That five hour running time covering 2 DVDs stems from filmmaker Kay Brandt's decision to revive storytelling in porn with today's requirement for roughly 30-minute long XXX sex scenes. She includes 9 such scenes, plus some delightful soft-core sex interludes to boot, so what might have been under 2 hours back in the day (when sex could satisfy in less than 10 minutes at a stretch for fans sitting in movie theaters to consume) rolls on endlessly.
Derived from another of Selina Kitt's hit erotic novels, sort of the white bread version of "Zane's Sex Chronicles" that gave rise to a popular Black-oriented soft-core Pay-Cable TV series a decade back, we pick up with Gretchen (AJ Applegate) taking over from nubile Sara Luvv as the Baumgartners' nanny. Several new characters take center stage, but not to worry, the B's in the form of MILF Anikka Albrite and her studly husband Doc (Mick Blue, unattractive with his new straggly long haircut) get into the sexual action alongside returning star Luvv.
What is remarkable about this particular porn series is the friendly, everybody's happy atmosphere that Brandt concocts, blessed with fine acting performances by players who actually stay within their roles, even during sex scenes. Kay has shot dramatic shows in the past, notably her near-classic Lesbian sagas like the "Cherry" and "Against Her Will" features, but for five hours we are treated to watching a form of hedonism so popular on screen back in the Sexual Revolution times of the '60s and '70s. Main theme is delving into open relationships, and the cast seems authentically comfortable in depicting same. All that's missing is a guest shot from Nina Hartley (I don't rule that out in future, as she works for the same Adult label, Adam & Eve) doing a play by play color commentary.
Find of the show is the unusual looking Katy Kiss, a very slim, flat- chested redhead who more than makes up for her physical departure from porn norms with an ebullient personality and genuine acting skill. Her screen mom is also a redhead, similarly "girl next door" look Edyn Blair.
Rounding out the main cast is Ricky Johnson, inexpressive in the Black Stud role -oh where are the actual young Black Adult actors of old, like Lexington Steele and Sean Michaels who did such fine work 20 or more years ago in story films, but are now just Big Dicks for hire? The young femmes worship Ricky's dick in group sex scenes, almost a necessity to compete in today's gonzo market for porn.
But Kay resists the gonzo temptation and rewards us fans who have been following her against-the-grain work in Adult Cinema for the past few years. I hope the economics of a field dominated by web content will permit her to go her own way for years to come, alongside other talents like Nica Noelle, Dana Vespoli and Jacky St. James, while their male counterparts in the director's chair seem content with wall-to-wall nothingness.
