#between the cheeks

[bananaizm]

[watching-pictures-move]

Put On Your Raincoats | Between the Cheeks (Dark, 1985)

I realize that with pornography targeted towards straight men, a level of objectification of women is inevitable, and I don't think it's inherently a bad thing. (If you're supposed to be enjoying watching people fucking, the movie should try to capture their attractive qualities, even if those are physical.) But I guess I like at least a pretense of characterization when I'm trying to watch these as actual movies. I'm not asking for a lot. Chris Warfield's Purely Physical is just a series of vignettes about people gettin' it on at a motel, but the movie puts in at least a little effort into sketching out the characters as actual people and letting the actors actually act, which goes a long way in terms of imbuing at least a hint of eroticism into the proceedings. Here, the movie takes the point of view of a group of guys discussing the virtues of anal sex with women (as opposed to cats), yet it goes through these women without giving any sense of personality or even much dialogue (aside from the standard moaning and groaning). Some of these performers are undeniably energetic (the highlight is probably Ginger Lynn taking on three dorks), but I had a hard time getting on these scenes' wavelengths.

This is also shot on video, meaning that there's a limit on how good it can look, but this is really sunk by its mise-en-scene. Much of the backgrounds are in washed out, muted colours that bring to mind such cheerful sights as the walls of a doctor's office or a bottle of Pepto Bismol. The production design in the other Gregory Dark movies I've seen has also been deliberately cheap, but the low contrast colour scheme here makes this particularly unpleasant to look at.

I would likely be more charitable towards these elements that are inherent to the director's style if the comedy worked for me, but here it seems much weaker than usual. Dark's movies are frequently vulgar and the furthest thing from politically correct, and his regular collaborator Jack Baker is his usual magnetic, uncouth self, but he has less charismatic co-stars to play off this time around. One actor in particular does a stoopid voice that grinds the movie to a halt every time he opens his mouth.

If you must see a Dark Brothers SOV ode to anal sex, check out White Bunbusters instead.

[videoreligion]

[aliceflare]

Seeing as Between The Cheeks was the most requested from that post I made the other day, I shan’t disappoint. Here’s my take on this wonderful red vox song. ♥