Creme Brulee (2006)

"Creme Brulee" represents David Stanley's transition from a free-wheeling, self-consciously avant-garde pornographer during his Vivid Video career to a more serious, sensitive filmmaker over at rival label Wicked Pictures.

With excellent dialog and a feel for characterizations that might have been his calling card for a move to the mainstream (which didn't happen), the movie is a deceptively simple tale of two artists: Jessica Drake as a would-be photographer and Randy Spears as a successful painter who fixes on new neighbor Drake as potential muse.

As their romance slowly builds, Stanley explores his favorite themes and fetishes, notably the need to "open up" and emphasize spirituality as one achieves self-realization, as well as his ambivalence about making pretentious films and statements within the context of working in pornography. I have taken his work seriously, even when it lapses into extreme self-indulgence (the foot-fetish action here is a prime example), and in this feature it proves to be a worthwhile leap of faith.

Drake is quite good in her role, both acting-wise and sexually, with Jassie quite effective as her model and lesbian girlfriend. Stanley manages to weave an erotic mood in many scenes that rise above the obvious requirements of XXX content injected into the narrative at regular intervals, and is blessed with an uncharacteristically sensitive and underplayed performance by his favorite actor, Spears.