From alt.sex.movies Mon Apr 24 11:22:26 1995
Subject: Heretic Considers the Golden Age (of Porn, not Balloning)
From: Heretic
Date: 13 May 1995 09:25:22 -0400
Status: RO

I was going to review Taboo IV, but the copy changed to slow speed in
the middle and my VCR only plays regular speed.  (That means I can't
watch World's Biggest Gang Bang-damn! :-)  Anyway, I thought I'd use
this space to discuss some of the things things I liked about what I
did see.

Warning - discussion of plot and other non-sex related topics follows. 
If such material offends you, i.e. you only rent compilation tapes, or
like to post messages like "I want to talk about dem bitches getting
fucked in the ass long and hard and taking it in the mouth", go no
furthur.

Ok, now I'm probably preaching to the converted.  I will note that I
have very limited experience with Golden Age stuff - the only other GA
film I've seen is Misty Beethoven.  But I feel I know enough about
cinema to BS my way though :-)

Anyway, on to what I like about Golden Age:

* Acting - convincing acting.  Not just in terms of delivering lines,
but also in protraying psychological aspects of a character.  In Taboo
IV, I thought Jamie Gillis did an excellent job of showing his
psychological torment.  When he's sitting in his office recording and
Ginger says "come on daddy, I make us a delicious lunch" there was
something about the look on his face that I felt was reflective of his
inner torment.  With Jamie Gillis, Joey Silvera and John Leslie (the
three J's?), you've got the better actors and studs.  This leads me to
my next point,

* Emotional sincerity.  There was some definite emotion being portrayed
in the scene where the two sisters come home and say "we've never been
apart" and start to cry.  Also in the same scene, where Ginger's
character goes over to Gillis' and says "I'll take care out you daddy"
and they put their arms around each other.

* Real breasts and unshaven public hair.  'Nuff said.

* Sex on beds.  This is a silly point, but I noticed that all of the
sex took place on padded surfaces.  None of this standing up, upside
down, by the pool, on the stairs stuff.  This leads me to my next
point,

* Honest sex.  The sex here feels 'honest'  That is it flows from the
story.  I loved the part where Joey Silvera seduces Karen Summer?  This
is related to the acting point made above, and the two characters are
acting the context of the movie.  But the sex just seems to flow so
naturally, unlike the "moving towards to inevitable conclusion" setup
we get today.  Or worse, the "I don't have the money to pay for the
pizza, what do we do now?" (TM)

* Excellent cinematography.  In Taboo IV there are a couple of places
where the focus alternates between near and far objects.  I don't know
if this was a technical limitation or and asthetic concern. 
Regardless, it is well done.  Additionally, the dialogue scenes are
very well done.  For example, the scene with Jamie Gillis leading the
therapy group, where the get a low angle shot and cut to the person
talking with a shot-reverse shot.  You'd think the people making this
movie knew a thing or two about movie making :-)

We can move from technical, visual and asthetic to thematic concerns. 
Incest films are probably are genre in their own right.  Let's compare
it too a modern day incest film, Patrick Collins' Relativty series.  In
Relativity, the story of incest is just an excuse for some hot sex. 
Admittedly, the sex is very hot, but I don't feel that the movies
really deal with incest any more that The Voyeur series deals with
voyeurism.  Taboo IV _does_ deal with incest.

All you can do with a movie like Taboo or Misty is look at it and say
what eveyone else is saying - "What happened?"
"I am stretched on your grave...." - Dead Can Dance