Seek & Destroy (Twisted Transmissions) Review

Cast: Enchantress Gia, Lolita LeMarchand ("Kimi") and Jada in BDSM roles; Anders Manga ("Kennedy") as the documenter; and two uncredited individuals in speaking roles.

Director: Anders Manga

Production date: 3/03 (opening statement); 3/02 (box)

Length: 79 min.

Extras: An 8-min. interview with Enchantress Gia and a trailer for the feature.

Audio/visual quality: The handheld camerawork is very good and fits the documentary style perfectly. The lighting is excellent—never harsh, always adequate. Shadows and soft focus shifts occur once in a while, but they're not severe enough to cause a serious distraction. The on-site audio is generally superb. There's a tiny amount of unavoidable location noise, such as banging pipes at the Den of Iniquity. Anders himself is quiet and unobtrusive during the sessions, except for a couple of amusing places where Enchantress Gia scolds the "cameraboy" for getting too close to her. The only significant audiovisual flub is a brief cue which slipped by the editor (and which momentarily spoils the illusion that this is a "real" documentary).

Blunders, bugs and boo-boos: The disc arrived with multiple scratches after dislodging from the hub during shipping. It is not playable on my newest Apple DVD Player (v3.2), but I can manage it okay with the previous version (v2.2.1).

First impression: Seek & Destroy is not exactly what I was seeking, but it's got a lot of great things going for it.

Scene highlights: The movie opens with a silhouetted figure, identified as "Ernie." Ernie seems glum and confused. His ex-girlfriend, Lolita LeMarchand ("Kimi") has refused to tolerate his sessions with Enchantress Gia at a local dungeon. Ernie initially claims he wants Lolita to understand him, but he then asks Anders Manga ("Kennedy") to seek and destroy her.

Disgusted and distrustful, Lolita agrees to talk to Anders if he pays her for the time. She seems confused about what she wants, too. She shows a spark of interest in renewing her relationship, but mostly it's the promise of a credit card that entices her to sample a session with Ernie's dominatrix.

Lolita meets Enchantress Gia in a medical fetish room. Enchantress Gia immediately begins to rein in Lolita's attitude by listing the rules. She gets into Lolita's personal space, commands that she remove her shirt and skirt, ties her wrists, and lectures her about compromise and cooperation. Since Lolita continues to be whiny and resistant, Enchantress Gia gets serious and strips off Lolita's panties and bra, ties her feet and slaps and pets her private areas. Enchantress Gia also clamps clothespins along Lolita's back and flogs them off. As a final test, she weaves rope around Lolita's petite body and dunks her headfirst into a tub of water. Lolita finally manages to please the dominatrix, who kisses her mouth and claims her as her own.

Anders next introduces himself to Jada, who admits she's uncomfortable with her ex-boyfriend's fetish for puppy play. Jada is sweeter and more accommodating than Lolita, and she soon agrees to try a session with the enchantress. Jada smirks as she strips for Enchantress Gia, however, and is obviously having a hard time taking the whole thing seriously. Enchantress Gia binds her in a downward dog position and paddles her for failing to address the mistress properly. She then soothes the sore area and gently teaches Jada the art of being a kitty cat.

Enchantress Gia caresses Jada with her velvet gloves and instructs her to give herself a tongue bath. Jada "cleans" her breasts and vulva with her "paws." When Jada oversteps her bounds by attempting to clean the mistress' breast, Enchantress Gia requires that she lick and purr at a realistic-looking strap-on cock. The naughty kitty receives an additional paddling when she playfully bites the cock. Enchantress Gia threatens to sink her teeth into Jada's buttock but instead marks Jada's forehead with a lipstick kiss and passes her performance by awarding her a kitty mask.

The only extra of note on this disc is the interview, but it's a significant bonus. Enchantress Gia comes across as nonjudgmental and completely real as she shares her insights on gender-based power dynamics, discusses client motivations and perceptions, describes the type of training a dom might receive and offers basic tips on how newbies can become involved.

Thumbs up: Similar to The Fashionistas, this movie provokes my objective appreciation and my subjective ambivalence. My sexual reaction to large chunks of Seek & Destroy is neutral or slightly negative, but I can't deny that it is a unique and well executed production. It's attractively shot and engrossing enough to hold my attention, even when it doesn't arouse me.

I certainly can't find fault with Enchantress Gia, who proves herself an outstanding choice for the starring role in Twisted's first title. Enchantress Gia has a finely developed sense of balance between severity and sensuality that inspires my respect. She has the wisdom to know that the surest way to command someone's attention is with a whisper, not a shout. And in fact, one of the greatest strengths of the movie is the dialog, which sounds spontaneous and flows extremely well. The physical aspect of the power play is secondary to the verbal aspect, which is quite mesmerizing to observe and follow.

Thumbs down: I'm bothered by the apparent lack of consent and confidentiality in the first scene. I've never been to a dungeon, but somewhere I got the idea that there's an intake process in which clients articulate their boundaries. I cringe when Lolita is exposed and touched against her express wishes. Jada has a safe word, at least, but Lolita does not. Call me crazy, but I also assumed that dungeons are the type of professional environment in which the details of one client's session are never revealed to another client. I'm caught off guard when Enchantress Gia confirms that she's duplicating part of Ernie's session for Lolita. Maybe there are release forms for clients like Ernie, who specifically want their experience disclosed (though I somewhat question the ethics of that, since part of his motivation is "revenge"). Anyhow, what I would personally need for a good experience has not been respected here, so much of my potential interest in dungeons has evaporated.

The one thing that ameliorates my concern is a nagging suspicion that Seek & Destroy is more fantasy than documentary. The box cover teeters on false advertising with the claim that this "documentary follows the first time experiences of Kimi and Jada with a professional dominatrix." "Kimi" (Lolita) also had a starring role as a slave to a professional dominatrix in Anders Manga's previous BDSM effort Affliction. Actually, that earlier movie is possibly the more convincing of the two, simply because its looser script proffers fewer details to question. On the whole, Seek & Destroy does a nice job of establishing a documentary feel, but it's hard to completely suspend my disbelief when I keep looking at Lolita and thinking, "gosh, she's really good at these roles."

Themes: Light to medium BDSM (primary theme), kitten play, "oral" (dildo blowjob), rope bondage, clothespins, toy (strap-on), spanking, paddling, flogging, slapping (vulva, breast), breath play (brief underwater submersion), fetishwear.

Condom use: None (n/a).

Juice-o-meter: Very low. What can I say. I've tried clothespins and hate that sensation (I have a low threshold of pain), I'm afraid of drowning due to a rather traumatic childhood incident and I'm not particularly fond of cats. There's almost nothing here that pushes my erotic buttons, other than the elegant rope bondage and the general attractiveness of Enchantress Gia (who carries herself very well). These are intensely personal reactions, of course. Yours may be entirely different.

Final analysis: Though it doesn't turn my specific sexual crank, this movie is a potentially interesting and appealing choice for fans of light to medium BDSM. The interaction between the women is engaging, and the technical aspects of the DVD are exceptional for this genre.

Special thanks to astroknight, reviewer extraordinaire, for his screenshots. Read his review of Seek & Destroy here.