The Sultan of Soft-Core, Zalman King, strikes again with another souped-up, heavy-breathing arousal escapade cobbled together from three episodes of his "Red Shoe Diaries" cable TV series. Equivalent to a Lion Country Safari ride through Libido Land, this Showtime cable movie released to
home video takes viewers on a guided tour of saucy infidelity, unbridled lust, and thoroughgoing banality.
Presented as responses to a personal ad, three steamily preposterous anecdotes unfold. In "Accidents Happen," zaftig Italian maid Daria (Maria Giulia Cavalli) bemoans the drudgery of keeping house for upscale Zachary (Scott Plank) and Karen Carroll (Ally Sheedy). Only her supercharged daydreams
about the pool boy, Trace (Kenneth A. Johnson), uncork Daria's bottled-up sexuality. She discovers a videotape of the Carrolls' lurid sex life and is inspired to disguise herself in one of Karen's fetish get-ups. Believing that Trace is boffing her from behind, Daria succumbs to Zachary, who
thinks he's indulging his wife's predilection for costumed sex. Karen is at first horrified to learn about the accidental adultery, but she reconciles with Zach and uses the incident as a new fantasy appetizer in their sexual repertoire.
In the second tale, "Auto Erotica," a troubled woman, Claudia (Caitlin Dulany), postpones her wedding rehearsal and laments the staid lifestyle awaiting her. Ripe for seduction, Claudia submits to a dominant stranger (Nick Chinlund) who races his car against hers and commands her to use her
vehicle as a sex substitute on wheels. The third episode, "Jake's Story," examines RED SHOE DIARIES narrator Jake (David Duchovny), who has been living vicariously through the sexual experiences of others ever since his fiancee killed herself. Can sultry photographer Kate (Sheryl Lee) break down
his reserve, particularly by taking him along on a steamy photo shoot? Jake falls under her spell, but Kate reveals she's married and breaks off with a crestfallen Jake, who returns to his habitual voyeurism.
In the RED SHOE DIARIES series, Zalman King has developed a sure-fire fantasy formula for heterosexual stimulation. Using alluring actors as props, sinuous saxophone music in the background, and lots of MTV-style editing techniques to keep the dream machine au courant, King renders a sexual
landscape lodged somewhere between "Twin Peaks" and the Playboy Channel. After four entries, though, the formula is wearing thin: how many shock-cut close-ups of actors reciting portentous dialogue directly to the camera can an audience withstand? Graced with luscious cinematography, this movie is
nonetheless a feast for the eyes: in "Jake's Story," in particular, the smoky night colors create a bewitchingly languorous mood. Of the three tales, "Accidents Happen" works best because it actually parodies the over-the-top RED SHOE DIARIES formula even as it exemplifies it. But each turn-on is
wrapped in the same decorative, visually gimmicky package. With its rapid cutting, blue filters, faux-poetic dialogue, and weird camera angles, the movie suggests the arid fantasies of a sexually repressed film student. (Extensive nudity, profanity.) leave a comment
