Graphic Desires

I was very surprised by this indie movie. Another erotic movie with no plot and no acting? Not at all! The actors are good and the plot is full of twists. I am also very pleased to finally see an erotic movie with equal nudity from male and female actors! The director made very good choice of lightening and some scenes look very beautiful on screen. Congrats to all the crew who made a very good film with low budget! I recommend it.

It's not a great movie. It doesn't know what it is. It's padded out with so many soft core sex scenes that it felt like an 80's movie, a Basic Instinct, if you will.

The central plot is ok, the acting is off, the scenes are weirdly underlit and the whole thing falls apart in the third act because none of it is believable.

Plot

When reclusive Franklin cheats on his partner with a mysterious girl he meets on a dating app, it becomes the start of a deadly obsession.

Cast

May Kelly and nobody else I'm familiar with.

Verdict

I'm making a May Kelly list (Don't ask) and that's the only reason I wound up watching this. Her movies are usually appalling ITN flicks such as Three Blind Mice, Winnie-the-Pooh: Blood and Honey or Mary Had a Little Lamb but sprinkled in there are also some nuggets of actual entertainment, this is not entirely one of them but certainly an improvement on what she normally does.

Essentially an erotic thriller full of softcore action I was quite taken back how graphic it was in places and how long it all went on for. I shouldn't have been surprised about the latter, after all that's what this was always intended to be. If you're wanting a proper feature film you're looking in the wrong place, this is softcore porn with a wafer thin story.

Now regarding the story it wasn't entirely terrible and the twist at the end though not fantastic was at least very unpredictable, I can confidently say nobody will see that coming.

The cast are competent enough, but the characters are contemptable and that's what really damaged the film for me. I'm supposed to root for these people? Absolutely not.

The film is well executed and fairly interesting but horrid characters and this being an erotic thriller with minimal substance really lowered the potential ceiling.

Rants

Erotic thrillers just aren't really much of a thing anymore are they? I think the 90's was when they were at their peak. Whether it be big budget titles like Basic Instinct, Body of Evidence, The Last Seduction or Color of Night or the countless straight to VHS titles there were so very very many of them. Why did they fade out? Did actual porn push them to one side? Are people more prudish? Do people want substance more?

The Good

Fairly interesting Solid twist May Kelly

The Bad

Not much to it beyond the softcore stuff Ending could have been handled better.

It starts out rather routine. Franklin works from home for a computer company, and has a girlfriend, who really loves him. Franklin also has a buddy who likes the dating scene, via swiping on apps. Franklin's girlfriend is away on business, and Franklin decides to cheat, and meets Atlanta through an app. He even videos most of the encounter, and decides to fall in love with Atlanta. In fact he becomes obsessed and brings up all these scenarios in his mind. He even has her in danger, and feels he is the only one who can protect her. His girlfriend finds the video on his phone, and also desperately wants to find her. That he cheated is devastating for her. And from the video, Atlanta has a tattoo, so Franklin's friends have apps that can possibly trace who has the tattoo, akin to facial recognition software, although theirs is in beta. And his friends find out something about the video that is real twist. The script lacks details that would allow one to better follow what is going on, since for most, it simply makes Franklin as a real creep of a person. Someone who has a woman who loves him deeply, yet feels necessary to cheat and becomes obsessed with another woman.

No pun intended - this starts off as a movie about infidelity ... in more than one sense (and I really like that it is not one sided) ... but it evolves in something more (sinister) ... again no pun intended. So as you can guess with a subject matter like that, there will be quite a lot of nudity.

You can't be too sensitive about this - and generally have an issue with intercourse of course. This really does tests the line between soft and hard core. There is nothing really explicit (as in showing actual penetration), but it gets really close a lot! But that is not the main selling point of the movie. Or at least I think there is more to it.

Now if they had a bit more work done on the script ... I think it could have been even better. Really interesting and quite topical theme ... the acting is a bit rough to watch ... but it does work overall ... even if you may wonder from time to time, why character act the way they do ... seen worse to be honest, so I was ok with however the movie approached things ... just suspend your disbelief and just ... come as you are! Satisfaction (sort of) guaranteed.