On the rare occasion when serious film historians introduce porn into a discussion on film history the argument pretty much always centers on the idea that the only films truly worth mentioning were shot in the ten year period roughly between 1972 and 1982. For the most part this is a valid viewpoint as there is no denying that the seventies and the early eighties are the absolute golden age of adult cinema but to dismiss everything that came after is a serious mistake. The last decade especially represented a new 'golden age', if you will, driven by a new breed of female porn performers and filmmakers. One of the most exciting visionaries to come out of this overlooked period is the astonishing Kimberly Kane, one of the greatest performers porn has ever seen and one of the most exciting filmmakers to emerge in recent memory.
Of the seven features Kimberly Kane has directed since 2006's Naked and Famous, her masterpiece so far is the wildly creative Live in My Secrets, a cinematic and sexual tour de force that is one of the only modern cinematic offerings that truly has a connection to the No-Wave film movement of the early to mid eighties. Live in My Secrets is a stunning work that finds Kane as a filmmaker pushing porn to the extreme with a dazzling mixture of 8mm footage interspersed with some of the most well-done digital footage imaginable. It's a great fuck-film that will appeal to students of cinema and sex...as much of a turn on to the libido as the mind.
The near dialogue-free Live in My Secrets is broken up into five distinct chapters entitled "Bullet", "Piss Plate", "Horse", "Deep Water" and "Blood". Kane directs each chapter with a real verve and vivacity that shows her as interested in the film making process as the sex she is capturing (and sometimes participating in). One of the things I love most about Live in My Secrets (and all of Kane's films as a director) is just how cinematic they are. Everything from those aforementioned DIY No-Wave works to silent film to fifties stag pictures to even the French New Wave is referenced...Kimberly Kane is a punk rock filmmaker playfully paying tribute and destroying her idols at the same time. Like the great porn films of the past, Live in My Secrets is very much a director's work and will come as a shock to anyone who thought all modern pornography was a soulless enterprise.
Live in My Secrets starts off with a real bang with the incredible "Bullet" featuring Kane (wearing a Bettie Page wig) and Mick Blue, one of modern porn's great male performers (and a terrific director in his own right). "Bullet" is one of my all-time favorite sex-scenes. Kane and Blue have an incredible chemistry and they clearly love working with each other. I love the way the scene builds, the way that Kane mixes the 8mm footage with the natural lit digital photography. Kane and Blue both look absolutely incredible and it's refreshing to have the scene start out with Blue's impressive cock flaccid..."Bullet" is all about build-up so getting to see Kimberly get Mick hard is incredibly erotic.
"Bullet" is the longest and best sequence in Live in My Secrets. It's a tribute to Kane and her cast that the rest of the film is as strong as it is after such a scorching opening. On the DVD's terrific audio commentary Kane recalls how exciting it was shooting the scene, how tricky the lighting was and mentions humorously how hard it was to keep her wig on for the duration.
Kane and Blue are magnificent in the scene. They are both covered in sweat (the droplets glistening off Kane's body as the sunlight comes in from outside is one of my favorite images in all of porn), spit and cum by the end of their epic encounter which includes everything but anal (Kane's legendary ass-play doesn't come into play until the film's closing chapter). While the fucking is incredibly hot, the emphasis in "Bullet" is on oral as Kane and Blue routinely feast on each other throughout the scene.
"Bullet" ends with one of Kane's most audacious moments as a filmmaker when shortly after Blue gives her a fantastic facial we suddenly notice Kane and Blue aren't alone in the room. Her camera pans back and we see that she is now being photographed for promotional stills...Kane mentions in the commentary that she deliberately left in bits throughout the film that would have typically been left out. As Kane's camera back we are suddenly presented with two images...the character Kane has been playing in "Bullet" and Kimberly Kane herself being captured behind the scenes...it's a marvelous breaking of that cinematic fourth wall and a mesmerizing last shot to an unbelievably hot sequence.
After some more 8mm footage of Kane we are treated with the brutal "Piss Plate" featuring Claire Adams and the legendary Bobbi Starr, who has since gone onto to become another one of modern porn's great visionary filmmakers.
"Piss Plate" tells the tale of a dominant (Adams) and submissive (Starr) and it is the most brutal scene in Live in My Secrets. Kane mentions on the commentary track that she wanted the scene to feel both 'real' and 'intense' and she gets both. Featuring everything from gagging, to nipple clamps to gaping, "Piss Plate" will be too intense for some viewers but pleasure is the key to the whole sequence and Adams and Starr are clearly enjoying every minute of the scene. Kane even mentions that the session went on so long that she finally had to cut it down for time purposes.
"Piss Plate" closes with a glitter, spit and sweat covered Starr smiling before Kane gives us some quick 8mm footage showing how the chapter got its name. Next up we have some terrific footage of gorgeous Mandy Morbid before the Aiden Starr Tyler Knight pairing "Horse" begins.
Outside of the opening, where we see Knight strung up in a harness, "Horse" is the tamest scene in Live in My Secrets but it is still incredibly well-done and is very arousing. Kane is clearly enthralled with Starr's gorgeous natural breasts and she films them with a sense of awe throughout the scene.
The relatively short "Horse" ends with Knight, not surprisingly given the scenes emphasis, shooting his load on Starr's breast before feeding some of it to her with his finger. We are then treated to some footage of Live in My Secrets cover star, the delightful Faith Leon, before slipping into the sexual abyss of perhaps Kane's most iconic sequence, the mesmerizing "Blood".
Richard Kern and The Dwarves Blood Guts and Pussy LP cover are what Kimberly Kane is channelling in the ferocious "Blood", a knock it out of the park scene featuring blood-covered (actually mostly strawberry syrup) Kane and Sasha Grey absolutely devouring each other in one of the hottest lesbian pairings ever filmed.
It all comes together in "Blood"...the bold lighting design, the driving industrial score, the uber-hot sex between Kane and Grey. Kane talks on the commentary that she wanted the scene to be all fingers and hands...no toys, just two of modern porn's great performers tearing into each other with the kind of intensity and power rarely captured on film. The fact that Grey was actually on her period while filming and that her blood was mixing throughout with the strawberry syrup and Hollywood fake blood makes it all the more visceral. "Blood" is an absolute cinematic and sexual stunner.
Live in My Secrets closes with Kane and Grey remaking that famous album cover by The Dwarves and it is a fitting ending for such a punk rock work.
Released by Vivid Alt in 2009, the original DVD of Live in My Secrets features Kane's incredibly entertaining and intelligent commentary, extra 8mm footage, a behind the scenes documentary and some trailers and stills. A modern porn masterpiece, Live in My Secrets is one of the most fascinating and unforgettable film experiences in recent memory and Kimberly Kane is one of the bravest and most inspiring American artists on the planet.
AGENT JOHN GALT'S RATING: 5 Seventies Porno Mustaches
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