Hotel Sin

Nica Noelle's HOTEL SIN epitomizes the philosophy and house style of her porn label Sweet Sinner. Changes have been made over the past few years with the advent of James Avalon as the company's video director, but this is a nearly perfect example of what sets her vision apart from mainstream modern porn.

It's more about atmosphere and sensuality than storyline for this one-off feature, set at a small hotel where Tony De Sergio and Elexis Monroe work as wait staff, dressed in identical unisex uniforms: fancy white shirt, bow tie and attractive man's vest.

De Sergio, whose resemblance to Brit comic/actor Steve Coogan of PHILOMENA fame adds a bit of instant panache, narrates the feature, adding a point-of-view to the vaguely mysterious tale (seen through his eyes). He's been at the Valentine hotel/restaurant for two years and is suddenly smitten by a solitary guest Stephanie Swift, here winding up her successful XXX career.

But the opening scene deals with a pair of cheerful swingers Nikita Denise and Randy Spears, who openly invite Tony to join them for a threesome when he delivers room service drinks to their suite. He declines, but the ensuing sex scene sets the movie's tone.

Noelle's background and forte is in the lesbian genre (she has more recently taken to directing both transsexual and gay features), and the soft, unhurried pace of most lesbian sex scenes (apart from the occasional cat fight video) rubs off on HOTEL SIN. The feature unfolds in an almost otherworldly fashion - no sense of danger, or the outside world interfering with the sex partners in each of four vignettes. For the vast majority of Adult Cinema fans this should elicit a "boring!" response, just as the brilliant Eric Rohmer's films in the '70s and '80s caused screenwriter Alan Sharp to pen his immortal "it's like watching paint dry" comment re: Rohmer in Arthur Penn's movie NIGHT MOVES.

But once you get with the program (and it took me nearly five years after watching my first Sweet Sinner feature FAMILY SECRETS to enjoy them) the mood is as seductive as the film's leading ladies. Nikita Denise is amazing in her scene, her wide smile and blow-job expertise proving irresistible. Spears is not up to the occasion (his money shot is virtually a non- starter) but it's still an arousing opener thanks to la femme Nikita.

Second segment has Tony excitedly listening at the door as old boyfriend Rocco Reed shows up and forces Stephanie to have sex with him -after initial resistance she gives in (porn rule #1) and is amazing as always. Her prominent eraser-size nipples are a sight for sore eyes in this vignette and though Rocco comes away disappointed at her refusal to get back together with him the viewer won't be.

Co-worker Elexis catches Tony eavesdropping and the duo head for a vacant room to have a more energetic sex liaison than the previous hour's content. This is partly due to an autonomy in these features letting the actors direct themselves (somewhat) in their sex scenes in order to make them more naturalistic -no posing or straining posture for the camera's sake. De Sergio ups the pace and the scene benefits, but overall it is interesting that the emotional connection of the prior 2 vignettes is missing on purpose -this is a zipless f*ck meant strictly for pleasure. Monroe, more famous as a lesbian XXX star, is utterly convincing in the hetero context.

Feature concludes with a near-classic outdoor sex scene. Monroe mocks Tony for missing his opportunity, as Stephanie has already checked out. He finds her outside with her bags waiting for a cab and they make love (on a convenient canvas-covered couch sitting out there for actors' comfort). With birds chirping the mood is so carefree that the film's theme of an interlude away from the cares of daily life is driven home powerfully. As with all Noelle's videos, there is an open ending, no resolution to any matters raised over the course of two plus hours, and it fits here.