This is actually an edited version of an email I sent to Sovereign Syre minutes after watching Lesbian Slumber Party for the third (!!) time. I am still to write something more serious and academic about it, but Christmas is on the corner and I really wanted to post this before climbing the mountains to escape the heat.
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An unofficial critique of “Lesbian Slumber Party – The Kissing Game” (2011)
Is Nica Noelle fucking insane? How the hell did she manage to make a porn film with absolutely NO explicitness and, yet, turn it into some of the most intimate moments I have ever seen/ heard of/ experienced? What were those 34 seconds of total silence while Sovereign Syre and Dani Daniels just stared at each other, and we can shiver with anticipation?!?!
Sovereign Syre and Dani Daniels
Dani is Dani. We all know Dani and we all really love Dani. Dani is in my favorite porn scene (up to now, that is), and she seems to enjoy so much what she does it is contagious. Still, there is some new kind of veracity in her in this film, particularly when it comes to Sovereign Syre. It is as if Dani Daniels was getting to perform with an old time crush (or a brand new one?); but the thing is she seems a little i-can’t-believe-this-is-happening-oh-my-god silent excitement, which only adds to her beauty on screen. She is just adorable and sexy as hell.
[I have been staring at this white space for over an hour now trying to figure out what to say about Sovereign Syre’s debut on screen, and I just honestly cannot find words to describe her. She captivated me long ago not only because she looks absolutely gorgeous, but because there is such an interesting energy emanating from that woman it is impossible to look at her and not feel dizzy. Truthfully, I do not know how to describe Sovereign Syre, so I will not try to. Maybe only solemn silence can really translate her.]
Synn and Ela
I don’t like the blunt cut between the living room and the bedroom in Synn and Ela’s scene. There seems to be lacking a transition there, or maybe the camera being static on the bed made it strange for me at first. I am not telling Nica Noelle how to direct films - this would be a heresy!!! - but, as a spectator, I would have preferred a transition scene like the one she did with Sovereign Syre /Dani, or even a panoramic over the bed to the door with Synn/Ela entering the bedroom. The static camera on the bed made me feel as if there was an old creepy man lurking in the room, waiting for the girls to come in.
(...)
End of scene, and I am speechless. It is the first Ela scene I watch and, as a result, I want to see Ela all the time now. Looking at Ela’s skin and trying to decipher each and every tattoo is like observing a Chagall painting for the details. There is something in her that makes me think of best friends forever. And art. And those sassy green fairy on those labels from absinth bottles.
Synn Sage is awesome, a modern nose-pierced amazon, with so much power and strength it is mesmerizing. Absolutely nothing can go wrong when she is around. And she knows it. And she plays with it, even letting you think for a second she draws her strength from you. And she lets you believe it because it is part of her game. And this is how she seduces the eye of the spectator: pretending to play a game when, in reality, she is capturing you. Ravishingly. And with second intentions.
The details are the cherry on top of this scene: Ela’s body shivering when Synn’s tongue runs down her neck right at the beginning, Synn’s drenched chin after going down on Ela, the gazes, the gazes!!!, the ongoing unbreakable gaze they share, deep into each other’s eyes throughout most of the scene. And, as a “bonus”, with no doubt the best tribbing scene ever made in the history of cinematography. Memorable, to say the least.
Technically it was the first time I noticed this, so I don’t know if/how I missed it before, but it is very much interesting to see how zooms applied to faces and lips are way more abundant than to more, let’s say… private parts. Somewhere yesterday I was thinking you do not see much lesbian POV around, and now I think this is as close as one can get without resorting to amateur-like filming. Kudos! Mega kudos!
Magdalene and April
Holy Magdalene! Magdalene looks absolutely astounding in the opening scene. Magdalene is a legend, the reason why I started liking porn, and carries a bizarre resemblance to an English teacher I had when I was a teen - mega crush alert. Her dialog with April in the beginning of the scene is very convincing and, with a "Thank you!" said under what seems to be tears, Magdalene left me wanting to raise a statue in her honor.
April is a novelty to me. I had never seen her before, but what a delight! There is a tomboyish quality overcome by a ton of sweetness that made me like her instantly, right from the opening scene. She seems spontaneous, loony, the girl who is always somewhere else in her head and, yet, does not miss any of the action, always with sparkling eyes. I look forward to seeing her in other scenes.
The only "flaw" I could see in this scene is in the transition from the dialog part to the sex per se. I cannot buy a change from "You are like a mother/daughter to me" to "Let's hog!" so fast. Even though a lot was said while both of them stared in silence into each other's eyes, this is one of the few situations where a gaze cannot act as a bridge between wanting and doing simply because there is more than only internal conflict: there are social boundaries here that we never want to cross inadvertently. If there had been a line in the direction of "And it has always confused me, this motherly instinct I have towards you, because at the same time I have always found you attractive" (or something less loquacious and more expletive) it would have been perfect.
That camera positioned on a higher 45 degree angle with the bed is just awesome because it gives you a perspective with no precedents in porn. If it had already been used it went unnoticed by me, because this was the first time I have felt like I am standing there next to the bed watching what is going on in it.
*SPOILER ALERT* The first penetration in the film happens in the third scene, at 1h 54min. This is something rather unusual, and there is probably a lot to be said about this, but I have no material to talk about this… yet! There is also something else I have noticed and cannot quite explain it yet, but it has to do with the fact that, maybe for the first time, I do not feel like a porn film (of any kind) uses the actresses as a dummy for a pap smear instructional video. Will try to elaborate on that later.
Samantha Ryan, Diamond Skin and Lacie James
*SPOILER ALERT* Last time I saw these girls they were on the couch. Why not a couch scene? It would break expectations entirely to have a mattress set in the foreground of the set and have no one use it. Or make them move there. But to have them placed there already was like: “Ok, next!”
Samantha Ryan is, in my opinion, one of the cutest girls I have ever seen, possibly due to the fact I totally associate her with a crush I (still) have on a friend. I don’t know how to explain it, and I can’t be rational about her: I like her a lot, and it is always a pleasure to see her on the screen.
First time for me seeing both Lacie James and Diamond Skin. I have to admit I was a little skeptical about this scene, mostly because normally threesomes make me associate with the person left out – some Freudian problems to work on here – but this one was quite excellent. It just felt natural and fluid, and not one of those “Your number is next” kinds of scenes. I particularly like the way Lacie almost gets into a trance when Samantha and Skin Diamond are working on her,
Overall, “Lesbian Slumber Party – The Kissing Game” is already a classic. Not only because it is the first film from Nica Noelle’s own studio , but it will please all kinds of people, from the ones who crave “only” make out sessions to the more hardcore fans, covering die-hard-no-strap-on lesbians to more conservative, less radical people (if they ever watch porn). Besides, there is no question as to the groundbreaking value of the film from the perspective of the audience, and in relation to the studio’s innovative ideas.
I have decided to initiate a lesbian porn ranking system. I give “Lesbian Slumber Party” all ten fingers down…there. ;)
- Published December 23, 2011