finally, a one night stand

I must begin this post with a sincere apology to the fine folks at Fatale Media. They kindly sent me some free porn so that I could review it here… but they sent it in July. And now it’s, what, practically December? Yeah, I totally suck. I bet I’ll never get free porn again. Talk about delayed gratification…

But rather than dwell on my lack of timeliness, I would rather focus the first portion of today’s post on the very cool film that is One Night Stand. No, I’m not just saying that to make the Fatale people happy. In fact I actually saw the film in its original French version, Pour Une Nuit, at Montreal’s queer film festival way back when it was first released in 2006, and it blew me away then. The DVD release is no different – or if anything, it’s better, since now I can rewind, replay and slow-mo the good parts. And luckily good porn transcends linguistic boundaries (there’s not much to subtitle, at least for the actual people-fucking-on-camera parts) so the English version is just as hot.

The concept really works for me too. Paris-based director Émilie Jouvet basically let the participants – all queer women and FTM guys – choose their own fantasies and play them out together on camera. She then discussed the experience with each of them after the fact, and the resulting interviews are included in the DVD release. (Okay, so there are a few more subtitles in that part.) The sex is so hot you might be tempted to skip the talking heads, but it’s totally worth taking the time to watch them too. Somehow, hearing the stars talk about their motivations, emotions and experiences after doing the film rounds out the package of the porn itself, making the participants into people instead of characters. Plus, it’s all the more intriguing, after seeing the genuinely sizzling content of the film, to learn that for many of the stars, making the porn was an activist project. (One Night Stand is the first dyke/trans/boi porn ever made in France.) It’s pretty inspiring to see super-hot people take such visible pleasure in their work, and then come up with an articulate analysis of it too. Mmm. Candy.

The film’s various scenes are downright delicious, definitely a cut above what I’ve come to expect of queer porn. There are several very sexy encounters, including one in which a femme gal calls an escort service to order herself another kinky femme for the night, who comes complete with a collection of toys and available related activities. The two are so comfortable in their bodies, and clearly have so much fun together, that despite the somewhat cheesy premise the scene is one of my faves. Another of my favourite scenes is that between Ali, who’s got the most gorgeous cocksucking mouth you could ever imagine, and a trans guy who later provides a powerful sex-positive explanation of why he feels trans bodies need to be showcased in porn on trans people’s own terms. Oh, and make sure you check out the creative, and highly aesthetically pleasing, pubic trim job in that scene. Superstar!

The chemistry in the final scene is electrifying—a laconic eyelinered rat-tailed butch named Shadow gets it on passionately with a sexy femme (who delivers the most unmistakeably real orgasm in the entire flick) in flashbacks, in which they’re tightly framed in a tiny red-painted bathroom stall. Really the whole film is beautifully shot, with lots of great angles, especially impressive considering it’s a DIY.

The only real flat note in the collection is the “Dolls” special feature, which is choppy and weird and a bit creepy. But if you’re not interested, you can just skip it. Ah, the beauty of home entertainment! All in all, One Night Stand is a true treat, and definitely a must for the collection of any queer porn connoisseur. Torontonians, you can get your copy from the ever-fabulous Come As You Are.

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This is a much shorter post than the usual, I admit, but I’m having a hard time coming up with something to add that would segue nicely from a queer porn review. So I’m going to call it a night instead. I will leave you with a piece of very happy news, though, that at least relates on a European front, if not a pornographic one: I’ve been asked to give two workshops at the International Women’s SM Conference in Berlin this coming April. Very exciting! I’ve never been to Berlin, so I’m definitely open to ideas about what sorts of shenanigans I should get up to while I’m there!