Sapphic Lolita

Title:  Sapphic Lolita Studio:  Sweetheart Video (Mile High Media)
Writer/Director:  Nica Noelle
Released:  09/24/2008
Performers:  Anna Bell Lee, Ariel X, Aubrey Addams, Randi James, Trinity Post, Nica Noelle

The question you might be asking yourself at this point is “why did it take MstrHole until January 2014 to finally review a movie produced back in 2008?”  It is, of course, a fair question, and one that I asked myself before starting this little essay.  There are a couple of practical answers, the primary one being that this blog didn’t start until 2010 and when it started I had only recently discovered Nica Noelle and her work.  I was so busy reviewing current work at the time that it never occurred to me to look backwards and pick up things from earlier years.  Until this week I don't recall ever having laid eyes on Sapphic Lolita and I think I would have remembered watching it. 

A good friend surprised me with the gift of this particular video based on an off-hand comment made in an online chat.  To be clear, the good friend in this case wasn’t Nica herself.  She doesn’t send me videos to review.  Some producers actually do this (not many) but my standard of only publishing reviews of movies I like remains more or less intact (with a couple of unfortunate exceptions).  When someone offers to send me something to look at I let them know that it won’t be reviewed for this blog unless I like it but either way I’ll let them know what I thought.

Which brings me back to the topic at hand.  Sapphic Lolita is an early work of Nica’s from her Sweetheart Video days.  She’d directed a number of videos for Girlfriends Films before leaving to start Sweetheart.   It was fascinating to watch this in the context of her later works and note the things that were different and the things that were the same.  One would expect evolution in terms of technique, and that is certainly evident.  The constant, however, is story telling.  First and foremost Nica Noelle has been a teller of tales.  And the bonus for me in this case is that she appears in two scenes herself.  Your mileage may vary.

Nica Noelle plays a troubled writer who is running from something in her past.  The problem with running from is that you don’t always pay enough attention to where you’re running to.  In this case, she runs to the home of Randi James and her daughter played by Trinity Post.  As it turns out the trouble Nica is running away from is her predilection for young girls.  Oops.  Well, here’s Trinity sharing a house with Nica.  Like THAT’S not going to become an issue, right?

We assume that at some point Nica is going to go for Trinity even though that spells trouble with a capital T.  But she makes us wait for it, stringing us along through this tale of twisted psychology and showing us trysts between Ariel X and Aubrey Addams (with Nica’s character watching and wanking), herself and Randi James (described on the box cover as “sex hungry”), Trinity Post and Anna Bell Lee (who looks enough like Trinity that we can almost imagine them being sisters, pervs that we are), and then, finally, Nica and Trinity hook up in the story’s final scene. 

If you are a fan of Nica Noelle’s work and you have NOT seen this video yet I would urge you to get a copy.  For my part watching this movie gave me some insight into Nica’s development as a story teller and film maker.  She’s always been great as the former and has reached the level of formidable in the later.  You can see all of this as potential in Sapphic Lolita.  

Nica’s take on girl-girl erotica was unique then and has remained so to this day.  Keep in mind that in early 2008, when this video was shot, the idea of a director asking people to connect on camera was still relatively new.  Nica has written, or been interviewed, extensively on this topic; on the strange looks she got when she told her performers they’d be expected to just forget the cameras and go for it.  So when you watch this, keep in mind how liberating and terrifying it must have been for these these performers to be on a Nica Noelle set.

Her ability to tell a psychologically complex tale within the context of an erotic video is clearly seen in Sapphic Lolita, as is her talent for convincing performers to do as she wishes when the cameras are rolling.  The sex in this video is nothing short of amazing, and as a bonus, as I said earlier, we get to watch her practice what she preaches as a performer herself.  I recognized things that would later become part of other works and you will too – I’ll leave the discovery of what those are to you.  No spoilers here.

I am very grateful to the individual, who shall remain nameless, who made this video available to me.  I am, of course, also thankful that Nica made it in the first place.  Take my advice Noelle-ites, and go find your own copy.  Mine’s going into a safe place where I can get at it when I want to watch it again, as I surely shall.