The Blowfish Blog

Blacklight Beauty

Here’s the fundamental challenge of porn: there are only so many things you can do with two bodies (or even seven) on film, and they’ve all been done before. So the challenge in creating porn is to make a movie that’s different and novel enough to capture the jaded interest of viewers, without being so bizarre as to alienate your audience. Some filmmakers attempt this with egregious stunt-fucking, triple-anal and double-vaginal and the like. Some attempt it by combining real stories with the sex, trying to bring the values of traditional filmmaking (plot, character) to porn. And others just try to make the sex as visually stylish as possible, using interesting sets, costuming, camera work, editing tricks, smoke machines, light filters, and other tricks of the trade to dress up the old bump-and-grind. Director Jack the Zipper prefers the latter. He’s known for doing oddball, cutting edge work, and Blacklight Beauty is another successful outing for him. (A “blacklight beauty” is an old strip joint phrase, referring to women who only look good under blacklight, but these women would look good in other lighting, too.) The overall feel is very retro, calling back to seedy ’70s porn, beginning with the amusing placement of a “This film is rated XXX” MPAA card before the opening titles. But the women are thoroughly modern, with that alt-porn aesthetic — natural breasts, lots of tattoos, the occasional piercing, ripped lingerie, smoking cigarettes, etc. It’s a nice change from the acres of silicon you see in most porn.

My favorite scene is a gangbang with Faith, where all the action is illuminated by flashlights held by the men she’s fucking, which gave the whole scene a naughty, titillating aspect. (Didn’t Marilyn Chambers have a similar scene in one of her movies? I seem to recall a grainy videotape secretly watched in high school . . .) Charlotte Stokely, the lovely blonde who was the heart of the great film Girls Lie, also has a good three-way scene, though I wouldn’t have minded seeing more of her.

The only serious flaw is the presence of a clown — some guy in a fake nose and greasepaint appears in a couple of the sex scenes, and in a few “atmosphere” shots where he’s standing around outside, looking like a wino with PTSD (who happens to be a clown). What the hell is the deal with clowns in porn? I’ve seen this more than a few times, and it’s not hot. Who has a clown fetish? I’m sure there are some who do, but I say they’re an over-serviced niche. Clown aside, though, it’s a good flick with an unusual look, and there’s some good bonus material on a separate “Stag Reel.”

• Blacklight Beauty
• Girls Lie

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This entry was posted on Wednesday, 14 March 2007 at 5:52 pm and is filed under Videos. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.