Flesh

Jakodema is on my sh*t list of underachieving porn directors, but his little-noted "Flesh" miniseries styled video is better than usual. Unfortunately, he ruins his promising narrative story with frequent "Let's go to the videotape" pointless sex scenes, adding up to an interminable (with repeat credits and recaps) 266-minute marathon.

Eva Lovia, the bright star in Digital Playground's current firmament, is very appealing in the lead role of Stacy, introduced at an abortive job interview at a big- deal L.A. law firm. The boss, played by Keiran Lee, interrupts the group interview and summarily ends it in favor of whatever stuff he wants to talk to senior staff about. The film's most cryptic or just plain sloppy element is that Keiran is credited on screen over and over (each segment) as playing "Stanley" but Eva and most of the cast call him Andrew which is his correct name. Nobody bothered to monitor continuity or q.c. the final product.

Eight episodes spotlight many guest stars, though ultimately "Flesh" is a two- character play about Andrew "Call Me Master" bossing around his new Slave (he calls her "Four" as she's the fourth in his serial sex slavery routine so far) and Stacy the would-be submissive loving every physical mistreatment and emotional humiliation.

Big stumbling block for me, expressed frequently in Eva's recited by rote narration, is the idiotic script treatment of the philosophy of BDSM. Similar to Scientology's Dianetics, the concepts do not stand up to rational argument, and there's no script credit to lay blame. Basically, as in many a Jacky St. James movie or her current "Submission" TV series, it goes something like this, to quote Stacy's voice-over: "the relief of having someone else do all your thinking" is her goal of submission. At film's end, when she finally tells Andrew (or is that Stanley?) to go shove it, she still narrates: "I'll always cherish my time at the firm, the sexy nights with the Master". Pornmeisters would have us believe that young women positively thrive on being manhandled, ruled by a man (or Mistress) and that represents true freedom. It's a load of bunk and self-contradictory in "Flesh".

Though Lovia can be proud of her performance and looks fabulous throughout, her co-stars get mixed reviews. Lee at some points lapses into his bad habits from a thousand Brazzers assignments -DP label is now owned by the same international cartel that owns Brazzers. He's suitably sinister looking but often reads his lines without conviction, letting his big dick do most of his convincing rather than his mouth.

Abigail Mac continues to turn me off with an overbearing, poor rendition of the firm's backstabber, while a key role by a non-sex performer as Joseph, the abused employee in the IT department that Stacy supplants, is not even credited, an appalling "sex is all" industry custom.

In the sack Courtney Taylor of the huge boobs is hot, hot, hot as Lee's new trophy wife, and provides brief hilarity in her total non-believability as "just graduating from law school" when she looks ready for pole-dancing academy at all times instead. Dana DeArmond is great as always yet not allowed to break out and express her quirky self for some reason known only to Mr. Jakodema. Abella Danger as Stacy's roommate has difficult contradictions written into her role (is she sympathetic or just another meanie) but her severe limitations as an actress neutralized them or any hope that her character resembles a real human being.

If I had seen this prior to J's series of true stinkers ("Bullet 2 the Top", "Prey for the Dying" and "True Detective") I might have found it promising, but his work is getting worse and worse, not improving.