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Released by: Vinegar Syndrome
Released on: January 31st, 2017.
Director: Fred Lincoln, Sharon Mitchell
Cast: Seka, Paul Thomas, Lori Blue, Mai Lin, Don Fernando, Jon Martin, Lysa Thatcher, China Leigh, Billy Dee, Diana Holt
Year: 1980
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The Movie:
A Place Beyond Shame opens with a scene where Seka, playing herself basically, is on the couch with her boyfriend. They start fooling around but it soon becomes obvious that she's just not in the mood - apparently a common problem these days (and a career detriment to any aspiring porn star!). In order to get some help for her hang ups, Seka visits with a psychiatrist named Michael (played by, who else, Paul Thomas - porn's go to guy to play shrinks, it would seem). He pledges to put her in touch with her inner most thoughts and desires and to get her back to the land of the sexy.
As she takes the time to set things right, her boyfriend is getting some on the side with friend Diana (Lori Blue). Seka's therapy seems to involve looking at "sexy objects" such as strange sculpted butts and cocks, and then going under hypnosis at which point we journey inside her head and experience some sexual memories and/or fantasies. We see two Asian lesbians (China Leigh and Mai Lin) go at it, at we see it turn into a three way when a guy (Billy Dee) shows up and joins in. From there, for reasons never really explained, we head to the Russia of the past where a man in Cossack garb (Aaron Stuart) gets it on with a sportingly lot peasant girl (Diana Holt). Later, Lisa Thatcher opens up her back door for Jesse Adams in another well shot sequence. After that, there's a three way with Veri Knotty, Blair Harris and Mike Horner.
Of course, as Seka makes progress, Michael can't help but notice how horny she is. He drops his pants and they go at it. Now completely reawakened to the world of carnality, Seka has a three way of her own with Lori Blue and R.J. Reynolds before, you guessed it, trying quite successfully to let her man know how much she's changed and how much she wants him.
This isn't particularly deep but it is quite well done. Seka looks fantastic here, her platinum locks framing her genuinely pretty face nicely. Lincoln and Mitchell put her through the paces too, if not in the first part of the movie most definitely in the last part where she dominates the film. The sex scenes that lead up to Seka taking over are also well done and plenty hot. There was some obvious care put into the lighting and the framing here and all of that helps to create an interesting atmosphere for the poking and porking to play out in. Fantasy blends with reality as we trip through Seka's head and the co-directors use this framing device well.
Aside from Seka, we get impressive work from Lori Blue and Diana Holt (who really should be a bigger name in vintage porn circles than she is). The movie plays to a few kinks with the Asian lesbian scene, the anal, the three way action and the biker fantasy scene but it never goes so far as to alienate. This straddles the line between vanilla and kink quite nicely, actually. Add to that some impressive camera work, a catchy score and solid supporting work from the rest of the cast and this turns out to be top notch dirty movie entertainment.
Video/Audio/Extras:
A Place Beyond Shame arrives on DVD from Vinegar Syndrome in a new 2k scan from the original 35mm negative framed at 1.85.1 anamorphic widescreen. Colors look excellent here and detail is quite strong. Skin tones look nice and lifelike and black levels are strong. The image is typically quite clean, there are only a few minor specks throughout and a couple of scratches evident in the first few minutes. Overall the movie looks great, fans should be quite pleased.
The English language Dolby Digital Mono sound mix, the only one available on the disc, sounds fine. You might notice the occasional pop in the mix if you're listening for it but aside from that the levels are properly balanced, dialogue is easy to understand and the score and sound effects are mixed in effectively enough. There are no subtitles provided on this DVD.
Outside of a trailer, a menu and chapter selection there are no extras on this disc.
The Final Word:
A Place Beyond Shame is really well done. Of course, it helps if you're a Seka fan but even if the platinum princess of porn doesn't rate on your favorites list there's enough variety of talent in front of the camera that this should float most boats. Vinegar Syndrome's DVD release is light on extras but it does look and sound quite good. This is one worth checking out.
