Photographer Missy, juggling job offers and a disintegrating relationship with boyfriend Tony Tedeschi, retreats to the sanctuary of her friend Sharon Mitchell's home. Mitch tells Missy all she needs is good sex. She demonstrates, with beau Herschel Savage, in full view of the telescope Mitch has set up in her living room. Yes, it's the hoary theme--voyeurism can open your eyes. The cliches pile on--there's the obligatory sex with the insensitive boyfriend; the abandoned manse across the ravine, with its own scope and a mysterious, romantic stranger, yadda yadda yadda... but, as always, Royalle takes the mundane and breathes fresh life and heat into old themes. Sharp performances, sizzling sex, and beautiful photography by Jane Waters help.

Combining fey innocence with wanton abandon has always been Missy's stock-in-trade, and here she plays it to the hilt. She manages, in her scene with Tedeschi, to convey dissatisfaction with the sex while still turning in a hot fuck. Her subsequent emotional vulnerability to the ministrations of the very fine Mickey G. are both believable and tender. Consider Missy pre-nom'd for Best Actress.

As for Miss Sharon MItchell, you might as well engrave her nameplate for Best Supporting Actress right now. First of all, she looks fabulous, and partnered with old pro Hersch, they show us how it's done, and that classics improve with age. More importantly, Mitch creates that adult rarity, a fully-realized character, someone you want to talk and play with.

Chloe and Tom Byron also pull off a Most Outrageous Sex Scene pre-nom--a scene that manages to be both hilarious and hellaciously sexy at the same time. Put Royalle on the list for Best Director, too.