It is, of course, useless trying to discuss how appealing an erotic film is. Tastes and expectations of a (soft) sex film are too individual to allow for objectivity. Queer View is more interested in the translation of this often undeservedly disregarded genre. So we have fished out our old review of The Chain Reaction, as it fits in with our series of films about sexual chain reactions:

Prague seems to beTHE former East-bloc city to be rediscovered by the West as a metropolis of gay life, as in this 77-minute erotic film, which British distributors Pride Video produced themselves. It was a question of time before the circular, i.e. chain principle of promiscuity should find its way into an erotic film.

Teenager Daniel starts off such a chain when he musters up all his coming-out courage and finds his way into his first gay bar. As it happens, the barman appeals to him. But as he cannot decide among all the young men who are sitting and walking around, he is first taken by a rent-boy in his lunch hour. But right in the middle of things a soldier, obviously a friend of the rent-boy, bursts in and chases Daniel away before having the hustler for himself. The chain has begun, the soldier goes for a boy in leather, who then meets a visitor to the bar. A waiter, a body-building teacher and a photographer are drawn in, then the latter is devoured by the barman and – you guessed it – he is told by Daniel (in his thoughts), "Finish the chain with me!"

The story is accompanied by Daniel's inner voice and starts off with a repeated "Am I, aren't I?" (gay, of course). But as minimalist as the plot is, I was actually glad when Daniel did get his barman in the end. The mere fact that I was able to see people in a film like this as characters, not just sex objects, proves Xavier's directing abilities.

Despite not wanting to show certain erections and types of penetration (unless you have a quick finger and a decent pause function, then you get the former) the viewer has, thanks to Steve Friendly's camerawork the sensation of having seen more than there is to see, and does not have to get annoyed at obvious limits being put on the photography, but can be satisfied that sometimes less is definitely more. In this way the non-inclusion of pornography does not lend the film an aura of prudishness, censorship or incompleteness, but is an exercise in tease: audiences are constantly expecting to see more than they know they will, or have to exercise great patience before seeing what they are about to experience. When, for instance, five successive sit-ups bring two people's lips closer together, but six minutes pass, during which the two (three, to be more accurate) do other things before their lips meet and the sequence ends, the kiss is built up to be something desirable, a climax even, even when in between whiles things were more risqué. A chin, photographed from below, can seem many times more erotic than having the camera focused on the abdomen from the same perspective.

Gentle bites in outstretched necks, the caressing of hard nipples give off a timid sensuality, the use of selected sports equipment sweaty erotica. Even feelings of security are present in some scenes. It is also pleasantly surprising for the viewer to see some actors not having to be constantly cool or horny, but are allowed to laugh with joy, as they lie in each other's arms or look into each other's eyes.

On the innovative visual level one can certainly talk about artistry in The Chain Reaction. Around a dozen effects and tricks are used sparingly, so that there is no room for boredom, as there was in the same distributors' 1992 offering The Disconnected. It is almost no wonder that the usual elevator music has given way to a better class which is oriented to each of the erotic sequences as well as to the film as a whole. The basic theme goes from techno to softly euphoric piano music when coming-outer Daniel finally gets his barman – a scene in which the fidgety early-morning mood after an exciting erotic night is superbly portrayed, when the chairs are already on the tables in the night cafés, the city is still sleeping, bathed in blue. The Chain Reaction – an erotic film, worth being discovered by fans of the genre, even if they don't necessarily go for slim, white 20-year-olds.

Filmdata

Deutsche Version

Sexual Chain Reaction, Part I: Quiet Days in Hollywood
Sexual Chain Reaction, Part II: Eclipse