La virtuose

Michael Raven is dead serious about his craft in "Virtuoso", a successful treatment of the "Pygmalion" theme that deserves resurrection nearly two decades after it was shot.

It's a companion film to Raven's "Lipstick", both shot around the same time for Sin City and starring the statuesque Euro star Katja Kean. In "Lipstick" she played Mike Horner's daughter, molded into the perfect woman under his stern (and sexual tutelage).

In this variation, she portrays a fantasy creation, the result of sculptor Randy Spears (well-cast as a smug, overly self-assured fellow) making a bet with friend Shanna McCullough that he can create the perfect beauty in 90 days.

Though he starts pounding on a stone to create a statue using conventional means, instead he dreams up Kean out of thin air, and then teaches the fully-grown beauty about life and being human. The dialog is extremely well-written by veteran scripter George Kaplan, and en route to a well-thought-out resolution to the story this movie, just like "Lipstick" creates an otherworldly atmosphere that holds the viewer's attention.

Of course the sex scenes are the real raison d'etre here, and Kean, Shanna and especially ethereal beauty Ava Vincent deliver. These films fall within the turn of this century genre of Couples Romances pioneered over at Adam & Eve/Ultimate Pictures, and are not for all tastes, fortunately lacking the coarseness and "in your face" approach that has taken over porn (and the audience) in subsequent decades.