Filmed two years ago with star Kimberly Kane in the director’s chair, Vivid Premium’s taboo film noir Family Secrets has finally hit the streets. Kane stars Detective Jean Carver, the Olivia Benson to Detective Jim Valentine’s (Steven St. Croix’s) Elliot Stabler, with the added tension of an illicit sexual affair. When Detective Valentine’s step-daughter Vicky (Penny Pax) is found stabbed to death on a San Francisco beach, Carver takes up the case. In a spotlit interrogation room, she grills Vicky’s friends to piece together the series of (very sexy) events that led to the young woman’s death. Kane proves herself to be a masterful porno storyteller, keeping the action and the dialogue moving at a quick pace, and allowing the movie to clock in at a mercifully short 124 minutes. She quickly establishes the personas and motivations of her cast of characters, helped along by performers who can confidently deliver a line. The sex is the real star of the show here, with each fuck feeling entirely different from the next, yet still meshing with the overall moody tone of the flick.
Scene 1 – Kimberly Kane and Steven St. Croix
Family Secrets opens with an artfully shot sequence showing a joyful Penny Pax dancing barefoot on a moonlit beach before she is approached by the hooded figure who ultimately ends her life. It’s a tactful bit of storytelling that immediately involves the viewer before we jump right into my favorite part, the fucking. Director Kimberly Kane’s sex scene with Steven St. Croix opens with the characters mid-fuck. It’s a surprisingly non-porno porn scene, wherein the detectives don’t open up for the camera much (save for some reverse cowgirl), instead opting to bang in pretty naturalistic positions. It’s a scene that curiously alternates between intimate eye contact (hot) and animalistic, almost hateful fucking, such as well Jim Valentine pins down Jean Carver’s head with a pillow and growls, “I don’t want to see your fucking face.” It works well and helps to establish the fraught relationship between the two crime solving partners, one of whom is married. After a post-coital cigarette and terse conversation, Jim returns home to his wife, played by Kylie Ireland, only to meet up with Jean again at the scene of his step-daughter’s murder. On working with Kane, Steven St. Croix had this to say:
“I was excited to work alongside Kimberly and [director of photography] Eli Cross as she definitely has ideas and a vision that isn’t standard porn fare. And knowing Eli could capture that made me confident this wouldn’t be a waste of my time. The story was a challenge for me as I had to have a connection with a daughter ( I have no children in real life) and to be able to play that loss in the scene where I discover her at the crime scene. In the end, I felt we made a real strong effort at creating an engaging story for viewers looking for a bit of sophistication in adult releases.”
Scene 2 – Claire Robbins and Princess Donna
After the discovery of Vicky Valentine’s body, Jean is on the hunt for the killer. The first suspect brought into Detective Carver’s interrogation room is Donna Huntington (Claire Robbins), a friend of Vicky and one of the last people to see her alive. Her moodiness contrasts sharply with Vicky’s joyful exuberance, especially as she fends off unwanted hetero advances from Jesse Valentine (Danny Wylde) and Ricky Sweeney (Richie Calhoun.) Her savior comes in the form the Mystery Woman (Princess Donna) who leads her quarry into the bathroom for some blistering femdom lesbian fucking. Princess Donna is a legend of kink, and I was thrilled to finally be able to see her in action. She takes incredible control of Claire, alternately spanking her round, panty-clad ass and servicing her pussy. Claire wrote to us about her experience on set:
“Working under Kimberly Kane’s direction was really amazing. It was great being able to see her able to bring her vision to life. I really appreciate her moody aesthetic. My scene with Donna is actually one of my favorites! Kimberly told us generally what she was looking for and we were really able to go wild. I’m so excited that I can finally see the full feature.”
Princess Donna added, “I’ve always thought Kimberly was one of the coolest people in porn. I was thrilled to work with her…I’ve directed Kimberly a handful of times, and always had a crush on her. It was an honor to be a performer on her set and have the roles reversed! Claire is a gem. I absolutely love working with her!”
Scene 3 – Penny Pax and Tommy Pistol
After Donna Huntington’s story check out, Detective Carver brings in Rick Sweeney, Vicky’s artist boyfriend. When Vicky wanders off to that moonlit beach with a drifter named Vinnie (Tommy Pistol), Rick finds himself in possession of Vicky’s locket necklace, which isn’t so easy to explain away to Carver. Vicky and Vinnie then head to Vinnie’s seedy room, set with a mattress on the floor, bare light bulbs, and empty beer bottles. What follows is the most porno scene yet. Penny Pax’s body and puffy pussy are practically made to be devoured, and Tommy Pistol animalistically sucks her tits and eats her pussy while she jerks his cock with her feet. She whimpers the whole way through as they fuck the shit out of each other in that seedy bedroom.
Scene 4 – Penny Pax, Richie Calhoun, and Danny Wylde
Unfortunately for Rick, Detective Carver smells bullshit when he tries to pin Vicky Valentine’s murder on Vinnie the drifter, so she brings in Vicky’s step-brother, Jesse Valentine. This troubled young man with the disaffected monotone tells his version of events, which oddly doesn’t match up with Ricky’s. After Vicky kisses him to goad Ricky, the two leave him and he wanders off to his car. Detective Carver asserts that the kiss went further that night, and that Vicky’s relationship with Jesse became much more than sibling-like that night. The sex scene that follows shows a dirty threesome between the two step-siblings and Ricky in the nightclub, their bodies lit with lurid green and purple neon lights. Amid sloppy blowjobs and eager double penetration, the boys are completely enamored with Pax, and she’s deep in her element as she gives a standout performance. On working with Kimberly and Penny, Danny Wylde said:
“Shooting for Kimberly Kane is always a great time. She seems to dance at the edge of what’s acceptable, even by porn standards. This movie, in particular, has a pretty fucked up narrative. And I got to play an asshole, which is perhaps more fun than my typical ‘school boy’ porn performance. Plus, I fucked Penny Pax. She’s really good at fucking, so I can’t imagine that our scene is anything but hot.”
So, who killed Vicky Valentine? I won’t tell you. But if you want to know, you’ll only have to watch one of the best plot driven pornos I’ve seen in a while. With Kimberly Kane at the helm, Family Secrets tells a tight, uncomfortable story that looks and sounds great, featuring some of the best acting that you can find in porn. Above it all, Kane never loses sight of the fact that, when it comes down to it, it’s the fucking that matters here, and uses insanely hot sexual scenarios to drive her story. I’d name Family Secrets one of the best skin flicks of 2015, and I suggest that you don’t miss it.
Watch Family Secrets on HotMoviesForHer today.
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Judy Hologram would like to thank Claire, Donna, Steven, and Danny for being some of the least flaky porn stars she’s ever had the pleasure of emailing. You can follow her on twitter @JudyHologram and the rest of the girl gang at @HotMoviesForHer.
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