Dreams of Desires can best be described as pornographic ballet. Mike Horner, the Alvin Ailey of our industry, has created a graceful adult film that is as spiritual as it is physical. (When's the last time you could call a three-on-one scene "couples fare?")

Melissa Hill plays an uptight housewife who takes refuge from her husband (Horner) in a cheap motel, after she catches him fucking the hell out of Kim Kataine. Whereas her old home was neat and clean in a puritan way, the motel walls in squalid, sexual desires. In one room, a role-playing hooker (Ariana) alternates between unforgiving mistress and shy schoolgirl for an unending line of clients. In another, an ever-horny Tom Byron jacks himself to Nirvana while Hill, caught up in the libidinous tide, follows along in a genital game of "Simon Says."

In her darkened room, Hill experiences dreams rife with sexual symbolism. In one scene, she watches Horner thread his way through a forest of blow-up dolls that represent both his lust for variety, and a pathetic display of sexual trophies. Other scenes tread the border between fantasy and reality. When Byron's girlfriend Jill Kelly comes knocking late on night in search of solace, the girl/girl coupling that ensues is anything but predictable, as Hill opens herself to a full scale strip mining of her subterranean Sapphic desires. The visual highlight occurs when Hill and Kelly transform into a living Pisces sign; both women lie curled on their sides, lifting one leg into the air to allow entrance of the other's tongue into an all-you-can-eat fish buffet that's as artistic as it is sexy.

As Hill gradually comes to terms with her hidden desires, they become more and more wild. She imagines herself being taken by a trio of men (Kyle Stone, Nick East and Byron) on a clear Plexiglas table lit from beneath by green lamps. The camera catches the action from every possible angle, including generous shots from underneath the table, while other men watch from the sidelines. This segues into perhaps the most lyrical orgy scene ever captured on film. Four completely naked couples, two of them real life lovers (Sindee Coxx and her real life husband; Brooke Waters and her mate), make passionate love in wispy clumps of hair/fur. The enthusiasm and passion, along with the doting coverage of the writhing, all-nude bodies, creates a group sex scene that will be appreciated even by those (like myself) who are usually bored with such scenes.

Pre-nominations must go to Dreams of Desire for best film and best art direction; to Mike Horner for best director; the Hill/Kelly coupling for best girl/girl scene; the Plexiglas table foursome and the hair orgy for best group sex scene; and to Tom Elliott and Marc Churchill for the lush, atmospheric music. Dreams of Desires is as "out there," away from the norm of adult films as Greg Dark's Sex Freaks, but in an entirely different direction. It is soft, graceful, artistic, and very, very sexy. Definitely one of the best couples films of the year.