Erotic Intentions

I'm catching up with all the films & videos of Nicholas Steele, an important auteur from the turn of this millennium whose output is quite variable. "Erotic Intentions" falls somewhere in the middle: not one of his later over-productions, but lacking a strong narrative to hold one's interest.

The early 2000s of Adam & Eve are filled with dreamy, metaphysical films that are rewarding as mood pieces or even serious statements of sorts. This time, however, it's all mood, with no meat on them bones.

The setting is a nightclub called Water Barr, run by sexy Jewel De'Nyle before she decorated her body with an abundance of tattoos. She's looking for a few good women, namely those who can dance or hump to turn everyone on.

That, dear friends, is nearly the sum total of plot or rather hook on which Nick attaches his potent set of XXX sex scenes. It's important nowadays to note that EI is not a gonzo film, nor mindless, generic porn, but by taking the then-popular abstract eroticism (think Andrew Blake or the so-called "artcore" movement) too far into non-narrative land the video is now dated and suffering from lack of a narrative spine.

Other than the always alluring Lezley Zen, cast is absent big-names, sort of a B in the Adam & Eve starry universe. Dayton's big chest, Sondra Hall memorably cast as a stripper whose routine styles her as a welder (!) and Aria as dancer dressed as a cop all have their moments on stage at the club. The atmospherics literally put me to sleep - I had to go back and watch sex vignettes 3 and 4 after waking up and finishing the DVD.