Still though, Gianna is good here and even Emma Hix, who I have never really been a fan of, looks the best I have ever seen her and gives a good performance. A step in the right direction by BRAZZERS with this one at least.

Truth be told, I still do collect the HOT AND MEAN series and just ordered volumes 30-32 because they were on sale and because Molly Stewart is in 2 of the three of those. Molly is one actress I really wish had worked with Girlfriends and Girlsway for lesbian content instead of TWISTYS and BRAZZERS. I can only imagine the great scenes she could have been part of that would have been far better with lesbian content makers who give us far better content than those two studios give us. Physically, Molly is absolute perfection as is Kira Noir and for them both to have/had done lesbian content is such a waste of great potential.

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I have to disagree with you a bit on Molly Stewart though. She's absolutely stunning, but her sexual performance is at best average, at least to me. On the other hand, imo Emma Hix is really good. If you have All Her Luv, she put in some excellent scenes with Katrina Jade several years ago. More recently she has had some really good scenes on Adult Time, including a great massage scene with Nicole Doshi.

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I have just watched Part 1, so below is a review of that. So far no real plot is revealed, but going into Part 2 and 3 I'm sure this will change.

Right off the bat, the title is really intriguing. I half expected that the location is a real place, but some lazy googling seems to indicate this is not the case. I love the word sorrow, it hints at not just tragedy, but regret, implying a kind of emotional depth and richness based on self-reflection (Holly Randall take note: your movie title of "Hopeless" is just terrible). The cast (other than Aiden Starr, whose scenes I have not watched) is superb when it comes to g/g sex, though Victoria looks really weird on the cover. Also, for what it's worth, this is really an all-female cast, as it's directed by Casey.

It starts with a bang! A car screeches to a halt, Brookly rushes out and vomits right off the side of the road. We are then immediately treated to a black screen with "57 Hours Earlier" on it. Oooooh, mystery/horror?!

The camera slowly pans across a tastefully decorated bedroom, which nice music playing in the background. It's Brooklyn and her presumed girlfriend Kira Noir half-asleep on the bed. Love how they still hold hands.

The rest is just sex, no plot. Some things are the same as "normal" porn, like the kissing and breast squeezing (all very sexy). Yet there are moments that are quite interesting, for example, with Kira licking her finger and reaching down to touch Brooklyn. In itself this is completely unremarkable in porn, except here she's doing it under the blanket. In other words, there's apparently no need, as far as the film is concerned, to show all the details. More of this seen vs unseen business will follow later.

Kira Noir's g/g sexual performance ability is top notch. Her oral sex and fingering are outstanding, as I've seen in many other of her scenes. Which is why the way this is filmed here is so interesting: the camera is deliberately kept at a distance, and Brooklyn's leg position and lighting -- both very natural -- ensure that we actually see very little of the details. For example, we see no clear image of tongue on labia or lips on clit, and we can just barely see a little hint of her fingers pumping into Brooklyn. It almost reminds me of softcore movies from back in the old days where actresses will (obviously) pretend to perform cunnilingus on one another. This is obviously not the case here. I admit it's quite different from the "mainstream" scenes where we see a lot more well-lighted details, but it does have a much stronger naturalistic feel.

Brooklyn rubs Kira from below while the two kiss for a while. Then it's Brooklyn's turn of oral on Kira. I would not have hesitated a moment to name Brooklyn Gray one of the best g/g performers -- too bad she is no longer active (at least in mainstream productions). So again I have no doubt to the excellence of her skills. But again here we trade visual clarity for naturalism (so to speak). One thing that I feel is almost meme-worthy is how during g/g oral, it's the unspoken obligation of the woman receiving oral to brush the hair of the giving woman out of the way so the camera can have a clear view. Here neither woman does this. When hand-on-hair is needed, they just grab the back of the head.

Brooklyn then sits on Kira's lap, who fingers her hard from below. Again, for the most part we just observe this from a medium distance instead of getting close-up details. Brooklyn's reaction is very sexy and the whole thing again comes off as, well, natural.

After sex, the two seem to pack for a trip, and Kira discovers a ring? I'm sure it will make more sense later. They later wait in their kitchen for a friend. Some groundwork is laid here with respect to intra-group dynamic, where Brooklyn clearly doesn't think much of this friend, while Kira is much more sympathetic.

Anyway, that's it. This first part has no real plot, so I'll pretty much just comment on the sex. Overall I like the sex a lot. It's not that I like it better than the more-lighted, more close-up "mainstream" style. It's just a different, more naturalistic style. Another part of it is to note the simplicity of the sex: just three positions. No face-sitting, no oral from behind, no 69, no over-the-back, no tribbing. It also doesn't last very long at all: only 16 minutes or so. Very interesting.

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There are a couple on your list of likes that I find absolutely dreadful in performance and a couple I like too. I very much focus on the sex acts and body language they give off though.

^I have seen you complain that Angel Windell is never on Girlfriendsfilms before. I don't get it. She has shot for them multiple times, and that is the only place I have ever seen her.

Edited by - Lezzyist on 2/2/2024 4:01:50 AM

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Here's a few scenes that I found that are off the grid (put out by obscure studios) and pretty much impossible to find anywhere else. These scenes feature the low budget-get down to business feel I love.

Alex Coal and Madison Wilde https://www.manyvids.com/Video/5371837/Alex-Coal-Helps-Madison-Wilde-Make-the-Cheerleading-Team/?utm_medium=sharedLink
I've always thought Madison to be extremely sexy but not really a gg performer. Since Alex Coal was in this scene I knew Alex would bring it regardless. She did but I wasn't ready for Madison to do a damn good job returning the favor. Color me suprised!

Freya Parker and Harley Haze https://www.manyvids.com/Video/5034026/Freya-Parker-and-Harley-Haze-Get-Horney-after-Cheer-Leading/?utm_medium=sharedLink
Here's another scene where one performer is a stellar gg performer while the other is usually lacking but again I am surprised by Harley Haze reciprocating here. They both look insanely hot by the way.

Alex Coal and Violet Starr https://www.manyvids.com/Video/3612332/Violet-Starr-Rides-My-Face/?utm_medium=sharedLink
These two just have it in for each other.

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Now THAT is what I call passion! The woman just shows up and does a great job with whatever other woman is in the room. Malena-esque.

I think Bella is one of the hottest women in porn, but she spends the vast majority of her shoots talking and doing theatre instead of sexing the other person. That's another reason I found your post fascinating. Bella is very much a skit-focused, porn-trope performer, but you don't like porn skits.

Edited by - Lezzyist on 2/2/2024 11:42:58 AM

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Still, we're talking about imo the best of the best currently so I'll take either in any scene we get especially considering the current slump of good gg content.

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Edited by - whyalwaysbilly on 2/2/2024 2:41:27 PM

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Marion, I guess you mean, you're simply not attracted to them?

Edited by - ricov on 2/2/2024 4:33:33 PM

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As for Serena I was into her as well. Me being into Alex Coal like I am started bc she reminded me of Serena. But Alex in general is just amazing. An amazing performer and person. Im glad they both had a chance to shoot with each other before Serena stopped shooting mainstream. And Serena had a bush in that scene too which made it even better since she never shot with a bush mainstream. She grew her bush when she stopped shooting which I thought was a big tease lol. But yeah someone saying they dont like Serena but then say they miss when G/G was great I dont get bc Serena was part of why G/G was great when she was performing.

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***WARNING FULL SPOILER AHEAD!!!****

This part has a lot of plot and I will discuss them in some detail. So if you want to watch this film for yourself, don't say I didn't warn you.

Anyway, this part is about 50 minutes long, fully half of which is plot, with the second half being a sex scene between Victoria Voxxx and Brooklyn Gray. I will discuss the story, which of course cannot be reviewed like I review sex scenes where I give a very detailed step-by-step account (though it's still going to be pretty detailed). By the way for the story portion I will refer to the women by their names in the film instead of their nom de porn. So Kira Noir plays Alyssa, Brooklyn Gray is Jack (wonderfully soft-butch wardrobe!), Lilly Bell is Heather, Victoria Voxxx is Raidne, and Aiden Starr is Gia.

First, this film reminds me just how much "normal" porn is kept in just a single room. Here they go on road trip, with apparent drone footage, outdoor filming, complex script with things like foreshadowing, booking the much longer filming time for all the performers, etc. The point is, this thing's budget must have been very high. No wonder it's nomiated as the best all-girl film for both AVN and XBIZ, and won XBIZ.

Anyway, we have some more banter in the car which reinforces the earlier impression: Heather is Alyssa's very close friend, but Jack doesn't like her at all. The dialogue is done pretty well. Later Alyssa runs into a mysterious woman who introduces herself as Raidne. She's not there for one moment, and just appears the very next. Spooky. Also, googling the strange name, it apparently means siren? Hmmm.

Raidne says she's going to the same place (Monterey, a real place in California), so hitches a ride with the women. Once in the car, she starts to subtly asking about the women's relationship, including an amusing moment where the straight Heather brushes her advances aside.

The next part is really well done. Raidne starts to hum a short, repetitive, but very haunting melody. The sound starts as something coming from her, but quickly transforms into the soundtrack of the film itself. I think for this part Victoria may be wearing contacts? Her eyes look completely black. It's very unsettling. The other women start to nod off, until finally the car crashes into a tree, way off the freeway, in a place no one knows, and there's no cell signal.

They stumble upon an inn, whose owner Gia welcomes them as if she has been waiting for them. In another very well filmed part, Raidne settles in a bath (note the fish figurines on the wall -- I'm sensing a theme here). Heather stumbles in, and is apparently mesmerized by her eyes. She leans down for a kiss, and is led down into the water for a moment! Heather finally snaps out of it and jerks upright. It's not outright horror, but the suspense and unease is handled pretty well.

Next day Gia is away, and the women still can't get phone signals (and the car is still broken), so decide to stay one more day. A lot more dialogue ensues, where Raidne seduces -- not with blatant sexual appeal as you might expect in porn, but with sympathy -- both Alyssa and Jack. These two later have a big fight (it turns out the Alyssa got the ring to propose to Jack, who is not at all ready to settle down). The acting is not highly complex, but is handled really well by all the women. There's no over-acting, it's all very realistic.

This prepares the sex part of the film, where during the night Raidne crawls into Jack's bed.

I'm not going to do a very detailed review of the sex, except to note a few things.

- The darker lighting thing was OK during the sex with Kira and Brooklyn, but this is way too dark. Most critically, very often I can't even see their beautiful faces. This is really almost defeating the purpose of girl/girl porn now.

- The 69 is the worst disaster. With such lighting, you can almost see nothing. This is unfortunate as I have no doubt the oral sex from both women are great, and this would have been one of the best 69 if filmed normally.

- Otherwise the sex, as far as I can see, is done really well by two extremely talented performers. Highlights include Victoria's fantastic oral and fingering, Brooklyn riding her face, and Brooklyn eating her pussy from behind.

- Interestingly this sex scene is a lot more porn-like in that it has a lot more positions when compared to the much more simple (just 3 positions) first scene between Kira and Brooklyn. Not sure if this is deliberate or not? Perhaps this is intentional, as befitting Victoria's role as a (literal) siren.

Anyway, overall the acting, cinematography, music, story-telling are all handled really well. Very good job for Casey Calvert. Too bad the sex itself is ruined by the lighting. Just the sort of lighting in scene 1 would have been good enough.

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While I was looking up this one, I stumbled across the VOD compilation pictured below from XConfessions. If you're a Playboy TV subscriber, you've probably seen these as part of the 30m/60m shows they have in reruns. This compilation is 2h 20m of their best G/G pairings they did, showing the complete scene, not edited. It's on sale this weekend along with the latest GFF's Lesbian Seductions 79, Lesbian Crime Stories 7, etc.

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This is part 3 of my review of Sorrow Bay, directed by Casey Calvert. Once again...

***FULL SPOILER AHEAD!!!***
***FULL SPOILER AHEAD!!!***
***FULL SPOILER AHEAD!!!***

Next day, Jack (Brooklyn Gray) wakes up, only to find a big wet spot on the bed next to her (no it's that kind of porn). Slightly puzzled, she walks down to find everyone gathered except her girlfriend Alyssa (Kira Noir). She asks about her, but no one has seen her. Gia (Aiden Starr) talks about how her husband was killed by a siren.

Later Heather (Lilly Bell) and Jack talk. It turns out Jack didn't realize her girlfriend Alyssa was missing, and thought she was sleeping next to her, and believed the whole sex with Raidne (Victoria Voxxx) was a dream.

Gia calls them over, and they discover Alyssa has drowned. Gia tells them not to call the cops because they would just accuse them of murder. Heather yells at her for being insane. In a panic, they jump into the car and try to get away, but in classic ghost story fashion, they couldn't find an exit to the area (I guess the titular Sorrow Bay), and end up circling back to Gia's house.

Overall again I commend the acting of all the women involved. In general very credible.

When they walk back into the house, Gia goes full villain mode, and taunts them, "How can you two not see what this is? Her, she killed your friend. don't you see what she is?" Raidne begins to sing again.

Then we have the sex. The oral themselves (by Lilly and Victoria), from a technical point of view (so to speak), are very good. I suppose one may legitimately call this erotic, though I would dispute any notion of sexiness, since the mood is completely wrong. The way it's portrayed -- consistent with the plot, but completely off-putting if the anyone wants to get off -- it's very clear that Heather and Jack are mesmerized and mind-controlled by the siren. The soundtrack is just very eerie. The whole atmosphere is one of fear and dread. Is this still porn? Highly debatable. I don't fault the film, because given how competently executed it is (in general), I don't believe this is a mis-step, instead I think this is exactly what Casey is aiming for.

The second part of the sex is Gia calling Raidne over have some dom/rough sex with her. TBH I don't find Gina/Aiden Starr attractive so I'll just skip this part, except to note that at one point she says to Raidne: "Am I going to clean up your mess every time?" Implying they have been partner in this luring/murdering travelers business together for a long time. In the end, she says "Let's go home" while dragging Raidne by her hair upstairs. The last image is the two of them holding hands, side by side, with the sound of waves crashing by the shore, looking onto sunset. The fate of Heather and Jack are left unexplained.

As porn, I think only the first sex scene between Brooklyn Gray and Kira Noir really qualifies as good. The second one between Brooklyn and Victoria Voxxx should have been handled better in terms of lighting. Perhaps it could have been dark/shadowy at the beginning to signal its dream-like quality, but after that the the light should have been turned up. The last part (with Lilly, Brooklyn, and Victoria), there is just a complete mismatch between sex and mood so it's not arousing at all (at least to me).

On the other hand, the cinematography, the music, sound, setting, and most acting are all done very well. Congratulation to Casey and all involved. I would certainly consider this very creative and interesting story telling in the context of adult entertainment, particularly when it comes to girl/girl genre. It reworks the classic siren myth in a modern setting.

The multiple nominations for best acting by Kira Noir and Brooklyn Gray are well deserved. They did a good job. Aiden role is problematic: is she controlling the siren played by Victoria? It seems so based on the way they have sex, but at the end they are shown holding hands standing side by side, implying equality. The acting of Victoria is problematic. She often gives off what seems to be deliberately wooden/robotic quality -- again, this implies she's under Gia's control. But I think it would have been much more fun if she's a much more animated seductress (in fact there are hints of this during part two).

But when it comes to sea creature mythologies, you know what would have been much more interesting? Selkie. This is from Celtic tradition. To quote Wikipedia:

"They are said to live as seals in the sea but shed their skin to become human on land.

Selkies have a dual nature: they can be friendly and helpful to humans, but they can also be dangerous and vengeful. Selkies are often depicted as attractive and seductive in human form, and many stories involve selkies having romantic or sexual relationships with humans, sometimes resulting in children.
Selkies can also be coerced or tricked into marrying humans, usually by someone who steals and hides their seal skin, preventing them from returning to the sea. Such marriages are often unhappy, as the selkie always longs for the sea and may eventually escape if they find their skin."

If Victoria plays a Selkie, this would have been more interesting. Gia's domineering role would be explained as someone who has stolen her skin and therefore controlling her. Victoria would play a seductress who tries to lure travelers not to their death, but in fact to rescue her by getting them to steal her skin back and therefore allowing her to return to the sea. It would still have the tragic and eerie elements, but I think it would allow Victoria's character to be much more energetic and animated and have more agency, and allow characters played by Lilly, Brooklyn, and Kira to have a heroic/adventurous element. Oh well that's just my wishful thinking.

Overall, I enjoyed this film. Certainly not the best porn, but it's quite interesting to see something that comes from the mind of Casey Calvert. If you think of a spectrum, with no plot gonzo on one end and "erotic thriller" on the other end, this is certainly closer to that second end. But there's nothing cheesy/corny about it. It is a serious attempt at a modern retelling of an ancient legend, and it does have an atmosphere of fear and sorrow.

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https://www.familyhookups.com/scene/9807091/braylin-bailey-and-khloe-kapri?ats=eyJhIjoyOTUwMzQsImMiOjU3MzM1ODg3LCJuIjo2MywicyI6NTQ0LCJlIjo5MDU2LCJwIjoyfQ==

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Edited by - blackdragontea on 2/4/2024 11:35:38 AM

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I've always thought Casey Calvert was an incredible talent and she's definitely just as talented behind the camera as she is in front. From the trailers I watched for each scene, you can tell from a creative perspective that this one is way above most any scenes/features being made today. Casey is on par with Greenwood, Quasar, Sky, Dozer and (the great one), Mills for sure.

Huge mistake by Gamma that they didn't keep Casey in house to be their lead director for scene/feature work. Pair her up with the right scene development people and she could have easily filled the hole that was left by the departure of SBA/Alan X and by Bree's promotion out of frequent directing.

Thanks again and looking forward to more of your reviews.

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I watched this scene earlier today and while I'm all for a Braylin/Khloe pairing, the scene was ruined for me with all the strap-on action and far too much time devoted to setting the scene up (like 7m worth). When you spend 7m on plot and 7m on strap-on only action, that doesn't leave much room for the good stuff in a scene that's only 29m long.

Another potentially good scene ruined by toys, really frustrating.

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The thing that really impresses me about Sorrow Bay is its ambitious story-telling, not really the sex. In that regard Casey is quite different from those other directors you are citing, who are more well known (to me anyway) for the sex. But yeah it would have been really nice if Gamma hires Casey to do something really outside-of-the-box like this. I just went to check out Lust Cinema's website, and their cost is the standard $120 per year, so it's not even a matter of Gamma can't afford Casey and her stuff. I suspect it's just them being too conservative and penny-pinching. Sure, a lot of the very conventional scenes made by Gamma are nice, but it would be really cool if at least on occasion they have something really different and ambitious like Sorrow Bay.

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upcoming Sweetheartvideo.com movie

https://www.sweetheartvideo.com/movie/9787811/lesbian-stepmother-8

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Edited by - whyalwaysbilly on 2/5/2024 1:32:27 AM

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Girlsway is a shadow of what it was same as most of the GG studios. From Sweetheart/Girlsway/Girlfriends it is like finding one good scene out of 30 mediocre ones. The mix of decent direction mixed with decent performers is becoming rarer.

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The U.S. content is generally exceedingly dumber on average because it has to appeal more to cartoon sensibilities and incestpedo stuff, but as far as sex goes, I don't think a viewer is more likely to see anything on the European side that looks like real flirting and pleasure (let alone someone actually getting off) than the U.S. stuff.

I'll say in the best output from Excogigirls and in the best output from IFeelMyself, you might see some real attempts from the ladies to flirt and engage with each other and maaaaaaybe some genuine enjoyment, and if you are realllllly lucky, some orgasm content that looks believable on the IFM side of things....but on the whole, the genre is in the toilet.

But that's just my opinion because, honestly, the vast majority of the audience is getting the content it wants in GG: dicks, fake dicks, poorly-faked orgasms that don't affect the performers' bodies at all, and annoying (to me) cartoon antics.

Sexy and physical stuff is few and far between

Edited by - Lezzyist on 2/5/2024 11:08:44 AM

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I think people have been politely pointing out that preferences are respected, but that it goes both ways....

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@Marion, that "staring at the camera" thing is part of why I stopped subscribing to the Uktrafilms sites I guess about 2 years ago now. That and the exaggeratedly slow movements.

As far as sex on school desks or whatever non-comfortable thing they can find, and not kissing, and not doing more than a couple seconds of boob play (unless the chest looks weird and fake, then they focus on it), etc, you really aren't wrong. Lots of people (in the minority though) think that kind of stuff is stupid.

Edited by - Lezzyist on 2/5/2024 5:00:28 PM

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I have subscriptions to both Excogigirls and the "Wow" sites, but I find the actual oral sex in the vast majority of the latter to be lacking, even though everything else is great visually. I think the Excogi girls are just as beautiful as the ones in the "Wow" Network but in a completely different way.

Once again, all those are preferences, and they are communicated as such.

Edited by - Doobie69 on 2/7/2024 9:48:02 AM

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Edited by - whyalwaysbilly on 2/6/2024 12:11:02 PM

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