David Stanley is nearly unique in Adult Cinema by virtue of the ingenuity of his screenplays - which he tries to raise to the standard of quality expected in mainstream filmmaking even though they are considered extraneous in the porn world, even more so now that all-sex has effectively replaced story-line cinema. "Eve's Gift" is among his best work, benefiting from an outstanding performance by leading lady Sydnee Steele.
Trim (73 minutes long) Vivid release begins with an uncredited Stanley cameo on the phone at a bar, berating his lady back home. Barfly Eric Price, dressed in a Santa costume, berates Stanley for abusing the lady, chivalrously standing up for love and romance, but his quiet rant falls on deaf ears.
David's unpredictable script shows an affinity with the great short story writer O. Henry, and even his lousy, most contrived efforts (and there are many of them lurking among the 100-plus Vivid and Wicked films he's cranked out over the past two decades) always have something novel to say. This is no "Gift of the Magi" but shares a romantic affinity with that well-remembered O. Henry classic.
Price is morose and depressed, feeling suicidally guilty over the death of his wife (beautiful Devon) in a car crash for which he feels responsible. Film unfolds with many flashbacks to fill in various back stories, and the one depicting the fatal crash is very poorly staged (just the screen going white and sound FX added), a problem of the minuscule budgets afforded Stanley for most of his quickie Vivid projects. Even the front-seat car scene preceding the crash is lousy, with little effort to make the studio-bound staging look the least bit real.
Drunken Price is chatted up at the bar by hooker Sydnee Steele, who grows attached to the sorrowful lug, driving him to his home when she finds him unconscious outside in the alley on a mattress (another overly cheap setting, used for an earlier sex scene on said mattress involving Steele and Mark Davis).
Price eventually tells Steele his sob story and intention to kill himself on Christmas Eve, while she recounts her own sordid tale of infidelity and disillusionment. Plenty of sex is packed into the short film, including another sexy hooker played by Adajda and a potent threesome involving Steele with the couple of Ian Daniels and mega-busty Renee Larue.
SPOILER:
Stanley cleverly outwits audience expectations by building up to a seemingly inevitable rom-com climax putting Steele and Price together, but instead leaves us hanging, omitting that final sex scene entirely. Sydnee explains how their histories and predicaments aren't important. "It doesn't matter because it's Christmas, you asshole", she declares to stubbornly downbeat Price. The screen goes to black and end credits roll, a typically sudden and tricky David Stanley ending.
Trim (73 minutes long) Vivid release begins with an uncredited Stanley cameo on the phone at a bar, berating his lady back home. Barfly Eric Price, dressed in a Santa costume, berates Stanley for abusing the lady, chivalrously standing up for love and romance, but his quiet rant falls on deaf ears.
David's unpredictable script shows an affinity with the great short story writer O. Henry, and even his lousy, most contrived efforts (and there are many of them lurking among the 100-plus Vivid and Wicked films he's cranked out over the past two decades) always have something novel to say. This is no "Gift of the Magi" but shares a romantic affinity with that well-remembered O. Henry classic.
Price is morose and depressed, feeling suicidally guilty over the death of his wife (beautiful Devon) in a car crash for which he feels responsible. Film unfolds with many flashbacks to fill in various back stories, and the one depicting the fatal crash is very poorly staged (just the screen going white and sound FX added), a problem of the minuscule budgets afforded Stanley for most of his quickie Vivid projects. Even the front-seat car scene preceding the crash is lousy, with little effort to make the studio-bound staging look the least bit real.
Drunken Price is chatted up at the bar by hooker Sydnee Steele, who grows attached to the sorrowful lug, driving him to his home when she finds him unconscious outside in the alley on a mattress (another overly cheap setting, used for an earlier sex scene on said mattress involving Steele and Mark Davis).
Price eventually tells Steele his sob story and intention to kill himself on Christmas Eve, while she recounts her own sordid tale of infidelity and disillusionment. Plenty of sex is packed into the short film, including another sexy hooker played by Adajda and a potent threesome involving Steele with the couple of Ian Daniels and mega-busty Renee Larue.
SPOILER:
Stanley cleverly outwits audience expectations by building up to a seemingly inevitable rom-com climax putting Steele and Price together, but instead leaves us hanging, omitting that final sex scene entirely. Sydnee explains how their histories and predicaments aren't important. "It doesn't matter because it's Christmas, you asshole", she declares to stubbornly downbeat Price. The screen goes to black and end credits roll, a typically sudden and tricky David Stanley ending.