Roulette

Perhaps it was an omen, but the first thing Roulette did was cause my computer to crash. My computer is used to gonzo, after all. Undaunted, I rebooted and continued on, quite curious to see how I liked this film.

I will preface all by saying that queer porn is not my typical viewing choice, nor is porn with people who fall into the category of 'alt' or 'natural', so for me, Roulette was a new experience. Comprised of several moderate length scenes, Roulette is very different in style and content; its style has a softer edge, more personal and intimate settings, shorter scenes, basic sets, and nothing hetero about it at all. Let me give you a blow by blow…

The first scenes is “Bring Back Art,” and features Ceci Dolores and Kenji. A female-on-female scene sparked by cute butch Kenji becoming bored with attractive femme Ceci’s endless indecision over what outfit to wear evolves to the two of them having sex—oral, strap on, and manual—on a pile of clothes on the floor. While the somewhat cooler-than-thou soundtrack sort of got on my nerves, these two women absolutely looked like they were enjoying themselves and the sexual pleasure taken and given seemed genuine. I can usually spot when someone is faking, and Ceci seemed to enjoy every bit of attention Kenji paid to her.

There was also a romantic feel to the scene, with a lot of kissing, caressing, and eye contact—things one does not generally find in mainstream “wham, bam, thank you ma’am” sorts of porn. Both performers smile a lot too. It was very pretty scene, and for some reason, Kenji’s grin is infectious. She looks like she's up to something, and I think that's rather cute.

The second scene, "Cyd," opens with a very young—and I mean teenage-looking young—athlete sneaking into a locker room. This person was the punk rock androgynous Cyd. She proceeds to snoop around and picks one locker to really go through. She fondles some shorts, gives them a sniff, and tries on an athletic cup before finding a snazzy dildo—I mean really snazzy, as in I need one of those—and some lube. (Shoot, I thought I was the only one who kept that sort of thing at the gym!) Cyd gets so worked up she begins to masturbate, one hand on the strap on she has in her boxers and the other inside them. Cyd then puts the stolen locker dildo to use (wooo, naughty), smelling, licking, and sucking on it first.

While Cyd has some really cool ink and the graffiti on the locker room chalk board had me giggling, I found it about as exciting as watching paint dry. Cyd looks to be having fun, but I found myself waiting for it to be over so as to move on to the next one, which is a music video.

You know, when I'm watching porn, a music video is not something I expect to see. Throwing a music video into the middle of a porno, even an alt queer porno, seems a bit pretentious to me. It smacks of screaming, “See how cool and different we are? See! See!” It just really rubbed me the wrong way. I can’t say I cared for the song either.

Next up we have Walter Crasshole and Nikolaj, who are described as “two fags in love drinking 40’s and fucking on rooftop.” Sure enough, this scene has two somewhat pretty, thin, punk rock guys going at it on a roof: oral, analingus, and anal (yay, condom use!). Once again there is a very sensual, romantic, and fun feel to this scene. There is lots of kissing, caressing, and smiling (as if screwing on a gravel rooftop—even with a blanket—could be comfortable!), and Walter and Nikolaj look like they are having a very good time. This is one of the more close-up and graphic scenes, and the pair get into some interesting positions, which I rather liked actually, and if this were my thing, I suspect I would think this scene was hot in a cute, sweet, and not so in-your-face way.

Then came another music video of White girls in very bright outfits rapping. I had a brief moment wondering if I was watching an '80s flashback on MTV. Fortunately the song ends and the nostalgia passes.

In "Dia," a fit, attractive blonde playing a black clad cat burglar in impractical breaking-and-entering heels proceeds to the fridge to get some milk, which she pours all over herself while masturbating. Aside from the music, this scene didn't seem all that out of the ordinary, just another hot gal up to things other than cookin’ in a kitchen, which is a mainstay in mainstream porn, right down to her ripping off her fishnets then rolling around on and licking the floor. She does smoke a Camel Light at the end, which made me grin.

A rather REM-esque, low budget music video follows, and then we move on to "Gangbang," which starts with cute butch going at it with cute femme on a bar, and proceeds when two other butch gals playing pool join in. There is oral, fingering, vaginal penetration, light bondage, and well, things one might expect to see in a gangbang, no matter who the participants are. This scene, like the one with Walter and Nikolaj, is more graphic, up close, and in-your-face. It is also rougher and more reminiscent of typical porn, and was also my favorite scene. Truthfully, it was the only one I found arousing, and they made excellent use of a pool table.

Roulette comes to an end with Courtney Trouble’s "Red Light Special," where a woman masturbates to music, and a short scene featuring what appears to be real-life girlfriends having some strap on fun on a sofa. While there are performers in Roulette are of various sizes, ethnicities, and personal styles, the majority of them would be considered conventionally attractive. Breast implants and bleached blonde hair may have been traded for tattoos and piercings, but by and large, the women here are slim, attractive, shave their pubic regions, and look a lot like many women in non-queer porn.

Overall, Roulette was fun because the people performing in it appeared to be having a great time—and that is a very good thing—and more than passing attention is paid to the full scope of a woman’s anatomy. Although this is not my general taste in porn, I found one of the scenes very hot, and I suspect that other people—those looking for porn that is organic, features people who seem to be into each other, and has a more erotic, romantic, and even silly feel to it—would find the whole thing very compelling.

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