Broken
Studio: Teravision
Director: Dave Navarro
Stars: Jenna Haze, Mark Davis, Kayla Paige, Victoria Sin, Tommy Gunn, Lisa Daniels, Spyder Jonez, Marco Banderas, Sasha Grey, Audrey Bitoni

As I have said in other posts, one of the perks of this job is I can pick what I want to review. I try and be fair, vary it, but I won’t deny my personal favorites. One of those is Sasha Grey. I just think a) she is drop dead gorgeous and b) she does pretty interesting projects. I also like the fact she has crossed over a little into mainstream, while not fitting or succumbing to the clichéd pornstar role. It’s probably good for everyone. So after a rash of just bad porn (not just bad to me, but bad period) I decided to reach back into the sure and steady bin and pull out a Teravision release starring Ms. Grey.

One of the films she did back in 2008 was with rockstar turned part-time porn director Dave Navarro. Navarro’s directorial debut ended up winning an AVN for Best High End All-Sex Release. With the Jane’s Addiction guitarist at the helm it is no surprise the final product was not cookie cutter Porn Valley, which made it interesting to watch and difficult to review. I would much prefer this dilemma than having to review the same old smut.

One of the interesting parts of the film is that there are technically only three scenes. Granted the second scene is fluid and features several groups of couples having sex, there are only three distinguished scenes clocking in at around 75 minutes.

The film begins with a twisted vibe. Better yet, “broken.” We find Sasha on the bathroom floor alternating between crying and sobbing, while giving herself a good finger fucking. This is going to be dirty, but with Sasha one would expect nothing different. The music is almost operatic rock which fits and the shots vary, between angles, types, treatment and editing. This lasts only a few minutes and probably doesn’t qualify as a scene, but gives a little background and sets the tone for what is to come.

The first bona fied scene is between Sasha and her boyfriend, Mark Davis. It is shot in a monochrome color and is certainly on the rough side. And for some inexplicable reason, the scene is dubbed in Italian. Face and pussy slapping, choking, etc. The music also seems appropriate (I mean, this is the former guitarist of Jane’s Addiction and Red Hot Chili Peppers so we would expect nothing less…) and the volume is perfect, not competing with the moaning or gagging from Grey’s infamous deepthroating blowjob abilities. One thing about Sasha that I like is her bush. It’s somewhere between hairy and trimmed, which is a big turn on. Watching her get fucked doggystyle while she moans, “I want it to hurt” is also a big turn on. From there he lifts her off the ground by her neck and they continue the fucking, first CG and then on a footrest with Sasha’s legs pinned back. This is where it gets pretty rough. First Davis tries to force his hand in her mouth, they take turns spitting on each other and Sasha gets her face slapped while Mark pins her down by the throat. This isn’t your mother’s porn. (Or hopefully not.) Each position lasts under a minute and they run though more oral and some spooning position before he busts in her mouth. This is when things get pretty edgy. Sasha goes into the bathroom where she spits Mark’s cum into a syringe, draws it into a needle, ties off, and… we are left to assume what happens next.

What happens immediately next is a schizophrenic montage. It is a visual rollercoaster something along the lines of Mtv meets Requiem For a Dream. Remember, this is being directed by Dave Navarro…

The next scene is going to be difficult to translate. I often do a rough play by play, blow by blow, of the action taking place, but in a scene like this that isn’t too possible. Or at least fun to read. At the same time it isn’t just a frenzied fuck free for all. There’s some interesting things being done, directorially and match-up-wise that should definitely be noted.

The scene offers with Tommy Gunn delivering pizzas to Jenna Haze. (I know, I know… I address this later.) While that idea isn’t the best, what is great is how the scene goes into foreplay fast-forward speed until Jenna has Tommy’s dick in her mouth. We barely get a chance to see this before the shot pulls back to reveal the soundstage where the action is taking place, seeing various sets on the stage, almost getting a BTS during the movie. It straddles the line of feature film and documentary film. Sasha goes from overlooking the action from above, to jumping Marco Banderas’ bone as he films her POV style, while Jenna and Tommy are fucking simultaneously in the background off camera. It has this whole oddly scripted/unscripted feel. And while all this is going on, on a different part of the set we get introduced to Victoria Sin getting plowed by Spyder Jonez (Biohazard bassist Evan Seinfeld). Victoria turns in the typical over-acted and over-vocalized performance of the film and while some people seemed to have problems with Spyder’s excessive tattoos, this did not present any problem for me. The final pairing of the scene features Kayla Paige and Lisa Daniels. What happens for the remainder of the shoot is an alternating of couples as well as shots of Navarro in front of/behind the scenes directing, orchestrating and keeping a watchful eye on several scenes at once. Seeing Navarro watch Sasha blowing Marco and having the footage of what the main camera and Marco’s POV camera edited together was definitely cool. After Marco blows his load Sasha takes directorial direction from Navarro and joins the Jenna and Tommy scene. In each independent scene, Navarro directs Sasha with words and Sasha takes the words and conveys Dave’s vision with her own hands-on style. From there Sasha takes over, screaming out the orders as she brutally coaches Jenna through a face fucking. Then Sasha saunters over for more suggestions from Navarro before heading to Victoria and Spyder. More aggressive coaching from Grey as Navarro watches in. But the highlight is undoubtedly Sasha gripping Jenna by the hair, forcing her down deepthroat on Spyder’s cock while Sasha does the slowest 13 second count imaginable. Her work here done, Sasha heads for another brief, quiet convo with Dave. Sasha joins the ladies, Kayla Paige and Lisa Daniels, to finish off that scene. Whew. It took me a minute to really be able to sort out the rhythm of this scene. Figuring out that helped. There’s plenty of fucking, but Sasha basically assists in nothing but helping the girls sucking duties. In fact, her ass and pussy aren’t even touched in this scene. If I was just looking for straight cannon fodder material, the chaotic nature of this scene would probably frustrate me.

Audrey Bitoni and Marco Banderas star in the last scene of the film. The colors in the makeup room are muted and almost overexposed monochrome used in the first scene, and with no set-up we go straight into Marco munching Audrey’s little box. Watching one of the prettiest faces in the business today take on Marco’s man-hammer was as erotic as you imagine it would be. When Audrey stands to take it from behind, she does a great job of fucking Marco. Watching her move her hips, doing the work to massage his cock in and out of her, is really hot. The action continues RCG and mish before Marco cums all over a mirror. Audrey being the naughty girl she is licks the load up, while using the mirror to stare back into the camera…

But the film’s not over. Sasha heads back to the apartment to renegotiate the terms of her relationship with  Mark Davis. By renegotiate we mean put him on the business end of a shotgun and force him to put a condom on the end of the shotty. When she forces him to bend over the scene begins to head in a new direction, and suddenly Navarro is jumping in from off camera before we hear the gunshot and the screen cuts to black. As throughout the film it’s an interesting mix between what is supposed to be reality and what is supposed to be scripted, with no explanation of who, what, when, where, why or how. The formula is a little offsetting, while at the same time refreshing to have something done outside of a tried, tested and sometimes true recipe for porn.

I have talked to others about their thoughts on the film and it ranges from very good and envelope pushing all the way to subpar. People’s opinions are all over the map. I thought the things they did well they did really well, which only highlights the things I didn’t seem to care for. Each scene’s music is perfect, and doesn’t overshadow or distract from the action, instead it compliments it. The editing in each scene is pretty good too. There are some abrupt changes in each scene but again, nothing too distracting. Same could be said of the artistic elements added into each scene. It’s a touch music video (which is appropriate) but doesn’t seem like a music video trying to be porn or a porn trying to be a music video. The pizza delivery guy thing irked me. In a film that is edgy and un-cliché, why would you use one of the silliest clichés/fantasies of all time? The narrative is a little on the weak side, but who is watching porn for its narrative? The middle scene takes up a chunk of time, but through the movie as a whole, the time each couple gets is shorter than the industry standard. But it didn’t seem short or rushed. I didn’t feel like I was getting robbed. Instead I felt like thank god I don’t have to watch seven minutes of the same position. I got the visual, watched some fucking, and on to the next. Maybe it’s my personality and it will surely rub some the wrong way but for me and my short attention span it worked.

So in the end I thought the film was a big success. Perfect? No. But definitely enjoyable. Definitely offered up some different possibilities. I doubt any of it will become the standard or industry norm, but I am ok with that. This was supposed to be the first of a series Teravision produced in their Celebrity Series. I have yet to find another, which is a shame because they were off to a really great start.

Watch Broken right now, at HotMovies.com.