Adorn

Adorn a man with light skin and short dark hair and a woman with long dark straight hair are kissing on the floor. He is wearing blue shirt, she is wearing blue shirt, red skirt and knee high black bootsDelightful. Delicious. Disarming. That’s how I’d describe Adorn, a Jennifer Lyon Bell film starring Sadie Lune and Parker Marx. The setting reminded me of Radley Metzger’s artful productions. The two are a winsome couple—their connection playing a major part—and I wondered if this was one of those films employing talent that were involved with each other off-screen. I was immediately engaged with the two of them, the woman’s smile so inviting, as she began to dress—yes dress—her male partner. I also appreciated that neither of them were physically “porn perfect.” The actors seemed to care about each other, and to enjoy what they were doing. Happy talent! The film suggests how being dressed can be just as arousing as being naked, at times more so. However, unfortunately for me, Lune’s orgasmic scream was above and beyond and broke the mood.*

The background music and singing was complementary to the “action,” though I wish I could’ve understood the words more. I don’t know whether the inclarity was intentional. The film closes explaining “‘The game:’ You may only touch your partner under or over clothing that you dress them in.” This is not your typical porn film, and my guess would appeal to those who are porn-novices, as well as to those who are more porn-experienced. Photography by Jonathan Massey and music by Zoe Boekbinder.

*I subsequently learned that her orgasmic primal screen is for real and that editing it down would be misrepresenting her truth. Leaving it ‘as-is’ means not manipulating her female pleasure into something more like that which is (often falsely) represented in porn.

Wildcard

Woman with dark skin and long dark hair wearing pink top and holding a blue card smiling at man with dark skin tone wearing a blue knit shirt and brown pants is leaning in toward her. Brick wall in background and plant with green leaves on left side in foregroundWildcard is a Jennifer Lyon Bell film, starring Bishop Black and Kali Sudhra, with photography by Jonathan Massey. Against a setting that is nostalgic and inviting, Bishop and Kali are “playing” a card game, with cards hidden around the room, each one naming a nonsexual body part that they have to explore. We get to see how anything can be sexualized. For example, when Bishop picks a card denoting ‘teeth,’ he manages to unhook Kali’s bra with his teeth—a first he says—and impressive. In the background electropop music by the Dutch band Sheila and The Kit, with additional original compositions by others, enhance the mood. However, the volume of the music overrides the conversation between the actors. When a card is selected and the body part announced, it’s almost impossible to know what the part is. Maybe that’s deliberate—their actions will show the viewer what it is. I found it frustrating and turned on the captions, though I can’t imagine that using captions is a first choice when watching two people discovering each other’s pleasure. Soon enough they run out of cards and the film becomes more sexually explicit. The idea of the film was inventive, however was soon forgotten, superseded by a long stretch of stroking and fucking that was surprisingly lacking in tension. I think some tension, some ebb and flow of energy, helps to keep the viewer involved, and yes, aroused. Lost until the sex had finished, the theme of the “card game” turns out to be a reinvigorating influence for the couple’s relationship.

Both of Bell’s films incorporate the practice of safe sex. And both illustrate, perhaps even make dominant, a woman’s pleasure. The perspective is very different from mainstream porn with its pro forma script that typically ends with the man’s orgasm, not infrequently as an ejaculation on a woman’s face. Kudos to Bell for this.