I invented the nonexistent genre Jazz Porn to cover those porn films where a jazz soundtrack (usually but not always pirated music) is the dominant contrast, given the dullness of the visuals (which should have commanded center stage). HIGH SCHOOL REUNION, its title sounding like Disney crap, is such a beastie.
The high-concept, or 1-joke premise, is that five girls meet in advance of their five-year h.s. reunion, and each one lies about her life status since graduation, instantly cuing a flashback contradicting her b.s. with cold, hard (and porno) reality. This rather tedious and repetitive approach smacks of the later style of Peter Greenaway, but is poles apart intellectually.
The varied jazz tracks come into play to accompany the XXX sex scenes, and the music is cranked up real loud, sometimes drowning out the dialog.
Girl #1 tells her friend she's a fashion designer; instead we see she's a hooker servicing John Seeman -porn cinema's shorthand for "we're in San Francisco". Jazz is eclectic already: a sax version of "If Ever I Would Leave You", a Latin arrangement stealing the chords from Coltrane's "A Love Supreme" and then Brubeck's classic "Blue Rondo a la Turk".
Third lady arrives and mentions her happy marriage; instead we see her seduce a delivery boy. Disappointing muzak starts this vignette but eventually jazz returns, and the punch line of the kid turning to the camera to indicate that this is the third (MILF) to seduce him today is pretty corny.
Next girl also claims to be a married housewife, and we get a loop as flashback. It's Jonathan Younger dressed in a safari outfit (Great Black Hunter?) in a tent, and she services him. Pointless segment is an excuse for mixed-combo action, and has a strong drum solo, which turns out to be rock rather than jazz when the electric band comes in at the end.
Next girl wearing glasses claims "I'm taking higher mathematics", and flashback has her in lesbian action with a girl wearing pigtails. She's tutoring the youngster, who has a shaved pussy and is clearly jail-bait. Classical guitar offers a nice contrast here.
Finale features a toothy lass who in flashback is raped by Ken Scudder as an intruder with a stocking over his head. Making the scene kinky, he's also wearing pantyhose instead of Calvin Kleins. To fool me, hard rock is playing, but suddenly switches to a pirating of one of my all-time favorites: Coltrane's Ole! recorded 55 years ago! Dominated by McCoy Tyner's rhythmic piano we hear solos of the familiar Trane's soprano sax, Eric Dolphy's flute and especially impressive Art Davis & Reggie Workman's bass duet. Track plays over 10 minutes and makes the boring sex on screen superfluous. Irony is that DVD distributor AHC likes to remove the soundtrack (and ruin the film) for its porn reissues, but left Coltrane intact out of extreme ignorance, thank God!
Punchline is stupid (and predictable) with the oddball arrival of a character (played by porn comedienne Rose Bush) named Emma Peel, a tribute to THE AVENGERS (the real one for British TV, not the dumb Marvel thing).
That's enough of this review - I've already given far more thought to REUNION than its creators ever did.
The high-concept, or 1-joke premise, is that five girls meet in advance of their five-year h.s. reunion, and each one lies about her life status since graduation, instantly cuing a flashback contradicting her b.s. with cold, hard (and porno) reality. This rather tedious and repetitive approach smacks of the later style of Peter Greenaway, but is poles apart intellectually.
The varied jazz tracks come into play to accompany the XXX sex scenes, and the music is cranked up real loud, sometimes drowning out the dialog.
Girl #1 tells her friend she's a fashion designer; instead we see she's a hooker servicing John Seeman -porn cinema's shorthand for "we're in San Francisco". Jazz is eclectic already: a sax version of "If Ever I Would Leave You", a Latin arrangement stealing the chords from Coltrane's "A Love Supreme" and then Brubeck's classic "Blue Rondo a la Turk".
Third lady arrives and mentions her happy marriage; instead we see her seduce a delivery boy. Disappointing muzak starts this vignette but eventually jazz returns, and the punch line of the kid turning to the camera to indicate that this is the third (MILF) to seduce him today is pretty corny.
Next girl also claims to be a married housewife, and we get a loop as flashback. It's Jonathan Younger dressed in a safari outfit (Great Black Hunter?) in a tent, and she services him. Pointless segment is an excuse for mixed-combo action, and has a strong drum solo, which turns out to be rock rather than jazz when the electric band comes in at the end.
Next girl wearing glasses claims "I'm taking higher mathematics", and flashback has her in lesbian action with a girl wearing pigtails. She's tutoring the youngster, who has a shaved pussy and is clearly jail-bait. Classical guitar offers a nice contrast here.
Finale features a toothy lass who in flashback is raped by Ken Scudder as an intruder with a stocking over his head. Making the scene kinky, he's also wearing pantyhose instead of Calvin Kleins. To fool me, hard rock is playing, but suddenly switches to a pirating of one of my all-time favorites: Coltrane's Ole! recorded 55 years ago! Dominated by McCoy Tyner's rhythmic piano we hear solos of the familiar Trane's soprano sax, Eric Dolphy's flute and especially impressive Art Davis & Reggie Workman's bass duet. Track plays over 10 minutes and makes the boring sex on screen superfluous. Irony is that DVD distributor AHC likes to remove the soundtrack (and ruin the film) for its porn reissues, but left Coltrane intact out of extreme ignorance, thank God!
Punchline is stupid (and predictable) with the oddball arrival of a character (played by porn comedienne Rose Bush) named Emma Peel, a tribute to THE AVENGERS (the real one for British TV, not the dumb Marvel thing).
That's enough of this review - I've already given far more thought to REUNION than its creators ever did.