The most mystifying thing about this, the second offering from mainstreamer-cum-pornographer Marty Zion, is why it doesn't bowl you over quite as much as it seems like it should. Everything about this production has the earmarks of an Editor's Choice: stunning photography and settings, a smoldering cast, great music and indeed, hot sex. Yet once it's over, oddly, there is a residual impression of, "Wow, that was pretty good," rather than, "Holy shit, that was fucking phenomenal!"

The main problems, slight as they may be, are Zion's penchants for over-long teases and slow motion. Succumbing to those inclinations does make some sense, what with the spectacularly lush environs and the mystical theme he's working with. But those things will only hold a porn viewer's attention for so long before his or her thumb gets personal with that FF button.
All but one of Mystified's six scenes take place in an exotic forest setting, and it is easily as beautiful as anything ever captured in an adult movie. The colors - green being the dominant motif - are brilliant and breathtaking. And in the first scene, when Bobbi Eden appears in a flash of light before a resting Talon, it's just revelatory, the indication of a real porn visionary at work.

The sex that follows is scorching, too, as is much of that in the rest of the vid. If only there was less dallying in between. Anyway, here are some pre-noms: Best Art Direction, Michael Sullivan; Best Music, Rex Humboldt; and Best Videography, L. Buck.