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Imagine

Imagine

Released May 31st, 1991
Running Time 75
Director Michael Craig
Company Las Vegas Video
Cast Peter North, Britt Morgan, Ashley Nicole, Jon Dough, Erica Boyer, Mike Horner, Missy Warner, Randy West, Dusty, Ashlyn Gere, Raven (I)
Critical Rating AAAA
Genre Film

Rating


Reviews

How many times during the day does sex pop into your dirty little mind? When you're picking up the dry cleaning? In the middle of the supermarket? You know, the kind of stuff that happens when you glance at a busboy (or waitress, for you guys in the audience) and picture them sprawled across the linen tablecloth like so much dessert? Unfortunately, in the real world, we probably think more about sex than we have a chance to actually do it. Imagine utilizes this premise to perfection.

Ashlyn Gere is a tight-laced advertising exec who is plagued by sexual fantasies during a hectic day at the office. She glances at Ashley Nicole and Peter North talking, and sees a luscious sampling of fellatio. In the midst of a board meeting, she envisions Erica Boyer and Missy Warner embroiled in a hot 69 on the conference room table while business goes on around them as usual. Raven takes on T.T. Boy on a kitchen set. And so it goes on...

With her hair pinned up in a bun, the gorgeous Gere is reminiscent of Samantha Fox and all those repressed vixens she played so well throughout her career. Not only is Gere flawlessly beautiful, but here, as she's done so many times before, she proves herself as a competent actress with depth, a smoldering sensuality and expressive brown eyes which invite the viewer to melt into.

Gere's photographer/husband/business partner is played by Randy West, in a non-sex role. She's busy and sometimes bitchy while he's always ready to play. West fears that their marriage has become "one long missionary position with the light off." He claims she has no imagination, but when the lights go on in the moist crevices of her mind, a fire is likely to start. Each and every sex scene is memorable, beautifully executed, drafted and filmed.

The soundstage constructed to recreate various sections of an office serves as a fine backdrop for the action. Even though there are no sequences shot outdoors, the feel isn't claustrophobic. The editing is fast and extremely effective with numerous quick cuts to show Gere watching her own fantasies in amazement. The warmth and depth of erotica shot of film is beyond comparison to videotape. This is where sex truly resembles art.

Case in point: Gere conjuring up an encounter with hard-to-please client Jon Dough who is looking for the perfect spokesmodel. When he orders Gere to "make me hard... without touching me," she responds, "I don't know how." But he proceeds to tell her with slow, deliberate instructions. Even the tiniest details are considered. For example, Gere has short sensible fingernails painted mauve; no red daggers on this babe. (C'mon, how many times have you seen porn "virgins" decked out like hookers?) Her white lace bra is conservative, yet hints at her suppressed sexuality. Gere and Dough's creaky union on her wooden desk is without music, without any sound at all except their breathing. The desktop ends up littered with droplets of their sweat, and their bodies glisten in the light.

Even the union Gere imagines between her secretary Britt Morgan and employee Mike Horner is lovely. The shadows from the window blinds paint a pattern of light on their bodies. When Gere takes on Horner herself in fantasy in front of a makeup mirror, the skin tones are golden and romantic. I defy feminists who sweat that porn degrades women, and Bible thumpers who think screen sex is ugly to find anything demeaning or disgusting in an erotic film of this caliber. Hell, even the married couple being profiled are never unfaithful to each other; all Gere's sex is confined to her lustful fantasies. West is even willing to be patient and sit through a stressful emotional time for her when she repels his sexual advances.

The film even has a happy ending! Gere's character works through her misgivings and transforms herself into Dough's dream model who "works hard and plays hard." In what is probably the best role of her career so far, Ashlyn Gere shines and is a good bet for 1991's Best Actress award. Lucky for us, we get to see her work hard and play hard in an outstanding film effort like this. A hearty round of applause to Director Craig and all the others who had a hand in this monumental, highly erotic movie. Buy it! Need I say more?



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