Candida Royalle's initial release in her Star Directors series consists of two featurettes, written and directed by herself and by Veronica Hart, and they reflect a creativity, attention to detail and belief in one's art that is in sharp contrast to the vignette porn of recent decades that is ground out as just assembly-line sausage. Hart's "The Pick-Up" dispenses with dialogue, as its stars handle the story in pantomime performances. Via cross-cutting we see Alexis Firestone and newcomer (his film debut) Rugby Rhodes doing their separate ablutions: she masturbating in a bubble bath, he in the shower. They meet on a NYC sidewalk after Alexis, who has gone from a wonderful natural look to glammed up styling as a streetwalker, They go home to his place, pop open (comically under a throw pillow for safety's sake) a bottle of Dom Perignon, he pays her and they have sex on the couch. Surprise ending is elegantly directed by Hart, a wonderful little story. Royalle's contribution is "Nine Lives Hath My Love", starring Jeanna Fine as a true-blue cat lover, whose human lover Randy Paul feels neglected playing second-fiddle to a pair of adorable kitties. It's directed with a light touch and amazing attention to detail, as Jeanna the artist eventually gives Randy a chance by offering to paint him rather than just her cats, and after he models for her they make love. Great plot twist manages to take a dark fantasy turn that is simultaneously fun. In voice-over commentary for DVD release two decades later Candida explains that her own cats were featured here, shot in her Brooklyn apartment (where the cats as actors would feel comfortable).
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