Finding the L in Love
Every once in a while we are granted a surprise: something which – unexpectedly - is able to captivate us and make us feel good about finding it, as if it was a little secret we had discovered ourselves. This is the case with Filly Films’ Finding the L in Love (2012).
The setup is simple: Montana has a radio show in which she narrates some of her sexcapades, and the scenes happen in flashbacks after some narrative. Inside what seems to be the main line of Filly Films, which proposes to give performers a go behind the cameras, Finding the L in Love is directed by Karlie Montana, who also appears in two of the four sex scenes – with Zoey Holloway, and in a threesome with Samantha Ryan and AnnaBelle Lee. The third scene presents Jessica Bangkok and Alyssa Reece in a humorous set up, leaving for Georgia Jones and Shyla Jennings a more romantic approach in the fourth scene.
The scene with Zoey Holloway happens around Montana's first experience with a MILF. Montana contacts Holloway through a bed sale ad in the newspaper, and a Friday evening conversation dipped in a glass of wine sets the mood. The dialog in this scene flows and rings spontaneous at the same time. Once again Holloway delivers an exquisite performance, and Montana is not behind: both performers seem genuinely into the scene. There is enough foreplay in the building of a scene directed at an audience which wants to see two women enjoying each other, and not "only" sex.
The threesome scene forges a past relationship between Montana and Samantha Ryan, who calls in during the radio show and reminds Montana of their first threesome, which they did to celebrate their anniversary. AnnaBelle Lee comes in as the waitress at a cafe where the girlfriends are having lunch and who is more than happy to join then in their anniversary celebration. Although this set up risks being a pizza-delivery-guy cliché, it is actually dealt with in a very special manner, and it stays far from falling into another porn common place. I particularly do not care for the setting in which the sex scene happens, without a doubt it does not harm the quality of the scene.
In the third scene Jessica Bangkok and Alyssa Reece answer Montana's invitation for listeners to call in and share some of their caught-in-the-act stories. Bangkok and Reece are excellent playing radio program fans, and the house sitting set up is funny, to say the least. Montana plays with the camera forging a video call between Bangkok and Reece which emphasizes how beautiful both girls are, at the same time that it introduces the set up.
The fourth scene follows the direction of the previous one. Georgia Jones calls in to tell her romantic proposal story, which involved high school sweetheart Shyla Jennings. The dialogs and the setting are so well constructed it is easy to erase all disbelief in relation to the feelings the girls have for each other.
Montana's camera is simple, direct, and warm. It more often than not participates in the scenes as a third person, eliminating the distance between the on screen action and the spectator. She is able to integrate the viewer and the cinematography by approaching camera work directly and without resorting to much gimmickry. The lighting in each one of the scenes is something to be observed, since it looked carefully planned and creates a warm, intimate setting for each one of the set ups.
But most importantly, to my view: Montana is able to restore something that seemed forgotten by the industry, which is a simple, more romantic story line with hot, passionate sex, but without resorting to taboos or more complex hook ups. A refreshing, delicious tasting movie.
- Published May 15, 2012