Serenade Review

Running Time: 89 min.

Production Date: 11 / 17 / 1998

Director: Nick Orleans

Cast: Ashton Moore, Brick Majors, Johnni Black, Cheyenne Silver, Alexandra Nice, Kasorn Swan, Eve, Natasha, Ian Daniels, Jack Hammer, and Alec Metro

Initial Expectations: I’ve had pretty good luck with Adam & Eve’s Premium Collection, so I’ve got pretty good expectations here also.

Initial Reaction: It’s pretty good. Not great, but very good.

Who Should Watch It: Anybody wanting sex on the more artistic side

Who Should Avoid It: Anybody who wants sex in real time without dubbed audio

Audio /Video Quality: The audio is mostly dubbed, but there’s a lot of slow motion shots in the movie so it’s kind of unavoidable. Everything is very clear, both dialogue and sex sounds. The video is normally very clear, but in some places there’s a little grain.

Music: The music is by Saint, which I really like. Saint’s music really raises couples movies up a notch for me. It’s very well balanced and fits the scenes wonderfully.

Review: Serenade starts off very strong both sexually and artistically. The opening scene mixes Ashton Moore sleeping in her bed and her dream of Alec Metro and Natasha. At least I think it’s Natasha. There’s no real credits to know for sure and she isn’t listed in the bios. Alec was also a little hard to recognize, as he’s clean shaven rather than having the goatee that he’s worn for so long now. If it weren’t for his listing in the bios I wouldn’t have known it was him. Anyway, Natasha and Alec dance and make love in an outdoor courtyard while being serenaded by a cellist, which we don’t get to hear. It’s kind of there, but the rest of the music mixes with it too well to pull it out. The scene is very romantic and sets up the couples feel of the movie very well. There’s a lot of slow motion to the scene, so there’s some dubbing to the sound. Most of the slow motion is just slow enough to make it a little more erotic. Nobody bangs away in Serenade like they’re trying to set a new world record for speed fucking, which, as opposed to speed skating, would get more guys watching the Olympics. Ashton’s sleeping is often shown superposed over Alec and Natasha’s lovemaking or one fades in from the other. It’s really done quite well. There is anal in the scene, but with the music and the slower pace it feels more romantic and I think still maintains a couples feel.

When Ashton wakes in the morning, she hunts through the house for Brick Majors who’s waiting for her on their patio with breakfast made for her. She tells him how romantic her dream was and how she was so in love with the idea of being serenaded. She’s also a little depressed because her agent is coming by soon and she doesn’t have anything ready yet. Brick tells her not to worry so much about work and is more in touch with nature. He feels serenaded wherever he goes and tells Ashton to listen to the wind and the birds and everything else around her and she can feel serenaded too. This, of course, leads into passionate lovemaking between Ashton and Brick on their patio. There’s a little pond next to the patio and a view of nature, rather than buildings. This scene is laced with views of a shadow Ashton dancing slowly in the pond. It has a lot of the same passionate feel as the original scene and is a little more couples friendly by not having any anal sex.

From there, Serenade turns into the cliche’ adult film. The rest of the scenes are imagined by Ashton as she listens to music and nature. Her first daydream has Alexandra Nice and Eve in a fairly hot lesbian scene with a little toy usage. Alexandra is pretty hot, but Eve seems to be trying to work herself up to being a human pawn shop. She has two tongue piercings and a clit ring in addition to some huge tattoos. I don’t mind piercings that much, but she didn’t seem to have any idea when to quit.

Next, Ashton badly fakes playing a flute (she often moves her fingers with the flute an inch or two in front of her) outside a window while Brick and Johnni Black make love in a bathtub. Once again there’s some anal, but it’s done a little slower and the scene seems very couples friendly despite the anal. A lot of this is probably because the both appear to be having a lot of fun. This made the scene a lot more enjoyable and also one of the strongest scenes in the movie.

Ashton appears to play the piano better than the flute. A lot of this is probably the direction. The full side shot of her playing the piano can be overlain on the image of somebody’s fingers playing. Of course, nobody except musicians care about this when Kasorn Swan and Ian Daniels are going at it in front of her. Once again, there’s great chemistry and a couple who appears to be enjoying themselves.

Finally, Jack Hammer, Ashton’s agent, shows up. She has a picture all ready and he’s amazed at how she does it. She tells him how she listens to music and lets her daydreams give her the images. Of course, this means we get one last scene and it’s a very good one. It’s a Victorian theme with Ashton and Jack dressed to the max and Cheyenne Silver serenading them on the violin. I have to admit that Jack was my biggest fear in Serenade. He has so many prison tattoos that I’m afraid to think of how many people he was bitch to. He has also never impressed me in any scene so far, and I admit that this may have been because he’s so tattooed that I can barely stand to look at him. With Ashton and Cheyenne in the scene, I couldn’t make myself look away or even reach for the remote. Luckily, Mr. Orleans had the sense to only have Jack take his pants off. Everybody works great in this scene, especially Cheyenne. She’s quickly becoming one of my favorite starlets, and I’m mourning the fact that her talent will probably go to waste as a Vivid girl. She has a natural beauty that every star with half a brain would die for and that no amount of plastic surgery can fake. If that isn’t enough, she has some of the most beautiful eyes in porn. They sparkle and almost always say something. Here they go from teasing Jack as Ashton eats her out to begging for more from both of them after Jack joins in. It’s a great scene to end the movie with.

Serenade is another adult movie with virtually no plot to tie together the varied sex scenes. Rather than have the scenes tied together by a writer, Mr. Orleans has them tied together by music instead. I know that this can be a minor difference, but in this case it makes Serenade much more romantic. It’s aided by most of the sex scenes being slowed down just slightly. Each scene has very good chemistry and the cast all appears to have fun. The combination of these factors raise the quality of Serenade past what it normally would be and makes it much more of a couples movie. Normally I think lack of plot and anal and lesbian scenes take adult films away from the couples movie classification. Here, these things are softened to the point that they appear both romantic and erotic. It’s nice to see that some people still know how to make adult movies like that.

Extras: Bios are given for Ashton Moore, Johnni Black, Aleksandra Nice, and Alec Metro. There’s a nice little write up on each person as well as a link to their scene. The slide show is automated lasting two minutes with about five seconds per still. All of the stills are full screen and they range from slightly below average to average. It’s a letdown compared to Adam & Eve’s normal photo gallery. The trailers are for Caribbean Undercover, Fire & Ice, Tales From the Pink, and The Scent of Passion. Finally, there’s the slot machine. If you’re lucky, you get to watch a bonus scene with Chloe and John Decker.

Themes: Straight, rimming (male > female), anal, lesbian, foot worship, toys, tit - fucking, spanking, and group

Raincoat Factor: High

Overall: Currently, only two stores are offering Serenade and they both price it over $20. It’s a good movie, but it’s not worth quite that much. I’m sure that when other stores start to offer it the price will come down a little. Fans of Fire & Ice and The Garden Party will want to check it out. The transfer is very good but you’ve seen the story before. Unfortunately there isn’t much for extras.

Note to Adam & Eve: Once again, great job. Your Premium Collection titles have been really good, but a few more extras would really help. I normally think of the Premium Collection titles as titles that would compete with the top of the line titles from studios such as Wicked and VCA. A behind the scenes featurette would have been great here or maybe an interview or two with the stars. It’s still a good start and I look forward to more Premium Collection titles.

If you have any questions or comments, please e-mail me .

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