The Producer II

This sequel by Missa X to her Cadence Lux starrer draws some more on an insider's knowledge of porn production, viewed from the angle of an independent operator, rather than the romanticized Hollywood-style studio format. It's an ambitious undertaking, with an odd mixture of soap opera, heightened performing and satire, plus some riveting dramatic scenes. I assume Billy Wilder would be pleased with the result.

Cliches of the traditional "back-stage story" are turned on their head. The setting is a female-dominated world of lesbian porn, with a disgraced and impoverished Cadence Lux now scraping to resuscitate a career ruined by scandal -her preying on young actresses from her productions has ruined her. Her ex-wife Vera King visits from Wisconsin and tries to be kind to Cadence, offering her the chance to visit their son Bertie even though Vera holds sole custody. Self-absorbed Cadence manages to louse up even this slam-dunk opportunity.

We see Cadence as still photographer and porn director/camera operator shooting lesbian vignettes with assorted young beauties like Kenzie Reeves, Kiara Cole, Mackenzie Moss and Evelyn Claire. Kenna James is among the hot actresses, carrying a torch (and acting like a stalker) as a lover who wants Cadence all for herself. Fat chance.

A broadly played satire of a porn shoot features Whitney Wright as an earnest, pretentious director, who is mercilessly sabotaged by Cadence (even getting WW drunk on set). Crew members Manny Bucks and Curious Judas are pressed into service as WW's crew, and their acting ability is rather poor. Even Vera King in a significant NonSex role opposite Cadence gives strident line readings that I thought didn't measure up to her co-stars' performances.

The highlight of the movie is a scene of WW confronting Lux in a bar, ready to off her for having cost her a career (union bans her from further shoots when footage of her drunk directing gets out, no doubt leaked by Cadence). She even loses her only friend and lover, the highly unlikely Manny Bucks! If that weren't enough, we have seen Lux plagiarize a scene Whitney wrote -boy is WW pis*ed off!

This scene even features Missa herself as a bartender eavesdropping on the showdown, as Whitney with a low, cool voice expresses her utter hatred for Lux. This is a classic scene that happens to be contained in an Adult movie but stands comparison with quality drama in any movie.

Final reels feature devilishly clever plot twists, adding up to quite a ride, punctuated by five relatively concise (by current standards) XXX girl/girl scenes.