Search - Maria Beatty Fetish (B&W) on DVD

A Landmark in the Erotic Arts

M. MOTEN | pittsburgh, pa United States | 11/07/2004

(5 out of 5 stars)

"The trouble with pornography is that it tends to view desire strictly as a resident of the body, pure atavism with all intellect shunted into the role of providing the simplest available pretext to grant meaning to the acts of the flesh. This two-dimensional view is especially glaring in S+M porn, which is compressed into simplistic displays of aggression and acceptance, it's participants made caricatures of punishment and supplication. Most of the time, the resulting images seem more a cautionary on why we shouldn't want to see or experience it rather than why we would. Even in a well-meaning [and mainstream] film like Secretary, failure to understand the deeper truer meanings and energies of S+M leads the filmmakers to explain the behaviors of the protagonists in emotional shorthand more suited to an After-School Special.

Maria Beatty's films inhabit and reveal a new world. A New York-based performance artist and professional Submissive [bottom], Beatty regards both her films and her lifestyle as art forms demanding [and worthy of] respect [both hers and ours]. Beatty is an omnivorous filmmaker, drawing inspiration from everywhere. German expressionism, the edgy futurism of the best music videos, the larger-than-life personas of early century vamps like Theda Bara, Louise Brooks and Pola Negri, the artful stylish horror films of Whale and Browning, as well as her own experience both in performance and S+M. Shooting in black and white, her best films sculpt and paint light on the screen while glowing skin, dark kohl-smoked eyes and the hard gleam of leather, pvc and metal flash through the velvet shadows. The films are silent, accompanied by fascinating sounds capes that vary from ambience to atonality. Often the soundtrack becomes an additional character, commenting on the tension that rises in the viewer as desire heightens in the characters. Expertly familiar with the power of sensory stimulation, Beatty uses both sight and sound to draw us in. The best filmmakers have all known the most memorable special effect is the audience's imagination; Beatty takes ours and bends it to her will.

Beatty's company, bleu productions has begun releasing her films from the late 1990s on DVD. Maria BEATTY Fetish Films Volume 1 feature two of her films: The Elegant Spanking from 1995 and The Black Glove from 1996. Though nearly a decade old, the films have lost none of their immediacy or intensity, a tribute to the care, skill and sheer art with which Beatty and her co-conspirators have done their work. The Elegant Spanking has a near classic silent-era feel, with Rosemary Delain and Beatty portraying Mistress and Maid Kitty respectively in a 'post-modern romantic subversion' that feels like a scene from a lost Anais Nin story. Buoyed by John Zorn's exquisitely fractured score, Delain and Beatty glide through their role-play smoothly and [yes] elegantly, most notably during their take on water sport, so tender and intimate that it reveals the true nature of the women's dynamic. What Delain and Beatty exchange is stronger than Power...it's something that will linger long after the lovers have parted.

The Black Glove is a revelation within all the rest of Beatty's revelations. Possibly her finest film, it takes D/s fetish into a noir-verse of arctic white and deepest inky black. As we peer through the window we find a bare cubicle, silent but for soft mournful sigh and mechanized wind of another Zorn soundtrack. A dapper middle-aged gentleman enters with a bundle bound in black velvet. As we marvel, said gentleman morphs into TV Sabrina, proceeding to slowly unravel the bundle to reveal...an icily beautiful, young woman seemingly asleep [unconscious?]. With the sharp tack of stiletto heels, we're introduced to Morganna, Mistress to both. Morphing as well from tuxedoed gender-freak to glistening Domina, she kneels to her supplicant and begins her play in a deliberate, glacial pace. As she touches, explores, teases, tugs and tests the body, she regards the bound and prone Beatty with a softly solemn reverence that suggests religion of a kind; a faith of sensation and boundaries and desire. The sexuality and energy radiate back and forth between Morganna and Beatty as their secret dance unfolds - it' seems to rise from Morganna like steam as the soundtrack turns into crackling embers and pulse and radiate within Beatty as the crackling gives way to a soft moan or hum from deep in the shadows. Beatty suckles gloved fingers as a hungry child would a mothers' breast. Morganna in turn gently toys with Beatty's exposed nipples as if her Slave were really a precious crystal doll to be arranged and adored over and over. For what seems an eternity [only 30 minutes in reality] the two beautiful creatures rise and fall before each other until Morganna takes full charge as Beatty surrenders to sink in the dark climax every Master and Slave knows is Subspace. A shadow passes through the room...and they're gone, leaving us to wonder if it ever really happened or if we just imagined it all. The Black Glove may be the single most amazing document of the intensity, emotion, sensuality and attraction of S+M ever created. It's a film that cannot just be seen, but must be felt, like a hand reaching to the flesh.
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Take Into Concideration Before Purchasing

B. Andre | maine | 06/22/2005

(3 out of 5 stars)

"ok the good: both short films are well crafted and shot (especially the black glove). the films feel very intimate and are very passionate about the subject matter as you might expect, concidering Beatty herself role plays in both films.
the bad: unless you have a spanking, bondadge or foot fetish, then both films will come off as rather dull. the pace and soundscapes (by john zorn) are like that of eraserhead, only you may doze off watching these films. the pace is supposed to be erotic but if you're like myself and watching the films because you are a collector and always curious about unusual cinema then for th most part you will be bored.
overall, from a collectors stand point i am very glad to have found this oop dvd for a reasonable price but i can't say i will ever watch these two films again. buy if you find a reasonable price but otherwise hold off unless, as i mentioned, you are a very devoted kinkster.
hope this info helps."

Not my cup of tea

George Hernandez | Chicago, IL, U.S.A. | 01/08/2009

(1 out of 5 stars)

"Too much BSDM, and not enough spanking. More like an artsy amateur porn video that the 2 girls should have kept private."