scene title: can't always get what you want
performers: evelyn claire, izzy lush
site: all her luv (missax)
production credits: whitney wright (dir.), missa x (ed.)
release date: january 8, 2020 | trailer
whitney wright's winning streak as a director for all her luv continues. with the seasons two-parter in december, she unlocked a new level of emotional rawness and visual tenderness and made me a fan of giselle palmer, who i hadn't really taken much note of before. with her first release of the new year (and one of the last to be co-shot by her abusive ex stef onzo), she attempts a bold visual experiment that is, as always, in support of her smart script.
the plot is fairly simple: evelyn claire (who i first noticed paired with kenna james for kayden kross's trenchcoatx, but who has started working a lot more since signing with mark spiegler, who also represents whitney) plays a neurotic undergrad in love with her classmate and spanish tutor izzy lush (who i didn't realize was colombian before now). izzy politely declines her pass, citing a boyfriend: so evelyn digs her military contractor father's experimental "augmented virtual reality" prototype out from under a bed and experiences sex with her anyway.
the dark undercurrent of the story (and the borderline sci-fi plot device) is vintage whitney: evelyn's tiny smirk in the final shot as she stares at izzy running through conjugations is deliciously unsettling, as questions of consent and even reality get raised for an attentive viewer. "i'm here only for your pleasure," the virtual izzy murmurs during sex, and whitney is too smart to not be aware that that will trigger alarm bells for anyone who cares about women's autonomy.
but what even the inattentive viewers who call the scene "romantic" noticed was the blue-tinted virtual space that the sex takes place in. i'm strongly in favor of bold visual choices: porn needs more big swings like this and fewer scenes that look exactly like all the other scenes out there. the all her luv commentariat complained, though, and the scene has been downvoted almost as much as if it had a black person in it. (oh yeah, motherfuckers, i see you.) the literal-minded philistinism of the porn audience is enough to make me despair: if they can't see naked girls in flesh tones they don't want to see them at all. so the rare producer interested in attempting visual and narrative innovation, like whitney wright, is all the more reason to rejoice.
whitney's casting is nearly always rock-solid, and this was no exception: both evelyn (who has to sell one-sided phone conversations with her character's mother and father, both of which provide crucial plot information, while making it sound natural) and izzy (who has to be a desirable object for evelyn's crush, dash her hopes without being unsympathetic, and then play a construct of evelyn's desires) knocked the acting out of the park, and the sex was beautiful and tender. really the only thing i have to criticize the scene on at all is the standard missax cameo filter that darkens the edges and corners of the screen, a stylistic signature that always looks shabby and ill-considered whenever any shot uses any framing that isn't exactly centered.
performances: 28
cinematography: 24
editing: 19
script: 14
sjw points: 4
total score:
performers: evelyn claire, izzy lush
site: all her luv (missax)
production credits: whitney wright (dir.), missa x (ed.)
release date: january 8, 2020 | trailer
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| l: evelyn claire, r: izzy lush |
whitney wright's winning streak as a director for all her luv continues. with the seasons two-parter in december, she unlocked a new level of emotional rawness and visual tenderness and made me a fan of giselle palmer, who i hadn't really taken much note of before. with her first release of the new year (and one of the last to be co-shot by her abusive ex stef onzo), she attempts a bold visual experiment that is, as always, in support of her smart script.
the plot is fairly simple: evelyn claire (who i first noticed paired with kenna james for kayden kross's trenchcoatx, but who has started working a lot more since signing with mark spiegler, who also represents whitney) plays a neurotic undergrad in love with her classmate and spanish tutor izzy lush (who i didn't realize was colombian before now). izzy politely declines her pass, citing a boyfriend: so evelyn digs her military contractor father's experimental "augmented virtual reality" prototype out from under a bed and experiences sex with her anyway.
the dark undercurrent of the story (and the borderline sci-fi plot device) is vintage whitney: evelyn's tiny smirk in the final shot as she stares at izzy running through conjugations is deliciously unsettling, as questions of consent and even reality get raised for an attentive viewer. "i'm here only for your pleasure," the virtual izzy murmurs during sex, and whitney is too smart to not be aware that that will trigger alarm bells for anyone who cares about women's autonomy.
but what even the inattentive viewers who call the scene "romantic" noticed was the blue-tinted virtual space that the sex takes place in. i'm strongly in favor of bold visual choices: porn needs more big swings like this and fewer scenes that look exactly like all the other scenes out there. the all her luv commentariat complained, though, and the scene has been downvoted almost as much as if it had a black person in it. (oh yeah, motherfuckers, i see you.) the literal-minded philistinism of the porn audience is enough to make me despair: if they can't see naked girls in flesh tones they don't want to see them at all. so the rare producer interested in attempting visual and narrative innovation, like whitney wright, is all the more reason to rejoice.
whitney's casting is nearly always rock-solid, and this was no exception: both evelyn (who has to sell one-sided phone conversations with her character's mother and father, both of which provide crucial plot information, while making it sound natural) and izzy (who has to be a desirable object for evelyn's crush, dash her hopes without being unsympathetic, and then play a construct of evelyn's desires) knocked the acting out of the park, and the sex was beautiful and tender. really the only thing i have to criticize the scene on at all is the standard missax cameo filter that darkens the edges and corners of the screen, a stylistic signature that always looks shabby and ill-considered whenever any shot uses any framing that isn't exactly centered.
performances: 28
cinematography: 24
editing: 19
script: 14
sjw points: 4
total score: