DVD Review: “Tristan Taormino’s House of Ass”

Porn stars want you to like them. However they choose to make you, there is a transparency to their methods that passes for guilelessness, but isn't. In "Tristan Taormino's House of Ass", several of our nation's most beloved porn stars are taken out of Porn Valley and halfway up a mountain to shoot a movie. The pretense falls (mostly) away to reveal some excellent sex scenes. Read our review after the gap. - G. Ponante

Tristan Taormino's House of Ass

Studio: Adam & Eve
Director: Tristan Taormino
Cast: Joanna Angel, Justine Joli, Sarah Blake, Keaani Lei, Saana, Mr. Marcus, Scott Nails, Talon, Jezebelle Bond, Justin Syder

Review by: Gram Ponante

The motif for "H of A" is a simple "Real World" spin-off with eight porn stars (Joanna Angel, Mr. Marcus, Scott Nails, Justine Joli, Sarah Blake, Jezebelle Bond, Keaani Lei, and Justin Syder) traveling to the San Bernardino Mountains to see what happens when people stop being clothed and start fucking each other.

Taormino acts as group leader, guiding the gang through discussions about male and female oral methods as well as pointing out some particularly appealing sex toys. Taormino is not impartial; she's clearly in the girls' corner when disagreements arise.

The sex scenes are interspersed with "confessional" segments and opportunities for cast members to take the camera. We are treated to footage of Joanna Angel scrubbing the tub she's about to fuck in.

Perhaps because the performers were away from the Valley and committed throughout the July 2005 weekend of filming, there isn't ever a sense of phoned-in performance. In fact, Angel's scene with Scott Nails, shot mostly with natural light, seems as authentic as a porn movie can get while someone is wearing high heels in the bathtub.

Joanna Angel is all over this movie to the point that it should have been called "Joanna Angel's House of Joanna Angel And Friends". This would be a problem if Angel's scenes in this film weren't some of the best of her short career. In addition to Nails, Angel teams up with Mr. Marcus for her first interracial scene (this apparently has some significance but I've never understood why. Angel recounts an early interview in which she was asked what sort of things she would and wouldn't do in porn. When it came to interracial, she said she wouldn't because she hadn't yet done it "in real life". "Does it make me racist if I let a white stranger come all over my face but not a black one?" she asks the camera) and Justine Joli.

Joli performs with Sarah Blake as well, and Blake debunks the myth that there are no more fluffers in porn.

Reality TV tropes are exploited, for the most part, well. In order for them to work, the audience has to feel like they're watching the real thing. That Joli, Blake, Angel, and Mr. Marcus have real affection for their partners is apparent, and Keaani Lei emerges as the most unguarded performer of the bunch, describing her hearth rug scene with Mr. Marcus as "magical".

But some things get in the way, mostly Taormino herself. We know this is her own House of Ass, but we are already aware of what everyone is doing there. As much as we like her personally, her presence on camera is confusing. We don't need someone running around with clothes on showing the performers where the dildos are. These people are professionals; they can find the dildos. Devices like the "Perv Cam" are similarly extraneous.

But where it works, this House of Ass is on fire. There is even some real drama when Justin Syder and girlfriend Jezebelle Bond leave the shoot because they have second thoughts about their upcoming performances. They are replaced by Saana and some guy named Talon for the final orgy scene.

Personalities appear in the movie where they may have had trouble shining through in any other project. Angel is always awkward, except when she is having sex, at which point she is enthusiastically submissive. Joli and Blake alternate who's on top. Mr. Marcus plays it cool and gentlemanly in a Red Sox hat. Scott Nails is a little arrogant but the girls like him anyway. Keaani Lei is unpolished and sincere.

The real stars of this movie, however, are the location and the light. It is refreshing to not see the same old sets and the same old formula. The actors seem to feel this, too (although Bond and Syder appeared unwilling to make the adjustment), and their performances reflect this.

Here's hoping Tristan launches a "Making the Band of Ass" soon.

· Adam & Eve (adameve.com)
· Tristan Taormino (puckerup.com)

Previously: Tristan Taormino's Cottage Industry of Ass, House of Ass TGP, 2006 AVN Awards Fashion Roundup, Porn Valley Dispatch Archive