With "Flesh," director Derek Kent, his customary and very unique smarts intact, has fashioned a very spirited and sexy tale from the seemingly tame inner-workings of a strip club. On top of his machinations here, there is Franco Santoro, a heaven-sent Spanish performer who earns star stripes by stealing two scenes and thus owning the story.
Franco Santoro peers through the wants ads and finds one for a club hiring strippers, bartenders and bar backs. This immaculately chiseled man, with more than double a six-pack, not to mention a face that belongs immediately on runways all over the world, seems to doubt his physical ability to hold down a job in such a place, and consults his mirror to find out if he has the right stuff. I'm sure the mirror would agree with me: he does. Man on man, he does!
At the bar, auditions have just concluded for the stripper position. Jason Crew is the dance master of the pole, and Erik Rhodes is the club's owner. They have a tough choice ahead of them, because apparently all four candidates have made a good impression. Erik invites Jason home for the decision-making process (judges can make the decision for a Miss America on the spur of the moment, but choosing the right stripper has to be harder than one might assume), but Erik suggests Jason clothe himself in more than his undies. "If it were up to me, I'd be like this 24/7, but unfortunately the police station doesn't allow it, you know what I mean?" scrappy Jason notes as they leave.
With the pole and the dance floor to themselves, lean brunet Chad Farrell pulls exceedingly handsome tattooed Chase Dalton to him for some kissing. Beefy semi-hairy Troy Punk joins this pair and Rocco DeNiro, a thin kid with a great big cock, soon joins as well. Chase sucks Chad and then Troy, doing a great job on Troy's rock-hard cock. Here's where Derek Kent is a master of building a scene. He allows Chase to own the beginning of the scene, with Rocco and Chad only making out while Chase blows. Then, Chad joins the active action by sucking on Rocco's curved dick and only then do the four come together. Chase sucks Rocco, doing Troy, who is macking with Chad, who soon joins talented Rocco to worship Troy's dick. The guys don't stay in any position very long and the camera travels with them to shoot not only their beautiful bodies, but also their sucking up close. Note also that asses are not a part of the equation. It's as if the director wants us only to notice the impressive oral abilities of the guys before giving us entrée into the next part of the scene. After everyone has had a chance to suck around the group -- Bam! -- the fucking starts! Chase gets it standing up from Chad in a friendly combo, while Troy rides Rocco in a nice twist. Chad and Chase have an easygoing time of it, with over-the-shoulder shots best in order to see Chad's abs helping the fuck look so hot. Rocco seems in heaven with beefcake Troy riding him to the balls with speed. Troy suddenly has to leave for a "dance gig ... across town," which leaves Rocco to fuck Chase's gorgeous ass. Rocco's smooth topping style is a nice ending to the calm scene, whose hero has to be the sucking and bottoming machine, Chase Dalton.
Franco arrives at the bar to find curly-haired Ryan Alexander manning the store. Cutie pie Ryan convinces a nervous Franco to show off the "extras" he finds so important in potential employees. Franco's main "extra" turns out to be a whopper thick uncut dick. Ryan starts teasingly, with some light licking and slow headwork. He adds a twisting hand to it for good measure and then goes for the full inhale blowjob. He gets all the way down and turns it into a showy sucking, full of tongue tickles and gulping deep-throats. Ryan gets an extra delicious moment when he finishes the blowjob and allows his tongue to lick its way up Franco's magnificent stomach. Franco then takes over the sucking, unleashing a furious mouth on Ryan's long dick. As Ryan gently thrusts at him, Franco swallows it completely. There's a particularly dreamy session when the camera is right at Franco's chin, allowing a luscious view of the saliva-drenched blowjob from the vantage point of Franco's hardworking mouth. The chemistry builds as Franco piles on the styles to his peerless blowjob and then Franco climbs on a table so Ryan get to work on his inspiring ass. After using two fingers to open up Franco, Ryan goes sliding into it with his dick. The initial insertion is rather brutal, and seems to surprise even Ryan. Ryan then fucks Franco with a pent-up vivacity. Franco's ass is wide open to him, so Ryan is able to go as fast and as hard as he wants. Ryan settles back into his chair so Franco can do a backwards self-skewer (I think that's an Olympic term, no?), his ass seemingly able to take absolutely anything. Franco whirls around, tears off Ryan's condom and blows and rims him! However, Ryan hasn't had quite enough of Franco's sinfully able ass, so he fucks him missionary on the bar. Ryan has a lot of energy and a thankfully able bottom on which to release it. Franco cums all over his ripped abs and then Ryan follows in the same spot. I think it's safe to assume Franco has this job sewn up!
Erik and Jason are lazing in the moonlight in Erik's backyard. Reedy long-lashed Jason inquires about all of Erik's success, to which Erik replies with that tired old line: "I've always wanted a nice house and a strip club." Jason, sporting a huge boner on his thin frame, goes into the pool naked and strapping Erik, with a diamond stud in one ear, follows him. Doggie paddling, they grab at each other and then move to the side of the pool for more formal romance. Erik dives underwater in the lit pool to suck Jason. This is wonderful to watch with the subtle light rippling around the action. Jason bobs down to blow Erik, and both of these cocks are hefty pieces that require full attention, and even underwater, both guys are able to deliver. Still in the pool, Jason fucks Erik's meaty ass. I couldn't help but think of the movie "Showgirls," where the leads of that strip club epic fuck in the pool, though this scene is actually real. The two don't thrash with more energy than water would actually allow, but instead commit to a watchable fun fuck. They need dry land to work up their full steam, so they hop out of the pool and Jason continues with an eager fuck of Erik, now on all-fours. They creep, still inserted, to the deck chairs, where Jason blows Erik's long cock without water in his nostrils. Jason fingers Erik as he sucks, an easy task considering the full length of his cock has already been up that butt. Re-condomed, Jason fucks Erik again, with the latter pretty much sitting and bobbing, his own cock hard and slapping against his top's stomach. It's not long before round two of this fuck produces sizeable cum-shots from both men.
Franco is soaking in the tub, lathering up his body when boyfriend Linc Madison quizzes him on how he got the job. See, Linc knows the only way to get a job at this place is to put out. Franco coyly sticks to his story that he didn't, noting with a wry crooked smile and a sexy accent that it was all due to his "boyish charm." A fully clothed Linc is pulled into the tub when Franco announces it's only his boyfriend Linc he wants. Linc, with his magazine cover good looks and truly perfect body, is one hell of a match for the equally sublime Franco. Did some match-making service specializing in bringing physical gods together mate them? Anyway, Linc has a mouth worthy of his talented boyfriend, a deep gulping cavern that can easily fit in all of Franco's cock. Franco face-fucks Linc, but Linc doesn't lose an inch of Franco's dick during it. Franco seems to inspire excellence because his two scenes are the two most energy-filled rabid entries here. Like Ryan before him, Linc had actually put the cart before the horse in diving first for Franco's cock, so he licks his way up Franco's body to his mouth where they kiss with heated lust. Not pausing for a breath, Franco works his way down Linc's chest, with a tan sheen that makes it look even better, and Linc is finally rid of those wet clothes. Linc's cock is a stunning big-veined monster piece, but it doesn't stump Franco. The paragon of talent, Franco is able to suck it down whole, with oodles of speed on top of truly inspired devotion to the chore. When the packed petite powerhouse is done with Linc's sausage, he rims Linc's ass, still the only performer to eat ass in all of "Flesh." He gives it a strong tongue-fuck, keeping Linc in such a state of ecstasy that poor Linc doesn't notice how close his head is to the shower nozzles. On the tiled floor, Franco goes back to sucking and then quickly turns his boyfriend over for a fuck. Now Franco gets to show off as a top, every bit as towering as he was a bottom. He goes wild here, his balls flapping around as he pile-drives into Linc. However, Franco is a virtuoso, so Linc fucks Franco sideways so they can kiss and cuddle lots. Franco works himself into a tough position, and Linc takes full advantage with a deep pushy fuck before pulling out to let Franco to cum. Linc then dots his stomach with a big blast.
No doubt Franco Santoro will be a big asset to his new job. He's certainly an asset to his current one, the major star of "Flesh." With two scenes, he's the darling of the picture, doing everything a performer can do, and doing it with the appropriate gloss and style for this intelligently put together flick. He's abetted by a bevy of talents, and those who come into his orbit end up giving performances nearly as good as his.
DVD features: Chapters; galleries; cast bios (stats and videographies); outtakes and behind-the-scenes footage; trailers ("The Boy Has Balls" and "Too Good To Be True"); and no regional coding (playable worldwide).
A DVD Review by Brent Blue
Flesh, a bright little bijou of a film, is director Derek Kent's latest effort for Studio 2000. In it, nine enthusiastic young men cavort through four equally arousing sex scenes webbed together by a narrative that begins when a cute little unemployed hottie (Franco Santoro) spots an ad in one of the gay rags ("Wanted: Strippers, Bartenders, Barbacks"). After studying himself in his bathroom mirror for a bit, he decides to answer it.
The action quickly shifts to the bar in question, all black walls and chrome, where a quartet of hunky dancers -- each still naked -- have just finished their auditions. The are Troy Punk (a blond bear of a man), Chad Farrell (an ordinary looking joe who proves to be an extraordinary sexualist), Chad Farrell (who looks as if he might be Don Knotts' better-looking kid brother) and Rocco DeNiro (a pale-skinned, baby-faced brunet). They are thanked and dismissed, but none seems in any hurry to leave. It must be the thrall of all that bare flesh, because quicker than you can say, "Don't call us, we'll call you," they are going at each other full throttle there on the postage-stamp stage.
Under the sure hand of director Kent, who is greatly aided by the vibrant videography and moody lighting of Ross Cannon, the sexual action spins like a whirligig. Sliding from one to another like eels in oil, the four would-be strippers kiss, grope and suck one another. At first, DeNiro only watches and plays with his arrow-headed dick, like a sex-piglet-in-waiting -- but when he does join in, he takes focus, and retains it throughout the scene. His liquid eyes, gleaming teeth and cupid's bow mouth lend themselves to Cannon's perfect close-ups, and once in action, he proves to be an instinctual cocksucker and ass-fucker. Midway through the scene, Punk inexplicably leaves without producing a money shot, but the others remain to detonate a trio of creamy explosions, the best of which is DeNiro's splatter shot all over everything.
By the time Santoro has left his mirror and arrived at the bar, the bosses have already gone home, but a calculating bartender (curly haired Ryan Alexander, who smolders with a primal sexuality) takes full advantage of the situation, conducts the interview and inquires what "extras" Santoro has to offer. After a bit of cat-and-mouse fencing, the bartender -- ever the compleat angler -- opens the interviewee's fly, fishes out his tumescent cock and licks-kisses-sucks it to full erection. No slouch himself at such games, Santoro soon reciprocates, stroking Alexander's rigid hard-on, sucking his pendulous balls and ultimately swallowing him whole. The throat-bruising give-and-take is a textbook example of the sport of cocksucking.
Skilled seducer that he is, Alexander next coaxes Santoro up onto the bar on all fours, ass in the air. He kisses the ripe melons before him, but his tongue never goes near the kid's rosebud. Instead, he opts for a long session of fingering for the inevitable fuck to come. When it does, he penetrates Santoro with one sudden, hard jab -- Santoro welcomes the rough invasion with only a slight wince -- and accelerates from there. A confident top, Alexander varies his rhythms, effortlessly shifts positions, murmurs an easy-listening raunch rap and then sits back on a high bar stool for another round of oral action (including some terrific ass-eating by Santoro) before they go for a second missionary fuck that produces their pop shots. Santoro snorts his way to a creamy orgasm all over his own six-pack while plugged, and Alexander caps the scene with streamers of jizz all over his partner. It is only then that, for the first time in the scene, they kiss.
Later, the owner of the bar (stocky, sturdy Erik Rhodes) and his manager (slick, slender Jason Crew) take the evening off and are discovered sipping drinks poolside at the owner's home. Before long, they opt for a "buck-ass naked" midnight swim, and by the time they strip down, both are fully hard. As they skim like dolphins through the shimmering pool, their rockhard dicks knifing through the rippling turquoise waters, they kiss, stroke each other, trade blow-jobs, eat ass and even manage a doggie fuck (Crew into Rhodes) -- all beneath the surface. Here, the underwater photography (a device being used with increasing frequency these days) is arguably the most beautiful this reviewer has ever seen in an adult film. Under the circumstances, the sexual feats accomplished by the two performers are quite remarkable, but the play of golden light across their bodies, faces and genitals as they do so makes the scene truly magical.
In time, of course, they come out of the pool, and Crew fucks Rhodes into a nearby lawn chair. (The effervescent, cameragenic Crew reminds one of both mainstream star Colin Farrell and mid-'90s porn star Rick Thomas.) Rhodes leans back; Crew takes his own twitching dick in one hand, Rhodes's in the other and feeds the man into his mouth. An inventive and thoroughgoing cocksucker, the versatile Crew (who, alas, only tops in this film) soon adds a bit of fingering to his oral ministrations, and before long the two of them are sitting crotch-to-crotch, fucking on that chaise Indian style and going for their pop shots before a friendly fuck-buddy fadeout kiss.
That same evening, Santoro is discovered back at his home, soaking in a suds-filled tub. When his lover (Linc Madison, an enticing, baby-butch boy-man) walks in, Santoro announces that he has been hired at the bar. Madison's reply: "What did you have to do to get the job? I've heard you can only get a job there if you put out." To distract him (and avoid answering), Santoro pulls the kid, fully clothed, into the tub. "You animal," Madison sniggers as he melts into a flurry of romantic kisses. When Santoro's erection rises out of the water like a periscope, Madison is quick to devour it, enduring a thorough face-fucking and demonstrating his considerable deep-throating skills. In time, Santoro reciprocates, eagerly wrapping his mouth around Madison's thick, veiny cock with its oversized plum-head and eventually taking it all the way down into his gullet.
The anal action occurs outside the tub and begins as Santoro kneels at his lover's meaty ass and buries his tongue between the twin melons. That segues into a standing doggie fuck with Madison's expressive countenance repeatedly revealing the pleasures of penetrational pain. In time they flip-flop, and Madison slides into Santoro side-saddle on the black-and-white checkerboard floor. He is a steady fucker with a preference for long, deep, slow strokes, and it is in this position that they both come. Santoro releases plumes of spooge all over his pubes, and Madison sprays off a shower of iridescent droplets that sparkle across his own belly like a field of diamonds. A tender kiss ends both the scene and the film.
One of the most underrated directors in the adult industry, Derek Kent here demonstrates once again his mastery of the erotic, narrative and cinematic aspects of film, and in this production of Flesh is ably abetted by nine talented young studs, three of whom -- DeNiro, Alexander and Crew - all take a giant step toward stardom.
- Jerry Douglas
