East Side Story is an alternative style porn that features one of my favorite alt. porn stars, Dana DeArmond. She was the reason I chose this movie to review as I haven't seen anything with her in it that I didn't enjoy. I also haven't seen anything from Vivid Alt. that I didn't like, so I was excited to get this movie. Quoting the back cover, " This is about real people and real stories that define them sexually, an eclectic group of porn performers. They tell tales on camera, then fuck as part of a series of art installations, handcrafted by visionary director Vena Virago." Okay, so what I expected from this was something like the Chemistry series where they do interviews and you get to know the performers a little bit. The whole "art installations" bit is confusing, but I expected it to be something cool and different.


Sadly, this movie did not live up to my expectations on three levels. The first being what it says on the cover about it being artsy. Seriously, the only thing that I can think of that made it "artsy" was the sets were sometimes brightly colored and there were some art pieces in the back ground. Also, there were paper streamers on the beds at times. Yeah, you read that right... PAPER streamers like what you hang up at a kids birthday party. WEIRD and not what I think of as artsy. I don't know, I'm not an expert on what constitutes artsy in a porno, and maybe I just don't get it.

Second, while the actors were mostly hot and still more "realistic" looking to me than average porn stars, I didn't get turned on by them as much as with other Vivid Alt. movies. I realize that this could just be my mood as of late, but I honestly didn't feel any chemistry between the performers. I guess I have come to expect a lot from Vivid Alt. The others that I have seen were all edgy and "real" and the sex scenes felt like you were watching real couples have sex. This was not true in this case. As far as the lack of cheesy music and alternative looking actors, this DVD delivered. If that is how Vivid Alt. defines themselves, then this movie was no different than the others. I just found something lacking with this one. In the other movies, the long scenes kept me interested and turned on throughout. On this one, I found myself bored, like REALLY bored and wanting to fast forward. Like I said, this could just be me, but my man felt the same way. He said, "wow... this one is NOT like the others at all. Do we have to watch this WHOLE thing?" I turned it off and finished by myself later, though it was hard to do so. The interviews were boring, not at all like what I expected form watching the Chemistry series. Although it did give you some insight on why they each got into porn, they didn't really help set up the scenes or make you feel like you knew them.


Third thing that didn't live up to expectations, Dana DeArmand. She is by far our favorite Alt. porn star. She is so full of personality that every scene we have seen her in has left us liking her more and wanting to see more of her. I wanted this movie because of her. She can usually pull off anything. Even she looked bored in this movie, like she was just doing her job. I thought that at the very least we could enjoy this movie for her scenes alone, but this was not the case.

The total running time on this DVD is 1 hour and 49 minutes. There are 5 scenes total, so this should tell you just how LONG each scene was with the interviews with the 9 actors only being about 5 minutes each. I guess the scenes aren't too much longer than average, but with nothing exciting going on, they just felt too drawn out to me. There is a bonus disc that has a behind the scenes documentary and some deleted scenes. It also has a short film with a magician, a live chicken, and Dana DeArmand, that was quite interesting and mildly entertaining. Weird, but makes the bonus DVD worth watching. There is also an included CD soundtrack as with all the other Vivid ALT. movies I have gotten.

I had such a hard time with this review. I realize that maybe my expectations of this movie may have caused my negative reactions. However, I am usually good about taking things on their own, aside from my preconceived notions about what I think it should be. I'm the type of person who can watch a remake of my favorite Horror movie and like it on its own without comparing it to the classic original. This movie was just disappointing. I struggled with even wanting to start this review because I kept second guessing myself and my reactions. So I decided to watch this one more time, with an open mind and try to take it for what it was. The bottom line: I just didn't enjoy it. There was nothing different or exciting. Pretty standard porno sex, same boring positions, and no chemistry between the couples just made it seem like all other main stream porn. That is to say, it at no time made you forget you were watching porn. I didn't believe for a second that these people were actually enjoying what they were doing.

The only scene in the movie I actually enjoyed was the girl girl scene. One of the women had a mohawk, which was interesting and at least they used some toys. The blond she was with was a bit annoying though and honestly it was like the other scenes where I didn't feel any chemistry there. It was actually a little awkward and took me back to a time where I got bored with porn and found myself using the positions menu just to see enough to get off. Maybe I am just jaded. People who haven't seen a lot of Alt. porn may enjoy this one. You get a bonus DVD with over 80 minutes of extras and a CD, so it is worth it for the price if you just want to see something a bit different from regular porn. It does have one girl girl scene, but the rest are male female and no group scenes. There is all the standard positions, oral, anal, doggy, etc. However, if you are looking for some kink or hard core gonzo, or something far outside the realm of standard porn sex you should try something else.

I have tried a few more times to watch this, once with my partner, and it just isn't doing anything for us. Maybe we are just spoiled by all of the good porn we have seen lately, so this just isn't going to cut it for us. That is how things go, I guess. Had this been the FIRST Vivid Alt. movie I had seen, then I possibly could have gotten more out of it. Porn can be very subjective, so maybe some one will like it and like it a lot. All I can say is that this is the first porn where my favorite porn star couldn't even save it for me.