A bit about sex

[smokingboot]

Saw Secretary again last night. I enjoy that film a lot. BDSM isn't my thing, but the film has so much fine nuance and real in-the-throes desire. Porn leaves me cold, and films trying too hard without any real edge (nine and a half weeks kind of stuff) just bores me. I don't know why - maybe it's because my backbrain needs a plot, needs desire more than aquisition, enjoys the game and the story, for which reason I have a stockpile of flirtations and semi-sexual situations in my past I have seldom if ever taken to their natural conclusions. Some say it's because I am a rotten tease. Oh sad and evil wrongsters!* I just don't want the story to end, to become ordinary.

I enjoy this film because even Happy Ever After isn't ordinary. Secretary turns me on if I let it. I love the way that, despite the heroine's evident victimhood, she is the hunter. I love the layers. In fact, I love the dance of predator and (willing) prey in all its changing forms, wherever I find it.

All this makes me sound really horny, and I suppose in my head, I could be. However my body, with rueful apologies, is a tired little beastie. We're meant to be going out with chums tonight, but I don't see myself crawling beyond the front door!

*The English Language has been my master for so long I occasionally like to punish it; stops it from getting complacent.

Comments

[november-girl.livejournal.com]

I saw Secretary a couple of months ago. I was quite excited about the prospect, as I'd heard several people whose opinions I respect say it was great and one of the sexiest films ever made. However, I can honestly say I was entirely unmoved by it. It neither turned me on nor did it amuse me or give me food for thought. It was one of those films that I watched to the end, said "oh is that it?" and then went to do the washing up.

Just goes to show how different tastes can be. :-)

[smokingboot.livejournal.com]

That's very true. I am usually disappointed by the visual depiction of sex and desire - you recall how *meh* I found Eyes Wide Open. Are there any films out there you would say pushed your buttons?

[november-girl.livejournal.com]

*laughs* Yes, Eyes Wide Shut certainly pushed my buttons, so to speak. Dangerous Liaisons does too, as does Basic Instinct and (to a lesser degree) Showgirls. I note that with the exception of the first one, they're all about screwing with people's heads. (NB with Showgirls it's not the heterosexual interaction I find hot, but the relationship between Elizabeth Shue's character and the one who plays the lead dancer).

[jfs.livejournal.com]

Elizabeth Berkley, not Elizabeth Shue.

Showgirls would have been an immensely greater film with the presence of Elizabeth Shue in it ... *sigh* :-)

[november-girl.livejournal.com]

*laughs*
Oh I don't know - they're all the same to me!

[jfs.livejournal.com]

Elizabeth Shue played Ralph Macchio's girlfriend in the Karate Kid, which is one of those architypical "new kid doesn't fit in but finally ends up getting the cute girl and the respect of his peers" film.

Given that it came out in (IIRC) 1986, when I would have been 17 (ie the age that Macchio is meant to be, even though he was actually about 25 at the time of filming) that film has always had a particular resonance with me, despite it being largely crap.

Anyhow, back on topic; I liked the relationship between Eliz. Berkley and Gina Gershon in Showgirls too, but it wasn't enough to save the film. feistyredhead is a big fan of it though. (And Gina Gershon is also in Bound, which is also good in parts ...)

[thru-her-lens.livejournal.com]

Funnily enough, Gina Gershon is the saving grace of both those films (IMO)

[smokingboot.livejournal.com]

I've never seen Showgirls, and Basic Instinct, while fun, is not a film I've ever needed to watch again. But oooh, Dangerous Liaisons! Beware the love of Wolf and Cat!

[itsjustaname.livejournal.com]

I had the same reaction. Completely underwhelmed.

[smokingboot.livejournal.com]

Got to ask you the same question; There are so many bits of films that almost work for me...the post-coital angelic expression on Isabella Rossellini's face in Blue Velvet, the moment between Antonio Banderas and Brad Pitt as Armand and Louis in Interview with a Vampire...is there stuff out there that triggers response for you?