Poor Sydney St. James. She delivers a career performance, and perhaps the only people who'll get to hear her angst -- as it's meant to be heard -- are the cast and crew of Mindsex.

Beyond inaudible sound levels in a couple of key bedroom scenes and an outdoor dramatic exchange between St. James and Melanie Moore that would be better off in Johnny Belinda, all things considered, the sex scenes are pretty frugal with the hardcore shots. This is a shame because Mindsex has the look and the heart of a solid AAAA production. It's really very good with an earnest, intense performance from St. James, nice exterior shots and a colorful indoor location.

As I can gather, this feature offers some parallels to Ghost. Told in somewhat confusing flashback, St. James seems to be pining for her lover Shawn Ricks who (as I gather) has crashed and burned in a sky diving accident. Maybe next time Ricks will take the audio gremlins and cameraman (or editor) with him.

The sex is set up to deliver a romantic edge, though the first scene, attempting to be arty, winds up inviolately pretentious. St. James, in a dream state, witnesses Steve Houston and Alicia Rio making love in a bath tub. And, while this pair have delivered solid performances in the past, this matchup looks more like desperate groping in the last chance saloon, the result of misplaced priorities in the camera department. Pretty much the same thing occurs when Ricks, St. James and Debi Diamond tangle. The scene has a disoriented feel to it, and though Ricks delivers a wet one on Debbie's kisser, it's more like a sleight-of-hand act. Now you see it, now you don't.

The alacrity of St. James' and Rio's girl/girler beats a three-minute egg timer. James' later pairing with Moore scores next-to-zero on the interactive scale, and a flip-flop intercutting with Ricks and St. James together is bewildering.

However, Mindsex does suggest that Shawn Ricks should give it another try and perhaps beg the duplicating lab to clean its audio heads.

Also stars Tony Montana and Jasper