By joining TV Guide, you agree to our Terms of Use and acknowledge the data practices in our Privacy Policy. Sex scenes are relatively brief by modern standards and shot with many hokey camera placements and non- stop editing, both of which are techniques long rejected by porn fans in favor of the current more realistic, unedited half-hour of continuous sex approach. In a magical, unconventional place, the "Poetry Brothel" people met to read erotic stories to night and have them to read to them. The payoff is explicit sex, but shot largely from soft-core angles so that the viewer is jerked around rather than promoting any jerking off.

Erika uses untalented performers, as well as those poets whose way with words escapes me (most of the gibberish passed off as poetry here sounds more like the dubbing script for turning a Spanish or Italian movie into a junker for American audiences than original writing). Four Poets with four fantasies of intimate sexual desires, enticing you to discover a lust you never knew existed. Four different stories are implemented in short film sequences In a magical, unconventional place, the "Poetry Brothel" people met to read erotic stories to night and have them to read to them. One of the four vignettes played just like a lame late-night pay- cable (Skinemax or Showtime) boredom special.As in her short films, Lust is all about the tease, but I found her approach to Adult XXX tease to be annoying, not stimulating. Enter the Barcelona 'Poetry Brothel': a magical, bohemian place where people go after dark to lose themselves in erotic tales and poetry. Working out of Barcelona, Erika Lust is typical of filmmakers interested in creating erotica while avoiding the clichés of pornography. Four beautiful storytellers weave erotic and sensual tales at a place of intrigue and passion known as the "Poetry Brothel" in this sumptuous film from director Erika Lust. The four vignettes are introduced by a male or female poet who sidles up to a client or couple and receives a poker chip as payment in advance (like a hooker -the chip bought expensively upon entering the club being a ritual associated with the real-life poetry brothels).

Read all In a magical, unconventional place, the "Poetry Brothel" people met to read erotic stories to night and have them to read to them. Changing from brothel to cabaret is a major leap that destroys the original concept: the intimacy (beyond sex) of the inn-person poetry readings is quite the opposite of the voyeurism and ABSENCE of human contact/connection of watching pantomime vignettes on one's TV screen. Along with Max Hardcore's introduction of gonzo into porn, the predilection for watching amateurs rather than pro actors is the most detrimental change in both Adult Entertainment and even mainstream TV (reality-TV) in recent decades. c. reasons, de-emphasizes or eliminates the cum shot and flunks out on portraying any real semblance of human connection beyond mechanical sex - a failing of the pantomime format. Winner of multiple awards, Cabaret Desire beautifully showcases all of the qualities for which Erika's films have become famous: modern sets, urban cityscapes, relatable characters, an edgy cast of indie performers, natural storytelling, tasteful styling, fresh music, stunning cinematography, and love that is passionate, and intimate.An informative short film on the DVD titled "The Poetry Brothel" by Patrick Catuz interviews practitioners at Barcelona and NYC "brothels" emulating Storyville or Parisian atmosphere but where folks go off into a corner or secluded nook to listen to one-on-one poetry readings and presumably have sex. who we see in fetish gear clad in latex head to toe, making her look like a stereotypical BDSM movie masochist, but instead dominating a famous author who she binds and gags and then humps. But what really killed off my nascent interest in this feature was Erika's connection with the cult of amateurism.

A collection of short film are also included in this set, as well as a making-of featurette for the film. Her pretentious project "Cabaret Desire" fails on all counts: zero for eroticism, zero for explicitness, zero for casting, zero for story and zero for conduct. Film ends in a laughably bad performance of an original song titled "Sperm", with poor lip-sync of the band (Cava Cabaret) and its jazz singer, an insipid attempt at double entendres. The Madame of the Brothel introduces each client to a lady, who then proceeds to take them deep into a world of evocative and sensual storytelling.