scene title: the photo shoot
performers: ana foxxx, natassia dreams
site: transfixed ◅ adult time (gamma)
production credits: bree mills (dir., scr.), curious judas (d.p.), eddie rabbit (ed.)
release date: may 22, 2019 | trailer
this is the only scene that has ever gotten a perfect sjw score out of me, because black trans women are the most vulnerable among us, and are so little represented in mainstream porn that the appearance of natassia dreams on transfixed is like the sighting of a unicorn. that she appears with (and, if i'm reading the social media tea leaves correctly, thanks to) my forever favorite, ana foxxx, is all the more reason to love this scene.
natassia is a legend whose career dates back to the early 2000s, but like most trans performers her pairings with cis women have been sporadic at best, and generally made very cheaply and shoddily. so casting her as the big star of the modeling gig who ana is starstruck to be working with is a lovely way to ensure that she's glamorized and centered in the scene's brief sketch of a narrative. riley reyes and maya kendrick (both transfixed alums) cameo as the bitchy other models at the gig, giving ana dirty looks and telling each other that she obviously doesn't know how to walk. (which is a cute inside joke: ana foxxx was a fashion model before becoming a porn star.) and photographer stef onzo plays a version of himself, though in the old girlsway tradition of men being always shot from behind or just off screen so that the audience that abominates dudes in their porn don't have to look at them: natassia, he says, is clearly the face of the campaign.
to celebrate, natassia asks ana for a kiss. and the real reason for the scene begins: an intimate, extended, and lovely session between two women who are in no rush and prefer to explore each other rather than going through rehearsed porn choreography. in a way it's the queerest transfixed scene yet: just two bodies giving each other pleasure without worrying about conforming to cisheteronormative rules about what "real" sex looks like. they eat and finger each others' ass, masturbate while watching each other, go down on each other, and yes, engage in some p-in-v time. but it never gets wearisome, as other transfixed scenes have when they're modeled on traditional boy/girl porn, because both ana and natassia are more interested in each other than in performing phallocentric sex to the camera, so they communicate and discover what each other likes and engage in it rather than just pounding dully for the designated number of strokes in the designated number of positions.
it's lesbian sex, in other words, and it doesn't end with a cumshot, just an orgasm. this is why i include trans scenes in a blog about girl/girl scenes: anatomy isn't nearly as important as the fact of womanhood. (or really non cis-manhood; scenes with nonbinary folks will also count, if any turn up.) commenters on adult time have complained mightily about natassia's genitals failing to conform to the standards that cis male porn performers are held to, but i don't give a shit about that: people, rather than specific fetishized acts, are what interest me.
ana foxxx has been in the industry for a little over half the length of time that natassia has, but she's been booked something like ten times more often, because that's how much more the industry values (read: can monetize) cis female performers than their trans sisters. and ana herself doesn't get nearly as much work as a white woman with her level of experience and ability would; even though she's a superstar, probably the first name that comes to mind whenever anyone wants to book a black woman. (i'm honestly curious to see if, say, axel braun will ever cast anyone else.) i called her my forever favorite above, and it's worth noting that her only directorial effort to date is my all-time favorite all-girl feature, filthy fashion models, from 2015 (my first introduction to future stars jenna sativa and kira noir), which used a highly mobile camera and plentiful natural light, and despite the low resolution of the cheapo filly films brand it still feels prescient: kayden kross is now doing work that feels like a natural extension of ana's.
there's not a hint of natural light here, of course: both the bright studio lights in the intro and the colorful mood lighting in the dressing room where they have sex dance gorgeously across the performer's rich skin tones. but casting ana in a fashion-model role will always feel like a nod to that old feature to me, and in her performance as the eager newcomer to natassia's silky veteran, she reverses the role she played in her scene with kira noir.
the filmmaking is up to transfixed's usual glossy standard, although the storytelling isn't nearly as epic or witty as some of their more high-concept scenes: it feels a touch more low-effort than much of their work (which only makes sense after going from a monthly schedule to weekly). i did notice one flub in which the other camera was briefly visible on screen, which is the only real reason i'm dinging the editing.
i always expected to love this scene, and i wasn't disappointed: sure i'm biased, but pretending like i don't have any biases or rooting interests would be a stupid way to write about any kind of art, let alone something as intimate and inevitably personal as porn. i'm so much happier to only be reviewing scenes i expect to enjoy than i was making myself watch everything whether i liked it or not. i learned a lot doing that and discovered some unexpected delights along the way, but porn is supposed to be about pleasure, and concentrating what i like makes me eager to watch it rather than grudgingly fulfilling some self-appointed duty.
performances: 28
cinematography: 24
editing: 18
script: 10
sjw points: 10
total score:
performers: ana foxxx, natassia dreams
site: transfixed ◅ adult time (gamma)
production credits: bree mills (dir., scr.), curious judas (d.p.), eddie rabbit (ed.)
release date: may 22, 2019 | trailer
 |
| l: ana foxxx, r: natassia deams |
this is the only scene that has ever gotten a perfect sjw score out of me, because black trans women are the most vulnerable among us, and are so little represented in mainstream porn that the appearance of natassia dreams on transfixed is like the sighting of a unicorn. that she appears with (and, if i'm reading the social media tea leaves correctly, thanks to) my forever favorite, ana foxxx, is all the more reason to love this scene.
natassia is a legend whose career dates back to the early 2000s, but like most trans performers her pairings with cis women have been sporadic at best, and generally made very cheaply and shoddily. so casting her as the big star of the modeling gig who ana is starstruck to be working with is a lovely way to ensure that she's glamorized and centered in the scene's brief sketch of a narrative. riley reyes and maya kendrick (both transfixed alums) cameo as the bitchy other models at the gig, giving ana dirty looks and telling each other that she obviously doesn't know how to walk. (which is a cute inside joke: ana foxxx was a fashion model before becoming a porn star.) and photographer stef onzo plays a version of himself, though in the old girlsway tradition of men being always shot from behind or just off screen so that the audience that abominates dudes in their porn don't have to look at them: natassia, he says, is clearly the face of the campaign.
to celebrate, natassia asks ana for a kiss. and the real reason for the scene begins: an intimate, extended, and lovely session between two women who are in no rush and prefer to explore each other rather than going through rehearsed porn choreography. in a way it's the queerest transfixed scene yet: just two bodies giving each other pleasure without worrying about conforming to cisheteronormative rules about what "real" sex looks like. they eat and finger each others' ass, masturbate while watching each other, go down on each other, and yes, engage in some p-in-v time. but it never gets wearisome, as other transfixed scenes have when they're modeled on traditional boy/girl porn, because both ana and natassia are more interested in each other than in performing phallocentric sex to the camera, so they communicate and discover what each other likes and engage in it rather than just pounding dully for the designated number of strokes in the designated number of positions.
it's lesbian sex, in other words, and it doesn't end with a cumshot, just an orgasm. this is why i include trans scenes in a blog about girl/girl scenes: anatomy isn't nearly as important as the fact of womanhood. (or really non cis-manhood; scenes with nonbinary folks will also count, if any turn up.) commenters on adult time have complained mightily about natassia's genitals failing to conform to the standards that cis male porn performers are held to, but i don't give a shit about that: people, rather than specific fetishized acts, are what interest me.
ana foxxx has been in the industry for a little over half the length of time that natassia has, but she's been booked something like ten times more often, because that's how much more the industry values (read: can monetize) cis female performers than their trans sisters. and ana herself doesn't get nearly as much work as a white woman with her level of experience and ability would; even though she's a superstar, probably the first name that comes to mind whenever anyone wants to book a black woman. (i'm honestly curious to see if, say, axel braun will ever cast anyone else.) i called her my forever favorite above, and it's worth noting that her only directorial effort to date is my all-time favorite all-girl feature, filthy fashion models, from 2015 (my first introduction to future stars jenna sativa and kira noir), which used a highly mobile camera and plentiful natural light, and despite the low resolution of the cheapo filly films brand it still feels prescient: kayden kross is now doing work that feels like a natural extension of ana's.
there's not a hint of natural light here, of course: both the bright studio lights in the intro and the colorful mood lighting in the dressing room where they have sex dance gorgeously across the performer's rich skin tones. but casting ana in a fashion-model role will always feel like a nod to that old feature to me, and in her performance as the eager newcomer to natassia's silky veteran, she reverses the role she played in her scene with kira noir.
the filmmaking is up to transfixed's usual glossy standard, although the storytelling isn't nearly as epic or witty as some of their more high-concept scenes: it feels a touch more low-effort than much of their work (which only makes sense after going from a monthly schedule to weekly). i did notice one flub in which the other camera was briefly visible on screen, which is the only real reason i'm dinging the editing.
i always expected to love this scene, and i wasn't disappointed: sure i'm biased, but pretending like i don't have any biases or rooting interests would be a stupid way to write about any kind of art, let alone something as intimate and inevitably personal as porn. i'm so much happier to only be reviewing scenes i expect to enjoy than i was making myself watch everything whether i liked it or not. i learned a lot doing that and discovered some unexpected delights along the way, but porn is supposed to be about pleasure, and concentrating what i like makes me eager to watch it rather than grudgingly fulfilling some self-appointed duty.
performances: 28
cinematography: 24
editing: 18
script: 10
sjw points: 10
total score: