Movie Talk: Pride (2024)

I thought I would try something a little more recent, and I am not super familiar with Disruptive Films, so I thought I would give Pride a try. Now, this is not a full feature. This is two scenes that have been paired up due to the theme of one of the guys in the scene accepting that he is in to guys. The scenes are directed by Michael Vegas and Siouxsie Q, although they are not credited for their specific scene, so I don't know who directed which, or if they directed both together.

I have limited experience with modern "features". I use quotes, because the nature of how this stuff is distributed means it has to be easily broke in to clips. So you aren't going to see a more fluid narrative all the time. Now, this one does not completely lack narrative, but it is not a 90 minute story. These are separate scenes that are being packaged together. 

The first of two scenes is between Ty Roderick and Dylan Hayes. There is a bit of dialogue to open the scene, establishing that Ty Roderick is newly out of the closet. He and his buddy Dylan Hayes are getting ready to go to Ty's first pride. That gets put on pause as the two men end up falling in to bed with each other. 

Set up is pretty much what I expect for a scene like this. The dialogue is quick and just enough to establish some kind of relationship between the two guys before we watch them hop into bed. The dialogue and acting are fine for what it is, and the guys seem interested in each other. That isn't always a given. Even if it is just acting, both Ty and Dylan sell it. There seems to be a focus on everything feeling closer and more intimate than I am used to seeing in porn. That is appreciated. Like, there is kissing. Do you know how sad it is that I am surprised by kissing between two men in a gay porn scene? 

This scene is the shorter of the two, with less build up and story elements. Those show up in the second scene in the feature. 

The second scene is between Jay Tee and Asher Day. This scene gets a little more plot, as a non-sex character is introduced in the form of Jay Tee's sister. The basic plot is that the two guys are good friends, but Jay's sister, Mandy seems to be picking up on some romantic tension between the two. Mandy is played by Alison Rey. She kind of is the driving force in him thinking about maybe taking things to the next level. 

This one actually impressed me as far as the storytelling goes. It isn't much, but there is a genuine attempt to create a real relationship between the two guys. The acting isn't terrible, and the dialogue is fairly natural. This almost feels like a cute romantic short with a graphic sex scene tacked on to the end. It was sweet! I cannot believe I am calling a porn scene sweet, but I am. It is nice and romantic. I'm used to the hyper masculine gay porn of the 90's where romance was rare. Seeing something that is more about two guys falling into bed with each other because they have feelings for each other? Revolutionary!

This doesn't have the story elements that I normally look for in a feature, but I wanted to give something more recent a shot, to see kind of where the industry is at. As far as gay porn, I'm not unimpressed. While it is for sure made for the internet market, the second scene in particular had a solid set up for the sex. The sex itself was romantic and intimate. The first scene was more of just a porn scene with a little bit of dressing. The second one felt closer to an actual feature. 

Technically these both look great. They are well filmed, well lit. Everything looks top tier. I can't complain there. 

I will say, this does suffer from the problem I have with a lot of modern porn. The sex scenes are way too long. The first scene is probably a good 30 minutes of just fucking. One of the things I appreciated with the older features is that the sex scenes were usually tapping out at around 10 minutes. Better pacing and less of a need to constantly try and fast forward. 

I am glad to see that porn hasn't ditched narrative completely, and I really like what Disruptive Films did with their scenes. Pride is not a feature in the typical sense, but it does do a good job of giving me a more well rounded experience. Will I be covering more modern stuff? Maybe. For this blog I really prefer stuff that is a little more feature structured, but if a title catches my eye I'll check it out. 


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