Porn For Straight Girls: Venturing Into “Tight Places”

Ask women or people of color why they got into directing, producing, or writing their own projects, and it's often because they haven't seen much, if any, of their own experiences reflected back to them onscreen. This is definitely the case with "Tight Places: A Drop of Color," as the behind-the-scenes interviews can attest to. But can you make a statement sizzle? Definitely, but "Tight Places" makes a few missteps. The chemistry is on, but the filmmaking is occasionally off.

This all-queer POC porn is from the heart and the sexy brains of first-time director Nenna and performers Vai, Akira Raine, Kohen, and first-timer Brooklyn Skyy. It's a very casual situation that takes place in someone's backyard and living room; the mood is friendly and fun in parts, and hot and intense in others. Everyone is super foxy in different ways, from gender identity to ethnicity to sex style. "Tight Places" only portrays fingering and strap-on sex, and although some of it veers into a grey shade of kinky, it's a decent romp for anyone sick of the wax-on, wax-off school of bored faux lesbian fingerbanging.

(Note: the reason I am mentioning each performer's gender identity and ethnicity is because the BTS interviews identify them as such, and visibility is clearly a huge part of the film's goal.)

African-American Brooklyn is quietly, perhaps shyly handsome, a little curvy, and pierced and tattooed. Multiracial Vai is a petite, outgoing squirter who's on the femme-ier end of the spectrum. Their first scene together opens the movie, and while it's not clear if that's the very first scene Brooklyn has shot, it's pretty damn hot. With help from Brooklyn's dexterous fingers, Vai waters the hell out of someone's backyard garden with her squirting prowess. Kohen, a transman who is identified as Middle Eastern in BTS interviews but sports a large Star of David tattoo on his chest, is a fun, rough-and-tumble partner whose first scene is with Akira, a tattooed minx in low-rise Chuck Taylors and plenty of liquid eyeliner; they go at it in an alley and take turns fingering each other. The camera doesn't do a whole lot in these scenes, and when it does swoop in for a closer look at the action, it looks grainy. Occasionally, the film integrates split screens and even still photos into the scene, which gives things a slightly amateurish feel—in a bad way.

The third scene is where things sort of start to go off the rails; all four are in the same room, and it's unclear if it's supposed to be group sex or coupled sex or what. It's hard to hear what the performers are saying over the music—another problem I had with the movie, because at least if they were trying to figure things out like people would normally do in a group situation, that would be natural and interesting—but the BTS interview gave me the impression it was supposed to be everyone together. At the very beginning, they look sort of confused as to what's supposed to happen and how it's supposed to start.

In any case, Brooklyn and Akira pair up for a vigorous strap-on fucking that even amazes their costars Vai and Kohen as they play nearby. It's a little distracting for the viewer, although the performers don't seem to have any problems with the sitch. The split-screen view makes a little more sense in this case, but it's still unnecessary, and in part of one scene, the tint of the film changes as if it was tweaked in post-production or someone swapped out a lens filter.

The fourth is a solo scene with Akira masturbating on a kitchen counter using a freshly boiled glass toy. Good for her for making sure her toys are sterile…but she's sitting really near the stove where the pot full of water is still boiling! Other than that, it's not a particularly memorable scene.

The last scene could also have used more direction. The threesome between Brooklyn, Akira, and Vai starts out as a twosome with the amenable and adorable Vai sort of trying to have fun and help things out while Brooklyn and Akira fuck. Eventually, there's a cut and the three are rearranged so that Vai is getting fingered by Akira while Brooklyn fucks her.

The BTS interviews also include a number of queer people of color talking about porn, specifically their dissatisfaction with lesbian porn. While I agreed with their points—more visibility of different ethnicities, gender expressions, body types, real people fucking onscreen—I wasn't sure if they were friends of the filmmaker, people in the industry, sex educators, or what, other than folks like AfroDisiac from the Crash Pad Series and model Amina Noir. Less is more, or more is more, but don't leave me hanging!

Overall, "Tight Places" is an admirable effort from a cast and crew that care passionately about what they're doing. It would have been better served with either a totally natural approach that would have included hearing the performers discuss how the scene would go or else with clearer direction from Nenna. It could also have mixed up the types of sex more; I was somewhat disappointed to see there was no oral, and while I'm a huge fan of fingers and squirting and strap-ons, after a while, it became a little boring. And the fancy camera tricks have got to go.

· Buy "Tight Places: A Drop of Color" (goodvibes.com)

*****

Previously: Porn For Straight Girls Archive