Cashmere Review

Studio
VCA

Genre
Artistic Vignette

Director
Michael Ninn

Starring
Kylie Ireland, Vicca, Nikita, Anna Malle, Jeanna Fine, Jill Kelly, Rayveness, Shayla LeVeaux, Brick Majors, Tyce Bune, Randy Spears, Colt Steel, and Michael J. Cox

Running Time
1:42

DVD Format
Single Sided, Single Layer (DVD-5)

Aspect Ratio
1.33:1 (full frame)

Special Features
Animated main menu, FMV chapter selection menu, fetish menu, feature-length audio commentary track with Michael Ninn and Kylie Ireland; interview clips with Kylie, Vicca, and Nikita (3-minutes total); 12-picture photo gallery (mostly softcore); music videos; and trailers for New Wave Hookers 5, Forever Night, and Shock

Typical Watchers
Kylie Ireland, Shayla LeVeaux, Jill Kelly, or Michael Ninn fans; or those in search of couple's or artistic porn

Typical Haters
Raincoaters or those who don't like a lot of slow or creative effects

Themes
1950's/60's theme, blowjobs, dirty talk, girl-girl, toys, analingus (m->f)

Condoms
Yes

If You Liked This DVD, You Should Enjoy
Michael Ninn's Diva Series

Video Captures
Click for larger size

The First Word:  Michael Ninn, the adult visionary responsible for future-based porn such as Shock, Latex, Dark Garden, and Perfect, uses his trademark computer-generated effects to turn back the clock with Cashmere, an artistic blast from the past starring Kylie Ireland.

What's It About?:  This movie is a series of vignettes, narrated by Michael Ninn, that involve early 1960's themed sex.  Besides the "Wonder Years"-like voiceovers, Ninn uses the fictional Penny Lane and The Lanettes (all parts played by Kylie Ireland, thanks to digital effects) as the musical tie-ins.  In fact, most of the scenes start out in music video fashion with Penny Lane singing, and then the sex is introduced while the music plays throughout.

"Hot Car-Hop" is the first scene, featuring the song "Don't Tell Me."  It's set in front of a drive-in restaurant (that's the car-hop part) at night.  It's Americana at its best, with classic cars, neon, bouffant hairdos,  leather jackets, sunglasses, and chiffon skirts.  Brick Majors and Kylie are the couple who fuck right on the curb of the car hop.  There's plenty of camera eye-contact from Kylie as she licks Brick's cock, leading into a nice BJ, shot from below.  While it's a completely vanilla scene, the intensity does pick up toward the end of the scene, and ends with some nice post-pop licking and sucking. 

"2 to Go-Go" changes pace and is styled after the Go-Go girl and martini culture of that decade (it even uses dialogue samples from the classic pornos Party Doll A Go-Go 1 & 2).  Vicca and Nikita are almost unrecognizable in identical platinum blonde wigs as they service Tyce Bune.  The suck/fuck in this vignette is pretty unremarkable, but the scene quickly gets to the climax, as Tyce jacks off onto some sort of bubble tank/pole.  The girls then lick and play with the jizz on the pole.

In a more surrealistic fantasy, Kylie is the Good Girl in "Good Girls Do," dressed in a red-and-white school girl outfit, masturbating while her professor (Randy Spears) gets the dirty-talk treatment from a pair of lingerie-clad nuns (Anna Malle and Jeanna Fine).  Randy gets busy with Anna, while Jeanna uses a toy on Kylie.  The ending is a pretty hot as the Good Girl takes an oral pop-shot while the other two observe, but it's too short, and the scene ends much quicker than I would have liked.

Back to Penny and the Lanettes, there's a reprise of the opening song, "The Only One" leading into the quad girl-girl scene with pink-wigged Kylie, Jill Kelly, Rayveness, and Shayla LeVeaux -- appropriately titled "In The Pink."  It's a wonderfully vivid and brightly-lit scene with some top notch lesbian action, including some super close-ups and extended DP finger-fucking.  This very strong girl-girl scene also includes a lot of toys, used vaginally and anally. 

Another song, this time "Run To My Arms" by Billy Fab (lip synched by Eric Price, in a performance that would get him booted off of "Say What?") introduces "'Pop' Star."  Using the same set as the previous girl orgy, the scene features Eric and Jill Kelly, still sporting her pink hairdo.  It's not a terribly long scene, but it's a good one, due to the bright lighting, solid anal sex, and the nice facial pop and matching pearl necklace that Jill takes like a champ.

Shayla is the star of "Pom Pom Pussy," and she's dressed in a cheerleading outfit with saddle shoes.  Although I think she's too old to play this role, it's a groin-grabbing scene thanks to her outstanding oral skills. If her tongue flicking BJ style doesn't speak to you, then you're one jaded SOB!  The fucking on the tables and counter of a 50's diner didn't do anything for me (probably due to the very, very noticeable condom), but I have to admit that Colt Steel (made up to look like Clark Kent) has never looked more appealing.  And it just melts your heart to see Shayla sucking his dick after he glazes her face.

The last Penny Lane song, "Forever" leads off the last scene, named "Topless." Of course, it's shot at night in a classic convertible.  I think it's the weakest of all of the scenes, even though Kylie takes it up the ass.  It just doesn't have the "oomph" that makes for a great sex scene, nor does it have the visual appeal of the rest of the movie.  Still, I liked the brief amount of fingerfucking (I'd love to see more of that in porn), and the fact that Michael J. Cox represents "every man" to me -- that he's an average looking guy who could be you or me but gets to perform with Kylie Ireland.

What I liked:  Artistic vision:  Ninn uses all of his previous experience with filming, editing, storytellling, and computer effects skills to develop the nostalgic view of the late '50's and early '60's.  Whether it's creating clones of Kylie or filming with an 8mm film camera to produce the grainy creative shots or lifting soundbites from Party Doll A Go-Go instead of relying on dialogue, he really pulls everything together.

Two top-notch scenes:  The lesbian scene with Kylie, Shayla, Jill, and Rayveness is one of the better girl-girl scenes that I've seen in a while.  And the blowjob portion of the diner scene is a great hummer -- again, one of the better scenes that I've seen lately.  Having two solid sex scenes in addition to a beautifully shot movie makes this one a keeper.

What I didn't like:  Condoms:  Everyone knows that studios like VCA have been condom-only for a while.   I'm generally supportive of the use of raincoats.  But in period movies, it completely deflates the fantasy to see ugly white rubbers all the time.  They make clear condoms, you know -- so why all of the latex-glove colored ones?

Sex is pretty vanilla:  This is the stuff that raincoaters piss and moan about.  Sure, there's anal, but it's not nasty enough.  Sure, there's cum swapping and oral pops, but the girls don't play with it enough.  Although I think it's not as vanilla as some would claim, Cashmere could have used a bit more sexual energy to push it to the next level.  I'm not saying that I think it needed to be Barbarella Meets Red Light District, but it doesn't quite cut it for me like it used to (damn, my jadedness!).

DVD Extras:  At the time this DVD was released, it had quite a bit of extras.  Now, with two-disc editions becoming more common, this DVD doesn't shine quite as brightly as it once did.  But it's still a solid release, with a number of supplements, including a small photo gallery, chapter selection of the music videos ("Slow Jams"), two short interviews with Kylie, Vicca, and Nikita, and a few preview trailers.  The major extra, though, is the full-length commentary with Michael Ninn and Kylie.  It's not the most informative or exciting commentary, but you do get a better feel for Ninn's creative process, as well as some of the technical details behind the filming.  I also can't ever get tired of hearing Kylie's great voice, and it's icing on the cake to hear her comments on Cashmere.

A/V Quality:   The A/V quality is top notch for a shot-on-video feature.  VCA mastered it well, considering it's approaching five years old.  Some people may be thrown by the vast quantity of effects, including reduced frame rate, quick editing, blurred shots, black and white footage, grainy shots, and soft focus.  But there's nothing that I can point to that is a technical problem with the video mastering.  The audio is a good mix between the music, which plays an important role in the movie, and the moaning & groaning -- neither one overpowers the other.

The Last Word:  I highly recommend this DVD if you're a fan of Michael Ninn or are looking for something different and with more frills than most of the porn out there.  I think this is a good title to start out with if you're looking for a softer couple's porn DVD to start with.  And if you like costume dramas or period piece porn, this is a definite one to add to your wish list.  It's not the best Michael Ninn movie, but it's one of his better ones, and one that still manages to hold its own against DVDs five years newer.

- Saki (saki@sakivision.com)