Closed Set: Titan Stage One

By: buddhawannabe

Joe Gage's "Closed Set" movies were about as near as he ever got to "all sex" films. Besides this one, there were "Closed Set" (1980), "Closed Set 2" (1984), Titan's "Closed Set: The New Crew" (2002) and, after this one, Dragon Media's "Closed Set: Oral Report" (2007). The fictional premise for all of these videos is that all you have to do in order to make a really hot porn video is to get a bunch of really hot guys together; they'll spontaneously start having really hot sex, and all the videographer needs to do is happen to be there with his camera turned on. (In "Closed Set: Titan Stage One," the videographer even joins in, which qualifies as distracted driving or something.) In fact, any "Behind the Scenes" featurette, such as are included as bonuses on the DVDs of some of Joe Gage's other videos, will prove that's not how it happens. But go ahead and suspend your disbelief. Joe's always been good, often excellent, at filming and editing orgy scenes--the true test of a porn director--and each of the "Closed Set" movies is basically an extended orgy scene. The one presently under consideration was shot during Joe's "golden period" of 2004-2006, and it measures up to the standards of that period. Beautifully paced, moving expertly from twosomes to threesomes to groups and back, and, in the Director's Cut, well-photographed fisting and water-sports sequences. A lot of the hot "Gage Men" from the previous two years turn up, as well as some who were appearing for the first time in porn--Josh West and Cole Ryan, for instance--and who would go on to achieve stardom in later videos. I prefer Joe's "plot porn" and "situation porn" videos--aside from my personal preference for such videos, he makes them like nobody else does, and there are other "all sex" videos that measure up to this one in terms of hotness. But the Joe Gage magic is in a class of its own, and "Closed Set: Titan Stage One" is easily identifiable as a Joe Gage movie, one of his best.