Climax (Marc Dorcel) Review

Distributor: Marc Dorcel Edition Details: Standard DVD Movie Specs: Genres: Feature Film, Orgy Run Time: 63 minutes Rated: XXX Release Year: 2019 Director: Kay Brandt Written by: Kay Brandt Director of Photography: Sal Genoa Cast: Angela White, Avi Love, India Summer, Jane Wilde, Whitney Wright, Britney Amber, Seth Gamble, Unnamed Male, Eric Masterson, Codey Steele Release Specs: Audio: English Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo, French Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo (dubbed), German Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo (dubbed), Spanish Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo (dubbed), Italian Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo (dubbed), Polish Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo (dubbed) Subtitles: Portuguese, Greek, Dutch Video: Widescreen, 1.78:1 (anamorphic) Video Format: NTSC Format: DVD Regional Code (for DVD/Blu-ray): 0 (All) Number of discs: 1

Climax is a feature-length featurette-style movie from writer and director Kay Brandt. Climax marks Kay Brandt's first time working with Marc Dorcel and is a step away from the typical feature films that she makes, that is because Climax was created as part of the 40 year celebration for Marc Dorcel.

The set-up for Climax is that Emma (Avi Love) and Michael are applying for membership into Anais' (Angel White) private joy club. The joy club is a place where couples can bring others into their relationship to living out their fantasies. At the point where Climax begins, Emma and Michael are nearing completion of their application and being brought through the initiation rituals into the club.

Climax spends approximately the first 24 minutes on the set-up. During the set-up time, Kay Brandt does a great job of establishing the central characters, which can be hard to do in a featurette-style movie due to limited plot time. Kay Brandt gets around this by predominantly fleshing out the roles of Emma and Michael, while also fleshing out Anais and her assistant Natasha (Whitney Wright) to some extent. Mostly, the rest of the club that is shown stays a mystery (India Summer and Seth Gamble are the only ones introduced to the audience at all) to the viewer.

Kay Brandt also works in several ways to tease the viewer during the set-up period with some softcore sexual action and some barely hardcore sexual action. The sexual lead-in that she uses creates a lovely lead up to the orgy that takes up the bulk of the running time.

The orgy, itself, focuses on Avi Love's character, which, in a way, is excellent. All too often, orgy scenes can come across as chaotic messes. This has been a problem that has plagued the adult film industry since its inception. This isn't to say that there haven't been good orgy scenes, as there have, it is just way too often orgies become just a mix of undecipherable body parts.

By keeping the emphasis on Avi Love, the orgy has a focus. This isn't to say that the orgy entirely focuses on Avi Love. The other cast members are shown in different groupings throughout the sex scene when they are not interacting directly with Avi Love.

Some viewers may find the orgy focusing on Avi Love to be a disappointment as it means that all the other participants aren't given the screen time that she is, nor are they highlighted as much.

Climax is the first Marc Dorcel movie shot in the United States with an entirely United States-based cast, crew, and director, and this reviewer is positive that Gregory Dorcel will let Kay Brandt make more movies for him with a United States-based cast and crew. Everything about Climax screams elegance. The location used to be Anais' mansion is gorgeous, with large grand areas. Climax was shot by Sal Genoa and David Lord and looks stunning and includes some beautiful establishing shots in Bel Air.

Climax is a luxurious movie that has been well crafted by Kay Brandt. Kay Brandt has done a great job working in the featurette-style format creating a fun movie to watch. This reviewer hopes that Kay Brandt will revisit Anais' joy club in the future, sharing more stories of the club members.

Marc Dorcel has done an excellent job with their DVD release of Climax. Climax was shot digitally in 4K UHD and is presented in the anamorphic widescreen aspect ratio of 1.78:1 in 480i. The picture quality is flawless with beautiful vibrant colors and no noticeable blemishes in the image.

Marc Dorcel has offered a variety of sound options for Climax. The original English Dolby Digital 2.0 audio track is on the release. The quality of the English track is excellent with no noticeable issues, and the dialog in the movie is clear and easy to understand at all times. There are also dubbed tracks in French, German, Spanish, Italian, and Polish, all presented in Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo. Some are true dubbed tracks, and others still have the English dialog with narration in the chosen language. Marc Dorcel has also offered Portuguese, Dutch, and Greek subtitles for the movie.

The only extra on the release is a fifteen-minute making of piece in English. The piece immediately follows the movie instead of being offered on an extras menu.

Climax is different than Kay Brandt's output of late. Instead of being a feature film, Climax is a featurette-style movie where there is an opening, then the sex scene. Don't let this diminish your interest in the movie as there is a lot that can be done in the featurette-style format, and Kay Brandt has done a beautiful job with Climax. Marc Dorcel has done an excellent job with their DVD release of Climax with beautiful picture and sound quality.

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