In Ancient Rome, Emperor Hadrian built the Pantheon as a shrine to all the gods. In more general usage, the term pantheon has come to signify the select group of people who represent the very best in their field. Hockey’s pantheon would include greats like Wayne Gretzky, Mario Lemieux, and Gordie Howe. Literature’s would salute the likes of William Shakespeare and Ernest Hemingway. Stroll into the porn pantheon and you might find marble renderings of Paul Thomas, John Stagliano, and . . . Seth Gamble? It seems appropriate that Gamble’s latest movie, Goddess, evokes the images and themes of classical antiquity. Gamble’s directorial career may be still in its relative infancy, but he is well on his way to joining that pantheon of porn filmmaking greats. Goddess is another audiovisual treat from an artist who could rival Dionysus’s appetites even on his most orgiastic day.
The basic construction of Goddess is as elegant and direct as an arrow shot from Cupid’s quiver. Gamble casts top pornstars as notable mythological goddesses, sets the scene with sumptuous costumes and atmospheric lighting, joins the fray as the male talent, and lets it all play out as an erotic fantasy. Scene one brings us dramatically into the domain of Athena (Kenna James) and Aphrodite (Ivy Wolfe), whose striking appearance in togas and gold accents is emphasized with epic Hans Zimmer-esque music. (Indeed, Gamble’s music selections effectively highlight the drama at every turn.)
The goddess theme demands a certain bacchanalian energy. It instantly evokes grape-stomping, lyre-playing orgies like something ripped out of a bas relief. This type of wild abandon does not come easily, but James and Wolfe do not disappoint. The goddesses of love and wisdom hungrily consume each other until director/star Gamble himself shows up to transform it into the movie’s lone threesome. It’s powerful stuff, particularly when Gamble holds Wolfe by small of her back and thrusts into her while she reclines and kisses James.
In scene two, Gamble shows that he is not content to limit himself to the familiar Western gods. This is a movie with a global scale and inclusiveness at its heart, so we’re now treated to Nuwa (Nicole Doshi), Chinese goddess of humanity. Of this scene, Gamble told AVN, “The character required someone who’s very self-confident and very visual and demonstrative as a performer. Most of us have at least a little bit of an exhibitionistic streak in us: This, like anything else in psychology, exists on a spectrum, and it is perfectly normal and healthy. She really tapped into that side of her persona for our scene.” Doshi is a performer who clearly loves strutting her stuff, which in this case includes Eastern-flavored visual enhancements courtesy director Gamble. She masturbates, gives and receives oral, rides Gamble’s dick, and absorbs a climactic creampie.
Scene three turns to Persephone (Kenzie Taylor), goddess of the underworld. Taylor’s status as Gamble’s frequent collaborator and life partner heightens the sense of anticipation as crackling flames evoke a hellish underworld milieu. Taylor is justifiably famous for her mesmerizing boobs, an irresistible temptation from the underworld if ever there was one. Gamble worships them with all the proper reverence, slamming his big dick between them as he clasps his thumbs around her throat. The sequence’s infernal atmosphere plays in perfect contrast to the airy, celestial tones of scene one.
In a great touch, Gamble closes the movie with Menhet (Scarlit Scandal), Egyptian god of war. Scandal is outfitted with appropriately evocative gear, including a nose ring that joined to her earring with a swooping chain. (Ancient Egypt hasn’t looked this sexy since Patricia Velasquez strode topless onto the screen in the opening of 1999’s The Mummy!) Like Missy Martinez’s Fucked Ra, the scene brings a strong sense of the Egyptian theme with a clever deployment of costumes, music, and lighting. Scandal is a true Cleopatra in the art of sucking dick, which must make Gamble her lusty Antony. The scene reaches its apex as Scandal rides Gamble in reverse cowgirl as night falls on the horizon behind them.
Baskin’s bottom line
The movie is called Goddess, but it’s just as much a product of the veritable Greek god behind the scenes, director Seth Gamble. It’s a beautiful work of porn art, doubly impressive when I consider that Gamble was likely working within a very modest budget compared to Hollywood efforts of similar themes. I love that he includes mythology from across the globe instead of limiting it to the well-known but predictable Greco-Roman figures. It seems appropriate that this movie releases shortly after industry legend Axel Braun announced his retirement. Can Gamble step up to be the brand-new Braun? If we are indeed witnessing the coming of a porn filmmaking god, then Wicked’s Goddess is undoubtedly a key moment in his founding myth and origin story.
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