Gay Porn Review: Michael Lucas' Auditions

Michael Lucas has always held himself at a distance. The latter-day-Garbo doesn't necessarily want to be alone, but his movies are certainly detached emotionally. From his blase ruminations on monogamy in the Fire Island Cruising series to his vengeful machinations of Dangerous Liaisons, the dedicated top man is careful to distinguish sex from love. In fact, love rarely enters into his movies at all.

While such distance might be off-putting, lately Lucas has been using his fascination with the flat and superficial as a springboard for raw, no-strings-attached sex. And his powerful attitude, no less controlling than his character in Dangerous Liaisons is intensely sexual.

Take his Auditions "reality" porn (read "amateur") series where the proverbial casting couch is front and center as Lucas "auditions" new performers. Sometimes he joins in, sometimes he extracts personal histories from the would-be porn stars who come to try out -- or try out to come. Talk about hometowns and hobbies echoes the hollow interest of trick-chat, and with a wave of his hand directing the sex to commence. It's sex as power, Foucault en flagrante. The actor-director not only sets the scene, he also partakes of the spoils. It's hard not to envy him, orchestrating sexual performances like a lascivious puppeteer.

People have intense feelings about Mr. Lucas -- some swoon at his metropolitan charms and piercing eyes, others find his self-assuredness arrogant -- but Auditons series is some of his best work, harnessing his control and his cool for impressively raw sex.

And best of all, it's priced accordingly. The money he saves on sets and crew allow him to price the tapes well below competition. The newest, Auditions 5 -- starring sexy Israeli Omer, is currently priced to move on his website for $34.95. What's not to love about that?

-- Mike