This film manages to do a rare thing; we get treated to some great sex scenes, and the story surrounding the sex actually verges on intelligent! Director Stephen Sayadian's art house erotica may struggle to find an audience; art house fans will probably find it too trashy, while porn fans may find it too arty; but for anyone who likes something a bit different; Cafe Flesh is a definite must see. The film's back-story focuses on a nuclear war that has had a bizarre effect on the surviving citizens. The remaining population has been split into two halves; the sex negatives who become nauseous if they engage in sex, and the sex positives; who remain normal. We focus on Cafe Flesh; a club where sex negatives go to watch the sex positives perform various sex acts on stage. We follow a small group of sex negatives inside the club. The club has been elevated by the news of the forthcoming arrival of the famous sex positive Johnny Rico, while one of the negatives begins to question her status as her and her boyfriend grow further apart from one another.
The thing I liked about this film most is undoubtedly the atmosphere; director Stephen Sayadian takes care to ensure that the club's atmosphere is as seedy as possible, and while helping the sex scenes; it also helps the film to enforce the dismal vision of the future. The sex scenes themselves are all staged and very diverse, which ensures the film doesn't get lost under too many samey sex scenes. The music used during these scenes is a real highlight and arguably even makes the film. The film doesn't really seem to have a particular point to make; and while the sex scenes are just the acts on stage, I do think that they are the main point of the film. The storyline between some of the main characters is decent, however, and the film does actually make the audience care about what happens. The ending does seem to be rather rushed, however, and really reinforces that the film doesn't have a particular point to make. However, this film is still undoubtedly one of the best porn films out there and it's definitely worth a look. Recommended.
