the whole shebang

scene title:  girls night in performers:  amber d, julia rain site:  viv thomas (metart) production credits:  sandra shine (dir.), frank mirror (ed.) trailer l: amber d, r: julia rain perhaps the slightest and least compelling of sandra shine's directorial efforts for the vivthomas brand this month. it's beautifully shot, but even by the story-free standards of the site the intro is lackadaisical: houseware-porn closeups of amber d preparing popcorn for a tv night, then she sits down on a couch and pretends to watch tv, julia rain joins her, the popcorn goes everywhere, julia plucks it out of amber's nightie, they kiss. maybe if either of them demonstrated a scintilla of personality it might be more engaging, but they're both very new (their only previous credits seem to have been for sexart in the past month) and although they perform sex perfectly adequately (sandra shine can nearly always be relied on for that), their total lack of communica...

scene title:  coffee and kisses performers:  adora rey, ginger mary site:  viv thomas (metart) production credits:  xanthus (dir.), anna mary (ed.) trailer l: ginger mary, r: adora rey apparently this is director xanthus's debut on viv thomas, as well as both models'. adora rey, the blonde, has a few more credits (all 2019), but this looks like ginger mary's only shoot to date. they are both latvian, and ginger in particular looks so young that i feel uncomfortable watching them. the narrative is a slender thread: they wake up in each other's arms, adora gets up naked, brews coffee, brings it back to bed, they sip it naked and kiss and eventually the coffee gets put on the windowsill and they move through leisurely positions. there is not a scintilla of personality that flickers in either of their faces, and the occasional whimper is all the vocalizing either of them ever do. the sex never rises above the level of mechanical (ginger in particul...

scene title:  love is in the air performers:  ivy rein, sarah cute site:  viv thomas (metart) production credits:  sandra shine (dir.), frank mirror (ed.) trailer l: ivy rein, r: sarah cute there's little to say about sandra shine's third entry of the month, and second featuring russian newbie ivy rein. her hungarian partner here, sarah cute, seems to have more credits, but is also relatively new, so it was interesting to see ivy taking the, ahem, reins in their encounter; the last time i saw her, with elin flame, she was more passive. the photography remains exquisite, with a warmth and subtlety that functions as something of a rebuke to the more static and chillier vibe of the fox/veller team that is shine's primary competition at viv thomas. a yardwork montage over sentimental guitar plucks leads to perhaps the fakest bonking of heads i've ever seen when they both reach for the recycling; ivy kisses sarah's forehead to make it better, which ...

scene title:  honey, i'm home performers:  blue angel, helena moeller site:  viv thomas (metart) production credits:  sandra shine (dir.), frank mirror (ed.) trailer l: blue angel, r: helena moeller it's ridiculous to paint all of european porn production with as broad a brush as i frequently do, but to be fair to me i'm only looking at girl/girl productions, which do tend to be fairly samey despite a certain amount of envelope-pushing from a number of different directions. one direction that will never push the envelope is viv thomas. even their best director, sandra shine, is content to select and light a location to maximize its sensuous beauty, dress two beautiful women beautifully, and shoot them undressing one another and having patient, uninflected sex with the most beautiful photography. this is old-school glamour porn in modern dress, and there's nothing wrong with it: it's just that, compared to the narrative drive and vivid personali...

scene title:  midnight love performers:  marry morgan, naomi bennett site:  viv thomas (metart) production credits:  nik fox & tom veller (dir.), john sweet (ed.) trailer l: marry morgan, r: naomi bennett sometimes it feels impossible to have everything. viv thomas sets such a high standard of lighting, photography, and staging that virtually every us production company could stand to learn from even the dullest of their scenes; but their scenarios are so limited, the european talent is so frequently limited in their acting ability, and the sex is often so perfunctory that the finished product may be beautiful, but it hardly engages me at all. the specific talent here doesn't help. slovakian marry morgan appears to be brand new, and is very awkward even in the limited pantomime of scrolling through her phone; czech naomi bennet is more experienced, but neither of them reveal any hint of personality, letting the delicate photography and exqu...

scene title:  take the shot performers:  elin flame, ivy rein site:  viv thomas (metart) production credits:  sandra shine (dir.), frank mirror (ed.) trailer l: elin flame, r: ivy rein what a difference even a slight bit of scene-setting makes. the last time i reviewed a viv thomas scene, i couldn't be invested because the two women had no reason to have sex, or indeed to not have sex; they were just there. this time, we open on elin flame and ivy rein playing billiards (not well), and the loser has to dance for the other. (they are both russian, but they speak their few lines in english.) the dance turns into a kiss, and so we're off to the races. part of it also is that sandra shine is undoubtedly a better director than fox and veller: a former performer, she knows how to light and shoot her models to their advantage, and loves to play with deep focus, depth of field, and even reflections to keep the visuals interesting. her shot compositions...

scene title:  love time performers:  freya dee, sabrisse site:  viv thomas (metart) production credits:  nik fox & tom veller (dir.) trailer l: sabrisse, r: freya dee once upon a time viv thomas was the most celebrated girl/girl brand in porn. that was a long time ago, and the british pornography industry has virtually disappeared since. metart, its production based in the czech republic, owns viv thomas now, and while the revived brand remains exclusively girl/girl and still focuses on beautiful, elegant, and slightly soulless photography, the imagination and narrative skills that were once the actual viv thomas's hallmark are now mostly gone. here, while a mumbly faux-gospelfolk ballad plays, russian freya dee and czech sabrisse wander through a snowy park, sit down on a bench, kiss, get up, and cut to an indoor scene where they playfully show off their lingerie, and so on. not a word is spoken, no story is even attempted. who are these wom...