. Wait until Mom finds out about this! James orders Casey to “wipe that smirk” off her face.

As Casey places her head on the floor, James presses a boot on her cheek, a not unusual maneuver for him in these kinds of shoots. Spanking has led her to this moment and shortly she licks his boots in total submission. The kinky Floridian has another orgasm. Surprised? Don’t be, this is Casey Calvert at her best.

The shoot continues with oral, vaginal, and anal sex supplied by her co-star, Owen Gray. Everything is complimented with the cane or the riding crop. Casey is tired, but bright-eyed, when all is finished.

James wants her overall impression of the shoot when the debriefing begins. Kink.com always concludes its shoots with a conversation between the performer and the director.

“I had a great time,” she says, “It was fun.” She is momentarily spent, however, mentioning that her legs, arms and shoulders are sore.

“How do you feel mentally,” James wants to know.

“Great! Happy!” She is beaming.

Casey admits she orgasms repeatedly when she can’t breathe and can’t think. She relates some scary moments: all part of her personal kink. Best of all, Casey athleticism is tested in the shoot. She compliments James on the work he made her do. “Endurance challenges,” she calls them.

Asked if there was anything she didn’t like, Casey says no. “I’m happy with everything we did,” she says.

“What did you learn,” the professor/drill instructor asks.

“We got some of the ‘pretty’ stuff in my head.” With a broad smile, she adds, “which is good.” Absolutely. Casey Calvert herself is very, very, pretty stuff. A BDSM dream girl.

Pretty Girl in a Favorite Pose Photo Courtesy of SouthBound

Pretty Girl in a Favorite Position with Slave Collar Dangling
Photo Courtesy of SouthBound

*        *        *        *        *

Knowing Kink.com’s preferences in scripting its shoots, I ask Casey to reflect on her first TTOO experience.

James started her off slowly, she says, because the veteran director did not have a true indication of her level of kinkiness.

“He knew I had experience, but he didn’t know how much,” she tells me. As is his custom, James was willing to press a bit harder as each day led to the next, so the week was fun for her. Once James perceived her love of masochistic sex, “he started pushing all the right buttons,” Casey explains.

Both dom and sub learned from each other . . . and a bond emerged between Casey Calvert and James Mogul.

He is a true professional and “extraordinarily respectful,” Casey says of the TTOO director. She praises his caution when approaching newbies and his thorough understanding of the BDSM scene. BDSM play, especially for the bottom, must have clear limits and be closely guided because giving up all control (at least in theory) is the liberating experience of a bondage scene.

“James has earned my trust,” Casey remarks, and “trust is the difference” when BDSM is your fetish.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

In discussing this shoot with Casey, she assured me that at no time did she ever feel out of control or lack complete awareness of what was happening. She is a professional model who takes pride in the scenes she does for the studios that hire her. Though mystifying for many, it is her art.

The same can be said of James Mogul. The models who have worked with James tell me he is authentic and guides a performer with professionalism and care. He provides the palette of colors a girl chooses to reach her bliss.

2 Comments

Filed under Uncategorized

Eyes Wide: Another Day at Work

by Rich Moreland, September, 2013

Many months ago I was chatting with a veteran performer about Kink.com. A regular at the San Francisco facility, she mentioned that shooting there can take a lot out of a model. Kink.com is the premier BDSM porn company. Its websites define what it means to be kinky and performers quickly discover how psychologically and physically demanding a Kink shoot is. Some respond with reticence and prefer to go home after a single booking. Others consider the Castle an always welcome diversion from vanilla porn.

It boils down to the model’s soul.

Our conversation turned to a handful of new girls, “up and comers” the mid-thirties vet called them, who are experimenting with the Kink brand and seizing the company’s sexual fetishes as their personal fun house. Offering an example, she described the rigors of a Bound Gang Bangs shoot and how these young porn honeys are taking it all in stride. One name popped up, Floridian-turned-West Coaster Casey Calvert. I resolved then and there I was going to find out if this BDSM sweetie is the real deal.

Immediately upon seeing Casey Calvert on film, her eyes captured my attention. The eyes are the gateway to the soul and hers are bound, gagged and begging with a seduction that is irresistible.

Eyes Wide. Passion and Submission Photo Courtesy of David Hilton Photography and Casey Calvert

Eyes Wide. Passion and Submission.
Photo Courtesy of David Hilton Photography and Casey Calvert

When I finally made contact with Casey Calvert, she turned out to be receptive (not all models are, trust me). Our views and opinions immediately meshed. Among our topics, she discussed the authenticity of her version of kinky sex, mentioning Bound Gang Bangs among her Kink shoots.

Here are some of her thoughts.

Fantasizing

“It (the Bound Gang Bangs website) doesn’t actually exist anymore,” Casey began, because problems arose. “Finding girls willing to be bound and gangbanged” is difficult, she explained, putting to rest the theory that there are a slew of girls out there who can handle porn’s rougher edges. Also, there were some concerns “surrounding consent and the censors.” Ropes, perceived abuse, and explicit sex don’t always sit well with the entirety of the public mind, though the combination may be a blast for a performer like Casey Calvert who knows what she wants.

Incidentally, the site was renamed Hardcore Gangbangs, but a name change didn’t phase Casey. “I wanted to be bound with rope,” she said in a clearly disappointed tone, but that wasn’t possible for this revised version. So the Kink people, led by veteran director Princess Donna, decided on a different approach with Casey’s shoot.

The scene was set up to show me “fantasizing about being kidnapped and gangbanged,” Casey said. Undeterred by the theme change, she requested a cattle prod be used on her during the shoot. “I’m one of the few girls that really likes them,” she told me.

Casey is a pain lover who adores hard time punishment in a BDSM scene.

As the shoot progressed, the male co-stars got “a little reckless” with the instrument. Not really a problem, though, more like “boys being ignorant,” she commented. Nevertheless, Donna took a time out before the twenty-three year old had to use her safeword. Donna is a professional BDSM dominatrix who bottoms occasionally just to keep in touch with what her eager minions feel when she is in charge. Knowing what kinky sex entails, Donna never abandons the Kink ideal that the performer always comes first.

Casey praised Princess Donna, as have other performers I’ve interviewed. “Donna does an excellent job of understanding what a girl needs to feel safe in scene,” Casey said. Others “rave about how she (Donna) takes care of them like a mother would and I second that statement.”

Monitoring a Casey Calvert scene is a challenge for any director because sometimes Casey “wants to be pushed,” both “physically and mentally.” That’s a huge demand on a director, especially if Casey slips into subspace, a not always desirable outcome in a professional shoot. In listening to her, I got hints that Casey can top from the bottom if she sees the need to keep things from spiraling in the wrong direction.

Shamelessly Sexy

A Kink shoot emphasizes RACK: risk aware consensual kink. It’s Kink.com’s bread and butter and Casey looks for the thrills that emerge from it. Everything that happens to her is totally her call, but a bit of disappointment can creep in.

“At my gangbang, even though it was supposed to be a D/s (Dominance/submission) scenario, I never once felt out of control.”

But was that what she wanted, to have her consent tossed around like a rag doll? A follow up question clarified her meaning.

On the set, Casey doesn’t want her awareness to get completely away from her because the possibility of entering subspace can have dire consequences as mentioned above. Keeping things in perspective and being a professional is her mantra. At home, this is not always how the scene plays out, but that is a topic for another day.

I have a a lot more to learn about this girl, though one thing hit me the first time I saw Casey’s image on film. Her brown eyes, submissive, persuasive, and alluring, are her ticket to true porn stardom. I don’t just mean a “porn star.” Any girl who is hired by a cinematographer to screw on film can claim that title. Casey is sensuous and animated in ways that remind me of the great Hollywood icons of yesteryear.

This well-educated Florida girl has a special claim. She is a true sexual masochist cut in the mold of BDSM legend Madison Young. For those who are into the fetish and recognize their inner most feelings of dominance and sadism, gazing at a Casey Calvert performance redefines porn as art. She’s highly charged, energetic, prohibitively and shamelessly sexy, and loves to be restrained.

If her eyes are covered in the best of BDSM shooting, her submissiveness is heightened, not blinded. Though the doorway to her masochism is visually muted, Casey Calvert’s enticing vulnerability over whelms the screen.

A Blindfold on a Kink set. Photo Courtesy of Device Bondage.com and Casey Calvert

Eyes Muted.
Photo Courtesy of Device Bondage.com and Casey Calvert

Yet is this girl ever satisfied in her longings for the ultimate BDSM shoot?

Casey’s final assessment of her day in at the Castle was to the point. She enjoyed her experience, but in an imperfect world, nothing is ever exactly what it’s cut out to be.

“To be honest,” Casey said, “I was actually disappointed.” She never got to the tipping point of losing herself in the moment of the shoot, a delicate balance of reality and imagination. “I really wanted this to be a fantasy fulfillment, and it was just another day at work pretending.”

It was not the ultimate kinky shoot, spurring Casey’s never ending search for that Holy Grail.

We’ve all pretended a little at work, I’m sure, but how many of us can say that a workday has ever been a fantasy? Lucky girl.

*          *          *          *          *

Casey Calvert is in a business that touches her deepest sensuality and allows her to reach heights most of us can only imagine. By entertaining her fans, she finds a personal pleasure that makes work enjoyable. A consummate professional who demands perfection in herself, Casey travels her own path with the powerful compass of a thinking woman.

As long as her body holds out, Casey Calvert has the opportunity to test her limits and shape them for herself. She’s the very essence of the new breed my veteran acquaintance so aptly described at Kink.

Leave a comment

Filed under the business of porn, Uncategorized

Strappado

by Rich Moreland, August, 2013

Photo Courtesy of CapturedErotica

Photo Courtesy of CapturedErotica

She is in strappado at the mercy of an unseen, but all seeing, Master. Dripping with primal sexuality, her exquisite image kneels in the day’s fading warmth. The collective fluid of her lovers washes ashore with each orgasmic wave and pools with hers in the fantasy sands of desire. She pays homage to them, her Master, and the Sacred Feminine, the nurturer of mankind.

All imagined phalluses point toward her in admiration and need.

Yet, she is not what she seems because the submissive is spiritually the dominant. The desire for her yields any control over her. The Master is her lover because she allows it, wants it, and lets him do as he pleases.

Is it a charade, this worship of the captured woman, or an elusive adolescent fantasy that teases the ego?

Whatever ethereal visions swirl in the mind to unravel these questions, the truth is uncomplicated. A simple “no” vanquishes and evaporates all images. The art will vanish and the soul is crushed.

This beautiful photo came to me courtesy of Casey Calvert, bondage model, sexual masochist, and rising adult film star. In the weeks to come, I hope to introduce her to you so that you can animate her exquisite image seen here and take a peek at the woman who lay within the model.

Leave a comment

Filed under Uncategorized

A Different Kind of Normal: Part Three

by Rich Moreland, August, 2013

This is the final installment of my review of The Submission of Emma Marx. The film is wrapped in many layers, among them an overwhelming feminist statement.

Part of Her Training Photo courtesy of Jeff Koga

Are We Normal?
Photo courtesy of Jeff Koga

A Deliberate Process

“We’re not like normal people.”

Like women who long to start that conversation with lovers who seem distant, Emma Marx voices her doubts to the man who is refining her kinks.

Not that her BDSM education is for naught. Emma is learning the rules and William is a patient instructor.

Emma’s intitiation into bondage is tastefully handled by directors Jacky St. James and Eddie Powell. BDSMers who prefer total nudity with their “training films” will be disappointed with this part of the movie because Emma is being “broken in” slowly and with care. It’s not about displaying her body; she has deeper issues with her psychological barriers.

One provocative image occurs at this juncture in the film. As part of her training, Emma, clothed in a red dress, is taught to kneel inside the front door of William’s house with hands behind her back. Later in the story’s most dramatic moment, this submissive shot is re-visited with new purpose.

William directs all aspects of her education and woven into the harsher scenes of flogging are shots of him massaging her (BDSMers call it “aftercare’) and a brief shower episode artistically framed at a distance through the glass enclosed stall. She is on her knees cleansing him.

Likewise, preparing her for anal is a deliberate, loving process. In feminist-oriented pornography, anal sex is generally avoided because most women don’t like it and don’t care to see it. Emma Marx has another message: anal is also a kink once considered an exclusive male fantasy. Over the last two decades, it’s become a standard in adult productions and has gained wider acceptance among female viewers.

Like the protagonist in The Story of O, Emma Marx is moved gradually into anal. With William’s help, she applies the butt plugs she received as a gift to increase her physical capacity to accommodate him. When the anal scene arrives, it is without foreplay. No oral, just insertion and rhythm with lots of tenderness.  

The directors’ approach abandons formulaic gonzo porn’s oft used ATM (ass-to-mouth), a questionable sexual behavior for health reasons. Mixing oral and anal randomly and without care sends the wrong message. Sex should be fun, not risky.

By the way, the scene is pure Penny Pax. Though as Emma she must come across as reluctant to experiment with anal, Penny is no stranger to it. For female viewers, St. James and Powell communicate that with preparation, anal is enjoyable.  As for Penny, her passion and ecstasy is hinted in her voice and her face, but the flushing around her shoulders and chest reveal her authentic arousal.

 

Lying Awake at Night

In the office scene that accelerates the movie’s pace, Emma voices her fears that their relationship is not normal. William’s frustration reaches the breaking point. Knowing she is resistant to her true feelings and cannot act on her own to leave him, he unties her, gets her to her feet, and forces her down the stairs.

Submissively at his Desk Photo Courtesy of Jeff Koga

Submissively at his Desk
Photo Courtesy of Jeff Koga

The action tumbles down the steps and speaks for Emma’s world as it is crumbling. She is driven by her attraction to William and not the BDSM, denying what she feels inside. Dominated by her need for society’s approval, Emma struggles with the word “normal,” not yet understanding what he already knows. Normal has various meanings and is not always a reflection of what everyone tacitly agrees it should be.

William knows he has failed and slashes back at her doubts, telling Emma that continuing together is no good. He’s seen this show before. “You’ll lie awake at night, wondering if something is wrong with us because we’re different,” he shouts.

Emma Marx explores the dilemma many BDSMers face. What is the true passion, the person or the kink? In fact, kinksters sometimes will drop vanilla lovers because the fetish is a part of who they are and cannot be abandoned. This is Emma’s conflict. Is it William she wants and is she just playing along, like Anastasia Steele in Fifty Shades of Grey, to keep her lover, try to understand him, and remove her own kinks from the equation? Or, is the BDSM beginning to take hold inside her like O in The Story of O who can change lovers but keeps her whippings? And if it becomes strong enough, will Emma someday replace William with a tougher dominant, an act of independence?  

Emma is astonished and fearful. At the foot of the stairs she asks William to punish her for her doubts. She removes his belt and hands it to him. It’s a desperate act of bravado to forestall rejection. He complies, expressing his anger. But it’s brutality, not pleasure, and she quickly safewords with “red.” Their relationship is over. He can’t go on with her; she doesn’t get it.

In this scene, like the paddle in her office disciple earlier, the belt is not shown striking Emma because meaning is not tied up in the physicality of the punishment. It’s about bridging a mental abyss; the camera lets her facial expressions and the sounds of the instrument carry the action. Once again, Penny Pax is superlative as Emma. She is a treasure in adult film.

*       *       *       *       *

Emma resigns her position with William Frederick’s company and in a well-conceived overhead shot they pass on the stairs: she descending; he ascending. He is going to the privacy of his mountain top; she’s headed out to find another job.

Thoughts of What Could Be Photo courtesy of New Sensations

Thoughts of What Could Be
Photo courtesy of New Sensations

Time is laboring on, the days pass. Working to pull off a successful wedding for Nadia, Emma is haunted by her thoughts of William.

Images of her efforts to forget float across the screen. In one, she sits on her bed, holding a butt plug as her mind drifts.

“Will happiness always elude me?” she says in a voice over.

On her big day, Nadia talks happiness and suggests that it lies within, confirming the inescapable Emma cannot shake. She has only one choice.  

Happiness in a Vanilla Wedding Photo courtesy of New Sensations

Happiness is a Vanilla Wedding for Nadia
Photo courtesy of New Sensations

Penance and Purification

Emma must yield to her desires and return to the safety of William Frederick’s house, his galaxy of BDSM delights circling the Sun of acceptance.

Emma clarifies for herself what she has always known: she is not comfortable in her sister’s vanilla world. She now accepts that finding someone who shares her perversions “for a different kind of normal” defines happiness for what it is: universally sought and individually discovered.

But purification must come first and the final scene in its entirety does exactly that with an initial self-imposed ritual of penance. Emma returns to William, enters his front door and submissively falls to her knees with hands behind her as she was previously taught. She will wait an eternity if need be. Beside the door on the right is the sanctuary’s sentinel, the mirror and the plants repositioned now so that the stalks are leaning in unison, one above the other, toward Emma.

William sees her from the top of the stairs where he had previously bound and flogged her, but does not come to her. Not yet.

Hours later he descends, scoops up a sleeping Emma and carries her to the mountain top.

The music is spiritual and Handelesque.

All for her Pleasure Photo courtesy of New Sensations

All for her Pleasure
Photo courtesy of New Sensations

Binding her spread-eagled to the bed, William welcomes her home in a sex scene that is focused entirely on her. He blindfolds her, gives her earplugs with music, and covers her body with sensation: hot wax, ice, and lots of oral.

Emma’s feet clench forcefully, she curls her toes and grasps the bed covers with her hands as if trying to rip an unseen life force from the fabric and absorb it into herself. Her cries and moans punctuate the energy of a sex scene that is a visual experience.

Emma becomes worthy in her own eyes and a disciple-like vision for William.

Though BDSMers might challenge the use of perversions to describe their kink, they surely will agree with the film’s belief that normality is in the eye of the beholder. However, Emma Marx delivers another message of what it means to be normal, the emerging power of the independent woman—a seeming contradiction to the BDSM submissive.

As the film closes on a sunny day, Emma receives a message from William to come to his house for another round of bondage play. Smiling, she is delighted and secure that she is now in a different normal. The moment is significant for what it does not tell the viewer. Emma Marx is not married and is not living with William. At this point, at least, she is unwilling to embrace her sister’s interpretation of normal. She remains her whole self, an undeniable feminist statement.

*        *        *        *        *

No adult film is perfect because sex, and in this case an accompanying fetish,  has no standard definition of how it should be presented. But The Submission of Emma Marx is pretty darn close. I could go over a short list of things I would have liked to have seen: at least one internal pop shot because most women viewers don’t care for facials (Emma gets a partial one at the end) and some more time devoted to BDSM training with total nudity to please the bondage and discipline crowd. But this is just quibbling.

Most important, I urge New Sensations to consider an Emma Marx series, though corralling Penny Pax and Richie Calhoun for another film is probably easier suggested than done.

Emma Marx is about the liberation of a woman and her soul accomplished through the seeming contradiction of consensual BDSM. As I pointed out previously, its intensity, drama, and pure emotion coupled with discipline and punishment makes this film a leader in the submission porn genre. It has a strong cast and one of porn’s best players, Penny Pax, a BDSM veteran who can act and be carried away with authentic orgasms. She communicates directly with the audience, persuading the viewer to step into the scene and sweep her up. I found myself concentrating on her every nuance, especially her eyes that seem to speak directly the viewer. That’s something rarely found in the commercialism of the porn industry that insists producers quickly get on with the next project.

The Submission of Emma Marx is art and sex combined into a narrative that moves the viewer. But what is the film really saying? Early in the story Emma tells William with a touch of haughtiness, “I may look submissive, but I can assure you I’m not.” Perhaps Emma Marx, who later admits that “deep down” in her “demented mind” she actually likes her punishments, lets us know that love is many layered with confounding emotions darting among our fantasies.

 

2 Comments

Filed under Uncategorized

A Different Kind of Normal: Part One

by Rich Moreland, August, 2013

Because of its complexity, The Submission of Emma Marx cannot be satisfactorily reviewed in blog format in one sitting. Consequently, it will appear in segments. This is the first.

nses_hard_front

“I don’t think controlling someone liberates them.” Bespectacled graduate student Emma Marx is sitting in the office of entrepreneur, William Frederick.

“Do you think you are liberated?” he questions with a shade of annoyance.

Emma Marx Photo courtesy of New Sensations

Emma Marx
Photo courtesy of New Sensations

“I’m very liberated,” she responds, though her expression cannot conceal doubt and a feeling she has violated a tacitly understood boundary in this conversation. Sensing the interview is winding down, Emma apologizes for her impudence. “I hope I didn’t offend you. I’m not usually one for self-restraint.”

“That’s too bad.” He is unemotional and aloof.

She rises to go, politely offering her hand as a “thank you.” Touching it, Mr. Frederick says nonchalantly, “You are absolutely breathtaking.”

*        *         *        *        *

Thus begins Emma’s journey to reconcile her attraction to a man whose allure will redefine her vision of normal with an acceptance of that normal. Along the way, she will abandon her illusions of self-control, face questions that challenge her concept of sexual deviancy, and find carnal pleasures within herself she never knew existed.

Vanilla Counterpoint

New Sensations’ The Submission of Emma Marx is written and directed from a female, dare I say feminist, point of view. A woman’s desires and search for happiness are its focus and the star, Penny Pax, offers up a performance that is superlative. The director’s chair is dually occupied by the film’s author, Jacky St. James, and Eddie Powell. Together the imagery they create is memorable, deeply symbolic, and the best example of submission pornography out there today.

The movie opens with a sex scene that is standard Porn Valley vanilla featuring Emma’s sister, Nadia (played beautifully by Riley Reid) and her fiancé, Ray (Van Wylde). Nadia is petulant, self-centered, and bossy. Her personality and her sexuality are counterpoints to Emma.

Riley and Van sparkle in their sexual show. Using fluid camera work, St. James and Powell establish the film’s ground rules with these opening shots. The larger realities of Nadia and Ray are presented with cinematic gusto. The sex, playfully shot among rose pedals, features both bodies equally displayed in their erotic presence. In other words, the penetration shots are only part of the sex, not the sex itself, a theme that carries the film.

Nadia and Ray Photo Courtesy of New Sensations

Nadia and Ray
Photo Courtesy of New Sensations

By the way, Emma Marks is not gonzo decorated with heavy doses of gynecological close-ups. In this scene, the focus is on Nadia’s pleasure, her engagement ring is visible as most of the action is shot from her left, and there’s lots of oral to satisfy her. Incidentally, the directors’ collective vision is summarized in a brief moment. Nadia is in reverse cowgirl with the camera shooting from in front of the bed’s footboard. Her enjoyment is emphasized strictly with her upper body and facial expression. Penetration is obscured, as is her lover; only a woman’s pleasure is on display.

Nadia and Ray represent sexuality as it is socially prescribed, albeit tainted with the relationship drama that spices the mundane in a social media age. Later they will furtively discuss the deviancy of Emma’s apparent degeneration into BDSM play. Nadia picks up on her sister’s red butt; Ray notices rope marks on her wrists. As snoopy and self-satisfied as they are, without them Emma’s journey lacks definition.

Hopelessly Detached

Admitting in a voice over that she is “hopelessly detached” when it comes to love, Emma feels little joy for her sister’s upcoming wedding and gets on with her life working around Ray and Nadia’s constant bickering. A lifetime union may be their destination, but arguing is its counterpoint.

Emma is old school in a youthful package, solid and thoughtful with a “textbook perfect life,” she claims. When she reports to Mr. Frederick’s office for the interview, she is prepared with a small notebook, a pen, and a valise which she will hold against her chest for protection when her feelings of apprehension and uncertainty confront her.

While waiting to see Frederick (played by Richie Calhoun in his subdued style), Emma sits in front of the stairwell to his office. There are two white chairs. The one to Emma’s right is empty and dominates the shot. Emma sits pigeon-toed with the valise open in her lap. She is meek and malleable, a vision that is reinforced when Frederick’s secretary steps into the scene from stage left. She is near the camera and her legs and skirt dwarf Emma, who looks at her with the trepidation of a school girl outside the principal’s office.

The empty chair is symbolic. Emma’s existence craves emotional connections. William Frederick, whose adoration for Emma will pull her out of her self-confined world, requires patience. As is later replayed in the hallway of his home, Emma will have to wait for his arrival . . . and his affection . . . to become worthy in her own eyes of happiness for Emma is dominated by self-loathing. “I ran from myself and the fears and judgments that plagued me all of my adult life,” she will say later when she no longer needs outside validation to find her dreams. The vacant chair is awaiting Emma’s rebirth.

This reviewer offers special kudos to Penny Pax who, of course, is Emma. She narrates the story in the voice over that walks the viewer through Emma’s maturation. Penny’s dialogue delivery is superb and her facial expressions reveal Emma’s inner self with clarity. Not to be ignored are Penny’s sexual skills, after all this is a porn film. The story drives the sex which in turn completes the narrative and develops the characters. When the sex occurs, it is hard-hitting and locks the viewer in on the action. Penny Pax gives an unbelievable and emotional performance.

*        *        *        *        *

Leaving Frederick’s office, Emma is joyous, relishing his “breathtaking” comment and realizing she has an undeniable attraction to him. She plays out her fantasies in the privacy of masturbation, her self-limiting sexual performances. In two beautifully shot scenes, Emma substitutes real intimacy for the counterpoint of self-pleasure, something Frederick intuitively understands, as we shall see.

In the first masturbation scene, Emma lies on her belly fingering herself, but it is suggested, not overt. The second swirls around a phone call from Frederick. During the conversation, an aroused Emma feebly attempts to hold her ground in their verbal sparring. She pleasures herself again, genitalia under the covers, with the camera flashing back to the call while her face is etched in ecstasy. The key image in both shoots is her glasses. She has set them aside on the bed cover, proof that Frederick who “leaves your head spinning,” she acknowledges, has indeed stripped her of her defenses and started her on an odyssey to find the real Emma Marx.

Coming next is Emma’s first experience with new kind of love, a binding obligation . . .

Leave a comment

Filed under Uncategorized

Submission Pornography

by Rich Moreland, August, 2013

Rarely do I publish a precursor to a film review, but this time it’s needed. Look for the movie’s full analysis soon.

The Submission of Emma Marx, an engaging film from New Sensations, is in the vanguard of a budding adult film genre. The movie establishes a style of pornography that is romantic and erotic with a hardcore kick of dominance and submission (D/s) that satisfies a woman’s desires.

Emma presents an updated take on an old theme that was once, by virtue of the delicacy of the female sex, considered to be exclusively a male fantasy. In a 1920s classic stag film called An English Tragedy, a jilted boyfriend captures his ex and ties her spreadeagled for his sexual thrills. It’s a revenge tale and she doesn’t have fun. A decade or so later, a terrified Fay Wray is bound between two pillars in a blockbuster known as King Kong. She’s a sacrificial offering the island natives string up for the big ape. The twist is the “beast” falls in love and gives his all for the “beauty” in a fatal plunge from the Empire State Building. Both films are love stories with strong bondage overtones.

In neither of these productions, one underground and the other legit, is the woman as victim expected to be sexually aroused.

Dancing on the doorstep of the explicit sex era, naked women are tortured for male sophomoric jollies in sexploitation films like White Slaves of Chinatown (1964) and Love Camp 7 (1968). Referred to as roughies and kinkies, these movies are high camp soft core at its most brutal. Nary a girl has fun except when it comes to settling the score.

In 1975, a harsh BDSM tale hit the big screen, the film version of the French novel, The Story of O. Society’s proper decorum insisted that women were not to like this soft core fictional account of abuse for abuse’s sake, sexual slavery under the lash. But it, too, is a love story and O can always walk away. BDSMers call it consensuality, though Webster doesn’t recognize the term. Adult film responds the same year with a Gerard Damiano O knockoff called The Story of Joanna, a movie remembered more for the legendary Jamie Gillis than its combo of bondage (which is pretty tame) and sex. Incidentally, like O, Joanna (played by Terri Hall) emerges as the narrative’s strongest character.

Fast forward to the second decade of the twenty-first century and the print sensation, Fifty Shades of Grey. At long last, female desire is validated, albeit in a semi-desperate “must reform him” setting that finds excuses for the perverted male. Liking BDSM for its own sake, you see, is still troublesome. Nevertheless, Fifty jarred the submission door open for adult film. Women who previously did not buy into the dungeon of discipline and pain are now willing to take a second look at D/s sex in the name of love, sacrifice, and dark pleasure.

Though adult film’s road to the BDSM Land of Oz remains a slogging trek, the horizon is brightening. In this century, Porn Valley’s passable blindfolds and light floggings are now counterbalanced with a rough and tumble niche product from San Francisco’s internet giant, Kink.com. But where does this leave female viewers and couples who like a bit of romance with their soft corded flogger?

Enter a diminutive girl named Emma.

Emma Photo courtesy of Jeff Koga

Thoughtful in Her Pleasures
Photo courtesy of Jeff Koga

Written from a hetero female standpoint, The Submission of Emma Marx introduces a woman’s take on romance with a powerfully kinky flavor. The movie experiments with the midway point between the psychological tension and passion of sex women embrace and the stark “beat and punish” fantasy of Kink.com.

This new type of porn succeeds with solid storytelling and creative directing. However, the vital ingredient is the female protagonist. She must be vulnerable, assertive, relish her discipline as a prelude to sex, have real orgasms, and never lose the power of her character, a tall order for any girl. This is where Emma Marx shines. The energetic Penny Pax, trained in BDSM performances at Kink.com, is an authentic star in a business that too often proclaims every girl a star. She is superlative in a beautiful narrative.

By the way, Emma Marx is not alone in its exploration of submission pornography. Smash Pictures’ Bound by Desire series adds its voice to the field. But for now, New Sensations leads the pack in this new genre with a finely crafted film that is as much art as it is steamy sex.

67 Comments

Filed under Uncategorized

My Neighbor’s Wife?

by Rich Moreland, July 2013

This is the second installment of Bound by Desire from Smash Pictures. The films are best viewed as a package.

BOUNDBYDESIRE2 FT

Bound by Desire, Part 2 continues the tale of lust, love, and bondage presented in the original episode. The viewer meets three women whose friendships are bound up, pun intended, in a neighborly wife-swapping bondage club. The girls are the toys of their husbands and lovers, or so it seems, because these dominant/submissive relationships are not always what they appear to be.

Evan gets Elexis ready for some fun. Photo Courtesy of Smash Pictures

Evan gets Elexis ready for some fun.
Photo Courtesy of Smash Pictures

The story introduces Elexis Monroe and Chanel Preston, both connected to Evan Stone. Elexis is his slutty neighborhood playmate who, despite her resigning manner, enjoys his attention. Chanel is Evan’s demanding wife. She gets off watching hubby flog and skewer Elexis like a freight train racing through a tunnel. Though Chanel holds center stage among the guys, is she really the best whore in the cul-de-sac?

Next is Allie Haze. Though she’s out to remake her man into a less fetish-minded lover, she inevitably slips into the group’s bondage tentacles. Her man, Ryan Driller, wants to move their sexcapades into high gear via his personal netherworld of BDSM delights. Allie confesses to her friend and the third girl in this saga, Casey Calvert, that she’s scared. Whips and chains don’t do much for her, or do they?

Allie Haze Photo Courtesy of Smash Pictures

Allie Haze
Photo Courtesy of Smash Pictures

Casey advises Allie to back off with Ryan, but it’s too late for that now. She’s already been seduced and is in too deep. “It’s weird,” Allie says, “but I want him to tie me up and have his way with me. . . I just don’t want any scars.”

In the fetish community she means “marks,” but despite that brief stumble, Allie reveals the film’s underlying mission: educate the viewer about the BDSM lifestyle. More on that shortly.

Casey’s desires are a swirl of confusion. Part One puts her on hold, but in this episode Casey upstages Chanel with a sex performance par excellence. A pile driving Evan works to keep up with this voracious tramp in the film’s conclusion. No wonder Casey Calvert is a hot commodity in porn today as is Chanel Preston, who is signed as a host for the upcoming 2014 Adult Entertainment Expo in Las Vegas.

The Deal

Bound by Desire offers a sexual cornucopia that entertains on various levels. The film has none of the repetition of straight gonzo. The action is never a yawner because each scene offers a different interpretation of what it means to be sexual. Rather than rely on the standard porn formulas—girl/girl, anal, and DPs—the script maintains a couples-friendly mood with how-tos for bondage enthusiasts.

The hardcore fan will relish in the rough and tumble sex that spices up the film’s BDSM play. Exploring shadowy desires that are beyond “normal” can be daunting for bondage newbies, as Allie and Casey are destined to discover.

Casey's Wedding Picture. Photo Courtesy of Smash Pictures

Casey’s Wedding Day.
Photo Courtesy of Smash Pictures

Self-deception is all over this film. Though Evan reminds a reluctant Casey, “Women need discipline,” it’s the neighborhood men who are obliging their housewives and lovers.

Casey wants love and trust but must prepare herself to please her husband, Richie Calhoun. Eventually she yields, devouring the carnality of ball gags and floggers with a vigor that is stunning. Is this really what she wants or is she fooling herself?

On the other hand, Allie is convinced Ryan is becoming more “normal” while she is unwittingly drifting in the opposite direction. Will she admit to herself that she loves the bondage scene?

Allie looks on as Ryan warms up Teal. Photo Courtesy of Smash Pictures

Allie looks on as Ryan warms up Teal in the playroom.
Photo Courtesy of Smash Pictures

Meanwhile, the experienced Chanel is ever demanding, letting Evan know who is boss. “I really enjoy watching you beat these women for me,” she tells him. But she’s a prisoner of her desire to self-pleasure. She loves watching tapes of her husband working over Elexis.

For Chanel's entertainemt and Elexis' fun. Photo Courtesy of Smash Pictures

For Chanel’s entertainemt and Elexis’ fun.
Photo Courtesy of Smash Pictures

Chanel later insists that Evan persuade Richie to tie her up and whip her. “Have him fuck me,” she insists, implying that she is short on patience. “I want you to do anything I tell you to do. That was the deal.”  Bottom line? Chanel cannot find gratification without Evan’s willingness to follow her orders.

But the triumph of this story is Casey. Her sex with Evan is the best in the film. Manhandled like a trussed-up rag doll, she’s a screamer who drives the scene. There is no doubt that Casey Calvert pushes down and dirty to a new level in the neighborhood.

Easier Said than Done

The story deconstructs myths surrounding the bondage fetish. In conversation with an emotionally stressed Casey, Chanel relates what all BDSMers know.

Chanel controls her submission for her pleasure. Photo Courtesy of Smash Pictures

Chanel’s submission is for her pleasure.
Photo Courtesy of Smash Pictures

“A dom is nothing without a good sub,” she says. The sub has the control and the power. “That’s what makes for a wonderful relationship.”

Chanel doesn’t stop there. The “façade” of BDSM play, she reminds Casey, is that the sub always dictates the show. It’s an applause moment for every BDSM aficionado who knows the game and a revelation for anyone contemplating a taste of ball gags and restrains in his or her personal life.

Casey’s education gets another lesson. The element of trust in a BDSM relationship is vital and Allie steps up to carry on the conversation. She tells Casey that the playroom scene will serve her needs and take care of her in a loving protective way. But good doms are rare, Allie implies, and submissives must trust another person completely because “our safety and well-being, physical and mental,” depend on it. Then you can “let yourself go” and enjoy your fun. But, Allie warns, “It’s easier said than done.”

Allie admits the play scene with Ryan is getting better because she is learning how to assume the role of his sub for her own pleasure. In allowing Ryan to flog her, Allie says in a voice over, she “became more aware of his need for my love.” In return, she’s found sexual excitement in the fetish, something they now share.

Bound by Desire communicates that BDSM is not violence and pain forced on helpless victims by sadistic perverts. It’s a consenting sexual experience. A dom’s task is to enhance the sub’s pleasure and the sub can always end an uncomfortable scene.

Footprint 

A Jim Powers’ movie offers cinematic notables, artistic images that are as good as it gets in adult film.

In one scene, Richie flogs Teal Conrad, a willing sub Ryan offers him. She’s attached to a St. Andrew’s Cross in Ryan’s playroom.

Before they get into each other sexually, Richie releases her from her cuffs, something not all BDSMers would do, incidentally. As if intuitively knowing that, Teal quickly grabs the straps above her head, creating a visual simulation of restraint as Richie orally satisfies her. An overhead shot focuses on Teal’s ecstasy as she looks upward toward the camera.

Richie captures Teal's attention. Photo Courtesy of Smash Pictures

Richie captures Teal’s attention.
Photo Courtesy of Smash Pictures

Powers is a master at capturing the female expression in the throes of frenzied pleasure, one of the reasons his work is so appealing. Once Richie digs into Teal’s body, there’s hair pulling and a flogger wrapped around Teals’ neck as a makeshift collar to control her, all effective BDSM elements that add an erotic touch.

The dinner table during a filming break. Clockwise beginning at lower left: Casey, Richie, Evan, and Chanel Photo Courtesy of Smash Pictures

The dinner table during a filming break. Clockwise beginning at lower left: Casey, Richie, Evan, and Chanel
Photo Courtesy of Smash Pictures

Two classic images standout in the film. First, a nude Casey is tied to her chair in the dining room while the others enjoy their meal. It’s a glimpse into her personal fantasy of where her desires are leading her. Nobody seems to notice her confinement because it’s a well-placed dream element. Of course, being bound and naked in front of a clothed audience is not unusual in BDSM play.

Casey's fantasy. No one seems to notice. Photo Courtesy of Smash Pictures

Casey’s fantasy. No one seems to notice.
Photo Courtesy of Smash Pictures

During Chanel’s masturbation scene, the computer screen showing Evan and Elexis sits on a table beside Casey who is tied spreadeagled to the bed. Chanel has slipped into her solo world, watching one woman being penetrated while fantasizing about the other.

But there is a twist here which Powers captures with a blended overlay of the three women. As Chanel vigorously stimulates herself, Elexis’s rapture on the computer screen appears behind her. The camera angle is from Casey’s perspective so that her cuffed foot becomes the predominant image in the montage. The cinematographic moment is Casey’s immobile foot covering Chanel’s crotch with her big toe solidly between Chanel’s boobs.

Casey watches while Chanel has fun. Photo Courtesy of Smash Pictures

Casey watches while Chanel enjoys herself.
Photo Courtesy of Smash Pictures

The image sends the message that Casey’s “footprint” is all over this story. Is she stamping out the competition for top community slut?

Normal will Bore You

For anyone who tries BDSM, he or she experiences the same excitement, fear, and enticement that characterize an adolescent’s sexual awakening. When relationships are formed, predictable results emerge.

Allie and Ryan cuddle, showing mutual respect with an almost sophomoric touch. Of course, sex compliments their affection but what if the sex revolves around a fetish? They appear to make it work, a valuable lesson for bondage neophytes.

Their scenes are a contrast to what the other couples offer. The internal cum shot, virtually unheard of in today’s pornography, is a nice touch for a woman-friendly film. Throw in a bit of nestling afterward and tenderness moves the moment.

Casey Calvert looking her best. Photo Courtesy of Smash Pictures

Casey Calvert looking her best.
Photo Courtesy of Smash Pictures

Casey is much like a teenager falling in love for the first time with an older, more experienced boy. She is reticent and confused, not quite comfortable about love with Richie, trying to reconcile it with her expectations. As the movie winds down, Richie reveals the truth to Casey, “Normal would bore you and you’d be gone.” Is it a sign she’s into the scene? Can she meld her love for Richie with this newly discovered fondness for rough sex?

Chanel and Evan are in an older relationship that is a bit jaded, seeming at times more like an arrangement. Each uses the other for sexual variety especially when introducing like-minded friends into their playpen. What can we do when we get bored with each other? Put sex on tape, of course!

The conclusion of Part 2 dovetails back to the beginning of Part 1. The viewer senses there’s competition for the neighborhood’s hottest bondage tramp . As Evan pounds away at Casey in the final scene, the camera that recorded his previous adventures must be surreptitiously rolling in the background. Chanel will take a look at her rivals making Bound by Desire a film within a film.

Leave a comment

Filed under Uncategorized

Her Trampy Best

by Rich Moreland, June 2013

Note: The history of BDSM porn dates to the “porno chic” era. Films like The Story of Joanna (1975) and A Coming of Angels (1977) are classics featuring the late Jaime Gillis who liked his women submissive. Hardcore sex is blended with bondage to titillate viewers whose taste ran in that direction.

Onto the soft-core scene came the French film The Story of O in 1975, a dark tale of submission based the novel of the same name. The film addresses deeply hidden taboos within polite culture at the time.

From the mid-1980s through much of the 1990s, the feds cracked down on pornographers and the worry over violence and penetrative sex on-screen took center stage. When whips and floggers are the basis for a film of that era, their use is fairly light and explicit sex is avoided. The work of filmmakers like Fred Lincoln, Ernest Green, and Bruce Seven was seductive at that time, but tame compared with today’s new horizons in the BDSM adult genre.

The new century is moving to the ultimate— heavy fetish mixed with acrobatic hardcore sex. The standard now emanates from San Francisco’s Kink.com. But not everyone is into Kink’s extreme filming. Roughing up women in an atmosphere of apparent humiliation is not on everyone’s viewing guide, especially couples who share their porn interests with each other.

With the film Bound by Desire, Smash Pictures is tinkering with a new formula for romance and flogging, kisses and ball gags, all complimented with penetrative sex. Perfect for the couples market, it presents women expressing their desires and facing the contradictions within them. A bit of character development emerges and gives reasons for the on-screen sex, a rarity to today’s gonzo porn market. In short, the old adage “You always hurt the one you love,” cannot be more intimate!

Bound By Desire Front

*          *          *          *          *

Degrees of Commitment

In the opening scene of Bound by Desire, Part 1: A Leap of Faith, Elexis Monroe is preparing to receive the attentions of Evan Stone.

She’ll be tied face down on a bed, flogged, and caressed. All the while, a mounted camera that is part of the cast is across the room picking up the action.

Who are Elexis and Evan—husband and wife, horny neighbors, members of a bondage club?

Elexis at first appears uneasy. “Let’s just do it,” she says to Evan, dropping her robe. The action accelerates and Elexis’ guilt-ridden ecstasy, simultaneously intriguing and troubling her, peeks through. Her sex with Evan is anticipation stroked by nagging doubts. Is she having too much fun in something that is over-the-top kinky?

As the scene heats up, the camera moves to Elexis’ face. Her wantonness draws the viewer into the authenticity of a BDSM encounter while posing the question that lies at the heart of this provocative film. Is a BDSM relationship normal?

For Elexis and Evan, apparently it is. Their hard sex establishes the tone of submission that is the centrality of this film. It will play out in the lives of three women, each with varying degrees of commitment to the BDSM fetish.

Let’s Go Play

The BDSM lifestyle involves giving oneself over to the fetish. It’s never an easy decision. Though a master-slave relationship can be sweetly and sexually tantalizing, red flags of fear and weirdness flutter in minds of all BDSMers. After all, they dwell on the margins of cultural acceptability. What would the neighbors think if they found out?

First, there is Chanel Preston, eager for discipline, punishment, and rough sex. She is Evan Stone’s wife and from the outset it’s evident that she is powerful, dictating to those around her. Chanel’s kitchen conversation with her husband establishes that they are in this together. As the viewer will see later, Evan does his wife’s bidding, a seeming contradiction to her role as the submissive in their relationship, but not an unusual circumstance in the world of tops and bottoms.

The Controller Photo Courtesy of Smash Pictures

The Powerful
Photo Courtesy of Smash Pictures

Over dinner with Evan, Richie Calhoun, and Casey Calvert, Chanel is haughty and mocking toward Casey, the second woman in this story. Chanel tells the shy, reticent girl that it’s exciting to be shared with other men when your master insists. Chanel teasingly asks Casey if she has ever been dommed by Ryan Driller, a man who “collects” women to punish.

“No, I never subbed for him,” she responses quietly, as if under an interrogation.

To stir the atmosphere, Chanel takes charge of the table conversation for Casey’s benefit and her own ultimate pleasure. Evan takes the hint. Turning to Richie, who is sitting next to Casey, he says,

“Sir, do me the honor of beating my wife.”

Triumphant, Chanel responds enthusiastically, “Let’s go play!”

As the scene with Chanel cranks up, the punishment meted out is a BDSM delight. Evan binds his wife to the bed, applies a flogger to parts of her body, then pauses to watch Richie work on her with a riding crop. The red marks on Chanel blister the room with anticipation for the sex. Chanel’s oral performance on Richie is superb, and that’s for starters.

A licentious seductress who plays the males for her own pleasure, Chanel’s carnality feeds theirs. Her eyes exude raw sexuality. Like Elexis in the first sex scene, Chanel Preston is worth the price of this DVD.

Meek and Submissive

On the other hand, Casey’s situation plagues her with nagging uncertainty. Does she want the rough and tumble lifestyle with Richie? He’s collared her, an expression of affection among BDSMers, securing her devotion to do his bidding. Plans are validated that Casey is to be given to Richie’s friends so that they might sample what he experiences. But contradiction fills the air.

Meek and submissive, Casey is the perfect slave who is unconvinced of her part in her emotional bargain with Richie. An older and wiser Evan understands her emotional dilemma and knows how to heighten a woman’s sexual excitement. Sexuality is brain based, after all, and words fuel desire.

The Unconvinced Photo Courtesy of Smash Pictures

The Doubter
Photo Courtesy of Smash Pictures

“Do you like the attention you get from your master by doing exactly what he tells you?” Evan asks Casey in the hallway outside the dining room.

“Yes,” she responds softly. Her slightly stooped shoulders are an open book of submission.

“Women need discipline,” he tells her with a firm, quiet voice, knowing that words that offend most women, excite slave sluts.

Casey’s is uneasy. Haunted by visions of what she perceives “normal” to be, a loving vanilla courtship, she has doubts about life with Richie. How can she reconcile these contradictory feelings?

Casey turns to the one friend she believes can reinforce her ideas of romance, a head-over-heels in love Allie Haze, who is absorbed in changing her dominant boyfriend, Ryan Driller.

Vanilla Flavored Bondage?

Enter girl number three. Allie Haze is enjoying lots of rollicking sex in Bound by Desire—the ice cream scene (vanilla flavored, of course) is not to be missed—but there are growing hints that her lover has not yet thrown off his BDSM urges. To complicate Allie’s feelings, one of Ryan’s subs, Teal Conrad, is strapped to a St. Andrew’s Cross and flogged, while Allie, bound to a spanking bench in the scene, looks on. Once again director Powers focuses on the expressions of both women. Watching Teal flinch under the flogger’s impact, Allie is not sure she’s reformed Ryan, or that she personally has parted ways with BDSM’s haunting allure.

The Reformer Photo Courtesy of Smash Pictures

The Reformer
Photo Courtesy of Smash Pictures

To reinforce the cottage-in-the-country romance Casey thinks she wants, director Powers introduces Kimmy Olsen and Danny Wylde who perform run-of-the-mill boy/girl sex. Though not the hottest in the film, the scene does drive home the definition of “normal” and serves to move the story forward. By the way, Kimmy is cute as a button, pleasant on the eyes, and orally talented to boot.

The drama is now in focus. Casey’s thoughts drift into the wonderland of love that supposedly defines what a woman wants. But does it work for every woman? And, is it really for her?

Two Sexual Worlds

In a beautifully directed masturbation scene, Jim Powers captures the essence of Bound by Desire. Up to her neck in water, Casey relaxes in a bathtub and pleasures herself. As her arousal increases, Casey’s hips and body rise slowly above the waterline. This is a symbolic rebirth reminiscent of Botticelli’s The Birth of Venus, a goddess emerging from the sea. Casey’s sexuality is “cumming” out again from the watery womb of its original being. This time she is destined to be swept into the whirlpool of dominance and submission where all is not what it seems to be.

This episode also speaks for the film’s women. They are re-energizing their own sexual experiences. Chanel relishes her journey; Allie believes she has found her way, while Casey takes hesitating steps.

Using her nasty submissiveness as female empowerment, Chanel calls the shots with Evan, getting what she wants. Allie’s gushing relationship with Ryan, fueled by school girl love, is headed for a BDSM train wreck she thinks she can negotiate. Casey’s doubts and fears conflict with her desires. She wants the love and trust she believes Allie has found. Unnerved by the prospect of being whored out by Richie and equally hesitant around Chanel, the conflicted Casey is drawn to both like a moth to light.

How best to cope? Pleasure yourself and prepare. As the film’s centerpiece, Casey symbolically teeters between two sexual worlds, vanilla and fetish, knowing that the latter’s seductive powers will likely win out.

Part Two will tell that tale. Will Allie, who is farthest from the BDSM fold, be secured into the fetish? Will Casey join Chanel’s commitment to submissive pleasures? And the camera, the sentinel that captures every encounter, what is it all about? Who is filming these scenes, an underground cult of sadists and masochists, the neighbors next door indulging their passions, or a curious Evan and Chanel?

Final Thoughts

The BDSM scenes presented in Bound by Desire include the interpersonal affections that BDSMers revere in their play. In the flogging scene with Teal, Ryan holds her hand briefly as he applies the leather to her butt; Evan caresses Elexis after spanking her; kissing is evident throughout all the scenes, despite the presence of an accoutrement BDSMers adore, ball gags. Followers of bondage and discipline express themselves emotionally in ways not always understood by mainstream culture, reminding the viewer that in vanilla adult film intimacy is not always assured.

On a technical note, the film’s BDSM rigging comes via the talented John Wilkes of John Wilkes Photography. His handiwork is precise and clean, adding an artistic touch to the production.

Finally, the women are superb; each is at her trampy best. Chanel Preston demonstrates why she has been selected as a host for the upcoming 2014 AVN Awards. Allie Haze, who won two best actress awards in 2013, is the perfect choice for the sweet girl who wants to reform her boyfriend and Kimmy Olsen fills the straight sex bill to a tee. To balance a youthful Kimmy, veteran Elexis Monroe gets this reviewer’s vote for the hottest, filthiest close-ups during a sex scene ever. Powers makes the viewer want to dive in on the action.

When Part 2 arrives, perhaps Casey Calvert will turn in a performance that tops them all.

2 Comments

Filed under Uncategorized

The Value of Context

by Rich Moreland, April 2013

Girls who shoot BDSM porn always risk losing work in the vanilla film world. The reason, by the way, is not because they are pigeon-holed as bondage models. Frankly, it’s an advantage for a girl to indicate a willingness to be bound, gagged, and disciplined as part of her repertoire whether she is with a modeling agency or a free agent. Hiring possibilities are expanded.

No, the reason is about that kind of work, what it does to her, the stress on her body.

Take Dana DeArmond, an A-lister who is much admired in porn. She’s employable, amiable on the set, and knowledgeable about how to elevate the quality of a porn shoot. She is every cinematographer’s dream. But even the best are challenged after putting in years of shooting.

Dana DeArmondPhoto courtesy of 3hattergrindhouse.com

Dana DeArmond
Photo courtesy of 3hattergrindhouse.com

“I had a really good time bottoming,” Dana says, “I did it for six years and learned a lot about my sexuality.” She tested her limits for pain and fetish interplay, an exploration so enlightening that Dana describes her career as a “sexual journey.” But change may be at hand. Framed in the past tense, her remarks hint that Dana is transitioning into another aspect of her profession.

Starting out at Kink.com offered her a level of security to act out her fantasies and a sense of family when the shooting was finished. “I’m comfortable there,” Dana says, “I have no complaints about the company.” She comments on what other girls who film at San Francisco’s old Armory say, Kink is performer friendly and cares about a model’s satisfaction, artistically and sexually, in a scene. Kink.com believes all shoots should honor model consent and its directors allow a performer to “steer the scene,” Dana adds.

Kink also has a reputation for honesty. “They don’t try to trick you into anything,” Dana says. Like many companies, Kink has a call sheet with everything spelled out for the performer before the scene begins. They try to make the experience rewarding so that popular models want to return. To accomplish that requires a staff that is well-schooled in handling BDSM shoots.

“They hire really cool people,” Dana says, and gives Kink the highest compliment. Hanging out with their employees “outside of work” is a pleasure for her.

Taking Chances

Dana DeArmond’s BDSM adventures have a developed a downside over the years. She is a veteran submissive and a perfectionist with an undeniable work ethic that pushes her over the top, sometimes to her detriment.

“I got to the point where I was trying to take so much pain, and was trying to be so extreme, I thought, ‘I’m going to I hurt myself,’” she says. That can be serious because of the negative carry over to vanilla porn.

If Dana’s too aggressive with the realism of her bondage scenes, she’s taking chances with her availability and her income. “I won’t be able to work down in L.A. doing regular porn anymore,” she states, admitting that in BDSM, risks can be high. In some cases marks from flogging, electricity play, and ropes can show up in a vanilla sex shoot if a girl has one booked the next day.

Dana explains that she is also putting herself in dangerous territory with her health because age is an ever present factor. “I’m not eighteen anymore. I’m not a young girl,” a thirtyish Dana declares, “I can’t risk injury.”

Dana’s attitudes about shooting porn are evolving. She’s been around long enough to know what she is doing and what she likes. These days Dana insists that she must be comfortable working with the people on the set and is careful about the toll extracted from her body and mind. In other words, she looks for the right “context” in a scene.

If a girl is doing an aggressive scene for a site like Bound Gangbangs, Kink viewers want her to take on as much as she can even if it strains her physically and emotionally. Perhaps a few years ago Dana would not have given that a second thought, but she is reluctant today unless the circumstances align the stars just right.

“If I’m not enjoying myself, that’s not for me,” Dana explains. She emphasizes that she must be the one calling the shots otherwise her heart is not in the scene. If guys who don’t know what they are doing are all over her, “it’s miserable,” she says.

Too much rough play and extended penetration results in its own set of difficulties and Dana considers the consequences.

Understandable, some performers have voiced similar concerns. On the other hand, authenticity in BDSM shoots is desirable from a customer standpoint, so good models feel a sense of obligation to produce the best content possible. But they must have a clear picture of what they are getting into and how the booking will be handled.

“A lot of people have bad experiences because they haven’t taken into consideration the logistics of rough sex, or gangbangs, or group scenes, or porn in general,” Dana says, extending her comment across the entire industry. Getting along with co-stars and being in the right situation—the context—is what makes shooting a pleasure. “Style wise sometimes people just don’t mesh,” she remarks.

But banking scenes is a great teacher. “You’ve got to learn,” she says, and reminds us that for her it took a bit of time.

Busy Signing at the Adult Convention in Las VegasPhoto courtesy of 3hattergrindhouse.com

Busy Signing at the Adult Convention in Las Vegas
Photo courtesy of 3hattergrindhouse.com

Of course, a porn education is ongoing and now Dana is dealing with a career change other performers like Bobbi Starr have successfully navigated. Dana’s working on learning to top or dom, trading in the “just let it happen” experience of being submissive for the other end of the spectrum. She’s discovered that taking on a domme’s responsibility is mentally stressful.

“You have to think of so many things simultaneously when you’re domming,” Dana explains. Circumstances dictate the play. Most important, planning is required. Anticipating the steps ahead of time, like configuring a move in chess, needs a quick mind. The pace of the scene and the careful application of any instruments like canes or floggers designed to stimulate and arouse must be taken into account. Obviously everything is consensual, Dana says, repeating the Kink mantra, and it is imperative not to injury anyone. Those are obligations the domme has to her submissive.

“I do care a lot about the people I work with,” Dana says. At the end of the shoot, it’s personally important that the submissive thank her and brag about the “good experience” he or she had. No matter which end of a flogger—application or reception—is given to Dana she will leave her mark on the scene.

That’s Dana DeArmond, the consummate pro, popular with her fans and her co-workers. From my personal contacts with her, I can clearly see why. In the business, Dana cultivates friendships with performers and directors whom she regards as reliable and honest, and reciprocates when she can. She refers to the women with whom she is very close, like Princess Donna, Aiden Starr, and Joanna Angel, as her “porn wives.” It’s an endearment that carries an emotional connection not often found in any career.

Call it the wisdom of age and the lessons of experience.

Leave a comment

Filed under Uncategorized

Are You a Real Vampire?

by Rich Moreland, February 2013

This is the fifth episode of Voracious. It’s titled “I Want to See the Sun” for good reason. The encounter between Amira and Vlad is most intense and I am told it captivated the crew as it was filmed. Brooklyn Lee’s performance takes the viewer beyond the premise that this is a pornographic movie. Her emotional conflict and expression of her desires in the face of Vlad’s carefully orchestrated wrath is a filming coup that rarely occurs in the studios of the Other Hollywood.

                                            *          *          *          *          *

Through his contacts with Father Zoltan, Manuel Batiste arranges to go to Berlin to meet up with Amira. Before leaving, he gives instructions to his secretary Karen to look after things. He adds that he will need her help with research.

Karen (former adult actress Tricia Deveraux) replies, “Vampires?”

“No, folklore,” Manuel says. Does he really believe in vampires?

Arriving in Berlin, Manuel arranges to meet Father Zoltan in front of Charlottenburg Castle. The structure is built in the Baroque style, a tribute to the Catholic Church. Like many European landmarks of the 16th and 17th centuries, the castle has a vast stone courtyard that extends to the street. What better place to meet a connection to the vampire clan than a monument to a religious age in European history.

Father Zoltan is to the point. Manuel’s interest in Amira sparks a curiosity for him and he wants an explanation.

“I have my reasons,” Manuel replies.

Zoltan is humorless. “Tomorrow, 10 p. m. at the Golden Angel, she’ll be there.”

“Good,” Manuel says, “I’ll see you then.”

Manuel's conversation with the Priest is Finished

Manuel’s Conversation with the Priest is Finished

As Manuel departs, Adriana watches a distance away.

Adriana has Plans

Adriana has Plans

“He shows up, I see,” she says to the priest.

“He’s going to be very useful,” Zoltan’s voice is firm.

“I agree.” Her wicked smile portends things to come.

 

The Victory Column and the Posture Collar

From his hotel room window, Manuel stares at the Victory Column, a Berlin landmark and a central image in the film.

The column was constructed in mid-nineteenth century during the struggle for German unification. The century was also the age of vampire lore. Later the column was symbolic of the Nazi rise to power in the 1930s, a time when demonic forces possessed an entire nation. Ironically, from a psychological perspective it has a Jewish connection; the column is a Freudian phallic symbol. When seen from a distance the angel atop the column is a visual metaphor of power. Angels come in various forms and can be good or bad. They are born out of imagination, desire, sexuality, and fear. Are vampires among the ranks?

The Angel

The Angel

John Stagliano swirls these ideas into this chapter of the saga. The viewer is reminded of the column motif and its greater power over the story.

*          *          *          *           *

The scene shifts to a warehouse. The interior is in disarray as one might find unkempt storage spaces. A steel structure that resembles a very broad ladder is positioned in front of two coffins, those of Dracu and Vald.

The Vampires Await the Darkness

The Vampires Await the Darkness

Hanging upside down on the ladder is a nude Amira. She is the column in a reverse world. Her hands are folded over her breasts. She is bat-like guarding the vampires. Dracu arises out of his coffin, reborn of the darkness. He approaches the ladder and arouses Amira’s body with his steel tipped fingernails. Her eyes pop open sharply.

Amira wears a posture collar, a popular accoutrement in the BDSM community. The collar is long and confining and has the purpose of keeping a sexual submissive’s neck straight and restricted. In Amira’s case, it is a symbol of control, preventing her from looking elsewhere to break the spell of the darkness.

The scene, which begins in black and white, now shifts to color.

Amira’s body visually lengthens, staying with the column imagery. Her arms dangle straight down; she grasps the lowest bar as if to stretch out.

Getting Amira Ready for Vlad

Getting Amira Ready for Vlad

She pulls herself up with a deep bend like a vampire emerging from a coffin and stands in front of the steel structure. She is awaiting Vlad. When he abandons his coffin and faces her, Amira’s eyes speak of recognized inferiority.

 

“So she’s the American girl,” Vlad utters.

Amira stares straight ahead, unflinching, in the best of submissive postures. Dracu backs away. Vlad has work to do and it entails breaking down Amria.Episode5_024

For BDSM aficionados this scene is a must. John Stagliano commented to me how moved he was with Brooklyn Lee’s performance. Rocco Siffredi shows his skills as a porn veteran and Brooklyn’s acting is over the top.

The sex is totally oral and filled with body fluid as is Stagliano’s preference. But it’s the drama that entices. Vlad is emotionally beating down Amira and in a tension filled moment she screams, “I want to see the sun!”

IMG_8958

Now the truth comes out. She is fighting back tears.

At this point the images of the film come together. In a mighty struggle, Vlad is forcing his will on Amira. Her throat fills with fluid, almost drowning her (the water image). She repeatedly rises out of the water to be reborn, only to be attacked once again by Vlad’s “column.”

Suddenly Amira, head arched back over the rail of the ladder, spews out all the fluid in her mouth. An explosive sound is heard. The angel erupts from the victory column that is now Amira’s body. She screams again, “I want to see the sun!” in the same metaphoric way the golden angel gleams in the sunrise over Berlin, the once capital of evil and destruction.

Eruption

Eruption

Vlad slaps her violently, as if in a desperate attempt to discipline her and drive the angel back into the night. His anger surges forth.

“Please!” she begs and screams.

“You’re not a real vampire!” he growls.

“I don’t know!” she cries in confusion. “I don’t know!”

Vald’s fury mounts. His hands grip her throat to squeeze the life out of her; he is taunting her.

“Please don’t kill me!” Amira pleads.

“If you decide to become human again, I will kill you!” he shouts. Vengeance is mind saith the Vlad.

What is this? Is Amira in some kind of vampire purgatory? She has choices? Does Vlad kill the undead to discipline the clan or simply for sport?

Vlad Forces the Angel Back into Hiding

Vlad Forces the Angel Back into Hiding

Vlad rams his fingers into Amira’s mouth. Her eyes stare up at him in desperation and fear. Her face becomes immobile, freezing in its tracks her longing to be reborn in daylight.

 

 

2 Comments

Filed under Uncategorized