Title: Love Stories Studio: Wicked Pictures Director: Michael Raven Cast: Lea De Mae, Monica Sweetheart, Alexis Malone, Jayden Fox, Anna Belle, Kaylani Lei, Ander Page, Valentino, Chris Cannon, Eric Masterson, Barrett Blade, Mike Horner (cameo) Genres:: Couples, Drama, Fantasy, One-on-one Condoms: Yes Reviewer: SexHerald Staff

Rating:

Artfulness in porn is very much my thing, I try to encourage it whenever I can. By intent, Michael Raven set himself up for a resounding support from this reviewer. While the final result fell a little short of magnificent, it’s still well on the right track.

Love Stories – presented vignette style – is an ambitious attempt to weave a little poeticism into a fuck flick. Add this to what is already a typically softer, couples oriented Wicked feature, and the breadth of appeal becomes increasingly specific.

A desire to be innovative seems to be the starting point for this movie. The opener, a futuristic scene wherein a high-tech female “companion” (read: sexy ass robot) is sent to accompany a criminal imprisoned alone on a penal planet, puts this movie well outside generic porn categories bright and early. I’m not kidding either when I say sexy ass robot, Monica Sweetheart has the classic long haired brunette beauty look down pat.

Raven extends the daringness of this movie by including an eastern harem threesome (complete with exotic period costumes) done silent movie style. Black and white, scratchy film and soothing music that’s contrasted with pretty energetic fucking. The verdict? I’d say he really pulls it off, actually.

So many factors are in play, I can’t really isolate what made the scene a notch above. The old school feel itself didn’t do it for me, but I think the combination of nostalgia and energy somehow accentuated what were already great performances.

As Kaylani Lei (who’s in this scene along with the oh so beautiful Ander Page) remarks, with the silent movie music instead of the audio track, things like facial expressions and other performance nuances really get thrown into relief. It might have fallen flat if not for the invigorating and completely believable show of ecstasy put together by Kaylani, Ander (who I’m really going to keep an extra eye out for – she knows her stuff, this babe) and the dude, Valentino. As it turns out, we’ve got some tender yet thoroughly stimulating and feisty sex.

Another atypical scene involves drama and heartbreak. Barrett Blade is recently dumped by his apparent soulmate – Anna Belle – and is drinking himself into a stupor (I’d probably be drinking too, if I lost a blonde that hot). He dreams up one last fuck with his star crossed lover in a scene tinged with a certain sadness. I’m not sure how well heartbreak is meant to go with porn; I’d say in the very least that it’s probably more powerful when incorporated into a full plot feature instead of a vignette slice.

The remaining scenes are another period piece set in the 50s – a drive-in movie fuck complete with Eric Masterson in a Fonzie leather jacket and Lea De Mae in a pink dress that’s all sweetness (until it comes off) – and the closer: a lesbian scene between Alexis Malone and Jayden Fox. The latter was originally supposed to be filmed outside in the desert, which I think would have been great to add spice to an otherwise pretty standard scene.

As with many other flicks in this category, I’d really prefer a little more oomph in the sex. Raven did great to fancy up the settings, but in most scenes fell a little short when it came to charging up the bump and grind chemistry between performers. Pay more attention to that, and I’d say we’ve got porn that’s really going in the direction I think it needs to evolve in.