Jonathan Morgan's place in Adult Cinema history is assured, even if his recent releases from long-time home base Wicked Pictures pale by comparison to his earlier work. This strong, extremely morbid early movie as director dares the viewer to like it, and received a mixed reaction from me.
The title cleverly toys with that problematic porn issue of domination/submission, subject matter that is way overexposed (due to its commercial popularity) but rarely delved into as deeply as here.
Ultimately, suicide is the central motif here, while Martin Brimmer/Rodger Jacobs' screenplay carefully hides its domination (I use that word advisedly) over the story. Missy meets Mickey G. in the same way as Brando meets Schneider in Bertolucci's "Last Tango", and the viewer's memory of that classic gives strength to the unfolding relationship here rather than seeming like mere parody or ripoff.
Mickey is especially effective in his underplaying as a character who hides his feelings, and could be any of James Toback's creations on screen ranging from Bugsy to his more iconic The Gambler or Keitel in "Fingers". Missy is beautiful as ever, and quite empathetic as an artist who's ship finally comes in but with far more than bittersweet results. Her willingness to go gonzo adds immeasurably to the film, which reflects the fact that Morgan not only has cranked out a hundred or so top-drawer Wicked productions but also helmed all-sex junk in the anal-sex category. This is the only feature in which I've found him mixing these two seemingly incompatible wings of Adult Cinema into a single package.
The film's extremely downbeat ending was a pain, reminding me uncomfortably of the anti-entertainment approach of Paul Schrader, a consistently overrated mainstream filmmaker whose latest ("First Reformed") stretches negativity to the breaking point.
