The Fashionistas

John Stagliano wrote some very fine roles for his leading ladies but then sabotaged their performances by emphasizing interminable gonzo sex scenes. Result was an influential hit with porn audiences but a missed opportunity.

Shooting in 35mm, the Evil Angel release shapes up as a real feature film, except for its giving over so much of its 4-1/2 hour running time to XXX gross-outs. I wish to focus on the actresses in this review, as they certainly deserve praise.

Taylor St. Claire is nearly perfect as the fetish costume designer out to partner with mainstream fashion icon Antonio (played by Rocco Siffredi) and take advantage of him. She has a pair of lesbian lovers who she extremely dominates: Friday as her blonde employee and uninhibited sex slave, plus her idea lady and editor of promo videos Belladonna, who has the movie's lead role.

While Taylor and Friday excel at developing full-bodied characters, Belladonna gives a flat, rather uninteresting acting performace in what should have been the story's centerpiece. She plays the mousey, submissive underling who finally asserts herself -somebody the audience can root for. But in Stagliano's fetishistic (his fetish is not the movie's BDSM theme but rather ass-worship, as he has demonstrated in hundreds of videos under his aegis as "Buttman") universe we are supposed to root instead for Belladonna to constantly out-do herself in sideshow freak antics, the movie's selling point. Whether enjoying extreme anal penetration or having her nipples stretched (along with other body parts) to a scary degree, she is mistreated in the cause of impressing a jaded audience, which has only become more jaded and gonzo-oriented in the two decades since this influential movie was made. The sex in "The Fashionistas" is not erotic, but rather merely "spectacular" -something to gaze at in wonder

Alongside the other leading ladies, the best performance is given by fetish model extraordinaire Caroline Pierce as Rocco's ex, a buyer for a leading department store chain who more than holds her own in verbal sparring with him, and in later reels suddenly turns into an improbable sexual dynamo when dallying in the VIP back room of a BDSM sex club with Rocco's assistant Manuel Ferrera. Other femmes have juicy sex turns without being accorded dialog or characterization, notably Monique deep-throating par excellence in the VIP room and stunning fetish icon Star Chandler as the dominatrix who puts Belladonna through her paces.

Though the budget listed in IMDb for the movie is not credible (half a million dollars) the production is certainly lavish by Adult Cinema standards, and the cinematography credited to Don Crane (though the clapperboards list him as "F. Long") impressive.

Warning to viewers - this movie is extremely rough and should only be viewed by the most jaded adult fan. A lot of money was obviously spent on this movie but that doesn't make it a great film. Good audio and video, but this will only appeal to the S&M crowd. This movie is also extremely long and would be very difficult to view in one sitting. The actors and actresses are attractive and seem to be enjoying what they are participating in. The acting is pretty good for an adult film but is still well below mainstream. Maybe the sound of Rocco saying "nasty, nasty" will do it for some viewers but not me. Maybe I just wasn't in the right frame of mind when I watched this one, though, because everybody seems to be praising this movie.

Definitively the best John Buttman Stagliano film in years. Only to see the performance of Belladonna (new queen of adult films) is worth of it. Great and rough action only for really adult films lovers.Rocco is back as actor and he is good. Also the supporting cast is doing very good, especially Kate Frost and Taylor Saint Clair.Everyone is convincing and enjoy what are doing.Besides is a look to the bondage world but in a soft way: hard but no illegal. And over all the things: here is Belladonna (as say Stagliano in the advertising):¨'the woman with the most incredible sexual abilities I ever see¨ if you wanna know if that is true: watch the film you will be speechless.

Like another reviewer, I'm no spring chicken. I remember when there was really no porn, followed by the arrival of 'Blow-Up' and 'I Am Curious, Yellow' and then a lot more porn, and then the ambitious porn of the 70s, and finally the sinking of the mess into sub-genre 'specialties' that exists today. I consider myself a pretty jaded fan, and have seen a fair bit of rough and tumble stuff over this period.

When I heard about this movie, I was definitely looking forward to it, hoping that perhaps it would lead to a renaissance of sorts. I actually saw the show in Las Vegas before the movie, and that abetted my interest.

So…what did I find in Fashionistas? It was definitely high concept, artistically oriented sexually oriented material. Production values, lighting, blocking are all at the upper boundary of what you'll find in the industry. The individuals involved are attractive, fashions provocative and edgy. I'm not sure I'd say there's a story in the sense of a Dickens novel, but there is definitely an attempt to create context and atmosphere, which I think is all one should hope for in a porn production.

So what's not to like? For me, the whole thing didn't come together, at least not in a way that resonated with me. The movie was long, much longer than it should have been. Many sex scenes ran too long. The start of one coincided with the beginning of a workout, and was still running when I shut the treadmill down. Attractive people performing wild, rough sex, I found, does not necessarily make for an 'attractive' product, although I'm at a bit of a loss to explain why. I've seen and enjoyed 'nastiness', I guess the specific tone of the nastiness here, along with the length of the scenes and movie worked against my interest.

Watching the movie also made me reflect on the evolution of porn. Anal sex was wild and provocative when it arrived on scene. At this point, I'm left to wonder if very nearly every sex scene needs to incorporate it, and often as the most significant thing going on. And when did 'spitting' become erotic? I must have missed that development completely.

I do fully respect what this movie attempted to do, and most of my vote score is actually for the pretense and ambition. Unfortunately, the 'effect' marks are much lower.

It is not possible to say how good I thought this film was. It has ruined me for any film of any kind now, not just porn. I am so much in lust for belladonna that it hurts - and I'm female and not gay (not completely anyway :) ) Anyway, if you only see one film, see this.

I'm still trying to get the soundtrack though. It doesn't come in the UK editions. This alone gives an indication of how good the film is.

As a warning, this is not suitable for the faint of heart, and maybe a first timer would be a little overawed - I'm flattened by it and I've had it for about three years now. Still not boring!

In a way, it's a shame none of the other people i it made any impression on me. I just keep thinking about her and her magnificent serpentine body!!!!!!!!