Seek & Destroy

Cast: Enchantress Gia, Lola LeMarchand ("Kimi") and Jada in BDSM roles; Anders Manga ("Kennedy") as the documenter; and two uncredited individuals in speaking roles.

Director: Anders Manga

Production date: 3/03 (opening statement); 3/02 (box)

Length: 79 min.

Extras: An 8-min. interview with Enchantress Gia and a trailer for the feature.

Audio/visual quality: The handheld camerawork is very good and fits the documentary style perfectly. The lighting is excellent—never harsh, always adequate. Shadows and soft focus shifts occur once in a while, but they're not severe enough to cause a serious distraction. The on-site audio is generally superb. There's a tiny amount of unavoidable location noise, such as banging pipes at the Den of Iniquity. Anders himself is quiet and unobtrusive during the sessions, except for a couple of amusing places where Enchantress Gia scolds the "cameraboy" for getting too close to her. The only significant audiovisual flub is a brief cue which slipped by the editor (and which momentarily spoils the illusion that this is a "real" documentary).

Blunders, bugs and boo-boos: The disc arrived with multiple scratches after dislodging from the hub during shipping. It is not playable on my newest Apple DVD Player (v3.2), but I can manage it okay with the previous version (v2.2.1).

First impression: Seek & Destroy is not exactly what I was seeking, but it's got a lot of great things going for it.

Scene highlights: The movie opens with a silhouetted figure, identified as "Ernie." Ernie seems glum and confused. His ex-girlfriend, Lola LeMarchand ("Kimi") has refused to tolerate his sessions with Enchantress Gia at a local dungeon. Ernie initially claims he wants Lola to understand him, but he then asks Anders Manga ("Kennedy") to seek and destroy her.

Disgusted and distrustful, Lola agrees to talk to Anders if he pays her for the time. She seems confused about what she wants, too. She shows a spark of interest in renewing her relationship, but mostly it's the promise of a credit card that entices her to sample a session with Ernie's dominatrix.

Lola meets Enchantress Gia in a medical fetish room. Enchantress Gia immediately begins to rein in Lola's attitude by listing the rules. She gets into Lola's personal space, commands that she remove her shirt and skirt, ties her wrists, and lectures her about compromise and cooperation. Since Lola continues to be whiny and resistant, Enchantress Gia gets serious and strips off Lola's panties and bra, ties her feet and slaps and pets her private areas. Enchantress Gia also clamps clothespins along Lola's back and flogs them off. As a final test, she weaves rope around Lola's petite body and dunks her headfirst into a tub of water. Lola finally manages to please the dominatrix, who kisses her mouth and claims her as her own.

Anders next introduces himself to Jada, who admits she's uncomfortable with her ex-boyfriend's fetish for puppy play. Jada is sweeter and more accommodating than Lola, and she soon agrees to try a session with the enchantress. Jada smirks as she strips for Enchantress Gia, however, and is obviously having a hard time taking the whole thing seriously. Enchantress Gia binds her in a downward dog position and paddles her for failing to address the mistress properly. She then soothes the sore area and gently teaches Jada the art of being a kitty cat.

Enchantress Gia caresses Jada with her velvet gloves and instructs her to give herself a tongue bath. Jada "cleans" her breasts and vulva with her "paws." When Jada oversteps her bounds by attempting to clean the mistress' breast, Enchantress Gia requires that she lick and purr at a realistic-looking strap-on cock. The naughty kitty receives an additional paddling when she playfully bites the cock. Enchantress Gia threatens to sink her teeth into Jada's buttock but instead marks Jada's forehead with a lipstick kiss and passes her performance by awarding her a kitty mask.

The only extra of note on this disc is the interview, but it's a significant bonus. Enchantress Gia comes across as nonjudgmental and completely real as she shares her insights on gender-based power dynamics, discusses client motivations and perceptions, describes the type of training a dom might receive and offers basic tips on how newbies can become involved.

Thumbs up: Similar to The Fashionistas, this movie provokes my objective appreciation and my subjective ambivalence. My sexual reaction to large chunks of Seek & Destroy is neutral or slightly negative, but I can't deny that it is a unique and well executed production. It's attractively shot and engrossing enough to hold my attention, even when it doesn't arouse me.

I certainly can't find fault with Enchantress Gia, who proves herself an outstanding choice for the starring role in Twisted's first title. Enchantress Gia has a finely developed sense of balance between severity and sensuality that inspires my respect. She has the wisdom to know that the surest way to command someone's attention is with a whisper, not a shout. And in fact, one of the greatest strengths of the movie is the dialog, which sounds spontaneous and flows extremely well. The physical aspect of the power play is secondary to the verbal aspect, which is quite mesmerizing to observe and follow.

Thumbs down: I'm bothered by the apparent lack of consent and confidentiality in the first scene. I've never been to a dungeon, but somewhere I got the idea that there's an intake process in which clients articulate their boundaries. I cringe when Lola is exposed and touched against her express wishes. Jada has a safe word, at least, but Lola does not. Call me crazy, but I also assumed that dungeons are the type of professional environment in which the details of one client's session are never revealed to another client. I'm caught off guard when Enchantress Gia confirms that she's duplicating part of Ernie's session for Lola. Maybe there are release forms for clients like Ernie, who specifically want their experience disclosed (though I somewhat question the ethics of that, since part of his motivation is "revenge"). Anyhow, what I would personally need for a good experience has not been respected here, so much of my potential interest in dungeons has evaporated.

The one thing that ameliorates my concern is a nagging suspicion that Seek & Destroy is more fantasy than documentary. The box cover teeters on false advertising with the claim that this "documentary follows the first time experiences of Kimi and Jada with a professional dominatrix." "Kimi" (Lola) also had a starring role as a slave to a professional dominatrix in Anders Manga's previous BDSM effort Affliction. Actually, that earlier movie is possibly the more convincing of the two, simply because its looser script proffers fewer details to question. On the whole, Seek & Destroy does a nice job of establishing a documentary feel, but it's hard to completely suspend my disbelief when I keep looking at Lola and thinking, "gosh, she's really good at these roles."

Themes: Light to medium BDSM (primary theme), kitten play, "oral" (dildo blowjob), rope bondage, clothespins, toy (strap-on), spanking, paddling, flogging, slapping (vulva, breast), breath play (brief underwater submersion), fetishwear.

Condom use: None (n/a).

Juice-o-meter: Very low. What can I say. I've tried clothespins and hate that sensation (I have a low threshold of pain), I'm afraid of drowning due to a rather traumatic childhood incident and I'm not particularly fond of cats. There's almost nothing here that pushes my erotic buttons, other than the elegant rope bondage and the general attractiveness of Enchantress Gia (who carries herself very well). These are intensely personal reactions, of course. Yours may be entirely different.

Final analysis: Though it doesn't turn my specific sexual crank, this movie is a potentially interesting and appealing choice for fans of light to medium BDSM. The interaction between the women is engaging, and the technical aspects of the DVD are exceptional for this genre.

Special thanks to astroknight, reviewer extraordinaire, for his screenshots. Read his review of Seek & Destroy here.

Review from Adult DVD Talk

Running Time: 79 min.

Production Date: 03 / 2002

Director: Anders Manga

Cast: Jada, Lola LeMarcharnd (Kimi), Enchantress Gia, and Anders Manga (Kennedy)

Initial Expectations: I’ve been a big fan of Anders Manga ever since watching Girl Show. He and Tina Tyler did great things with Affliction, so I’m hoping for more great stuff here!

Initial Reaction: It’s one of the best and the most unique bondage movies I’ve seen, and one I’d recommend to anybody curious about them.

Who Should Watch It : Anybody curious about domination movies or who wants something a little different from the typical domination movie.

Who Should Avoid It: Anybody wanting extremely rough domination movies

Audio /Video Quality: Although a few of the locations aren’t very conducive to high audio quality, the audio sounds very good. It echoes at times, but is normally well balanced and feels right for the locations. The video is much the same. It has a little camera shake, which works great with the documentary style of the movie, but is very well lit and has only a minor amount of grain.

Music: There’s no music during the actual scenes, but there’s a little music during the lead-in that’s very pleasing to the ear and well balanced with the rest of the audio.

Menus: The main menu is unanimated, but has a unique feel that seems to follow Anders Manga. It’s simple, but that isn’t bad here. Surprisingly, this is the only menu as there isn’t a chapter menu and all your other viewing choices are given to you on this menu. That isn’t to say that there aren’t chapters, as the movie contains roughly forty of them.

The Feature: Seek & Destroy is a documentary on bondage and fetishes. In it, ex-lovers who have been dumped due to their fetishes have contacted director Kennedy (Anders Manga) and have set up their former partners so they get a bondage session. Kennedy follows them from talking to them on the street to leaving them with Enchantress Gia, and then quietly watches as they get their education.

Ernie starts things out wanting a little revenge on his ex-girlfriend Kimi, who broke up with him after finding out that Ernie went to a dominatrix. After talking with Kimi about why they broke up, Anders tells Kimi that they’ll pay for her to take a session with the dominatrix that Ernie went to so that she could better understand why Ernie went to her. They go to the Den of Iniquity, where after seeing the room, Kimi tries to bail. Anders talks her into staying and retrieves Enchantress Gia. Enchantress Gia lays down a few rules and lets Kimi know that her attitude is going to change before tying her up with ropes. Enchantress Gia takes her time tying Kimi up on the exam table, and starts to rub and spank her pussy as soon as she has her completely under her control. After warming up slowly on Kimi, Enchantress Gia punishes Kimi for her smart mouth, putting clothespins on Kimi’s back and later lashing them off. Finally, Enchantress Gia suspends Kimi over a tub full of water. She dips Kimi in and finally gives her a reward.

Once again, Anders Manga has me hooked by the end of the first scene. He mixes the standard bondage scene feel with a documentary feel in a very enjoyable manner. Lola plays Kimi as a complete spoiled bitch, and although she falls out of her role once or twice, most of the time she does it very well. Enchantress Gia does her role just as well, and within the first fifteen minutes, I thought her dialogue to Lola was excellent enough that I would easily recommend this feature to anybody looking for their first bondage movie. The only real problem I had in the scene was one editing mixup where Lola voices out loud what she should be doing. All I could do when I saw and heard that was hope that Anders isn’t thinking about moving to Flint, Michigan, breaking out a ratty baseball cap, and changing his diet to Twinkies, Big Macs, and double chili cheese dogs.

Adam sets up cute blonde Jada in the second scene. After a little talking, Kennedy takes Jada to Enchantress Gia. Enchantress Gia lays down a few ground rules, including setting a safe word in case Jada things Enchatress Gia steps over any lines. Jada is tied up and spanked as she’s taught Enchantress Gia’s name before Enchantress Gia decides she wants to turn Jada into a pet for her, namely a kitty cat. Enchantress Gia makes Jada clean herself with her tongue and paws before cleaning her strap-on. Jada gets a little frisky, however, and after biting Enchantress Gia’s cock, must be punished. Finally, after making up with her mistress, Jada becomes Enchantress Gia’s house pet.

This is a very unique and very different scene. There’s no actual sex in it, but it’s extremely erotic. Enchantress Gia does an excellent job of showing the tenderness between a master and a pet, while Jada looks like she’s having a great time playing the pet. In a rarity for a bondage scene, I actually had a smile on my face throughout much of this scene. You get to see some of the softer side of bondage here, which is a rarity as most people seem to want to see how hardcore they can get. I don’t think I’ve ever been as turned on watching a bondage scene as I have here, and I attribute it all to the erotic feel of the scene and the originality.

Seek & Destroy is a very unique bondage movie. Like most bondage movies, there’s no actual sex, and that’s about all that’s similar to them. Unlike most bondage movies, however, it’s normally clear that the performers are really enjoying the treatment they receive. Also unlike most bondage movies, Enchantress Gia is very talkative and walks each of her subjects through their entire treatment. Seek & Destroy doesn’t have the same feel as other bondage movies. It mixes things up a bit so the scenes feel unique, and even goes with good lighting and care for the technical aspects. As I said earlier, I’ve been a fan of Anders Manga since the first scene I saw of his, and I only gained more appreciation of him as an artist and a director watching Seek & Destroy. I’m sure that hardcore bondage fans might be a little disappointed with it, but couples who are curious should really enjoy it. Seek & Destroy has a uniqueness, a sense of reality, and an artistic spirit that really made it a winner for me.

Extras: Unlike most bondage movies, Seek & Destroy actually contains more than just the movie and website information, which you have to include as a DVD without website information is like a sandwich without Miracle Whip. There’s also a trailer for the movie and an interview with Enchantress Gia which lasts eight minutes. Enchantress Gia talks about getting into being a dominatrix, what she gives people, and the power of sex and domination. She also talks about her clients in general, why some people come to her and the BDSM society, and some of the training to become a dom. It’s a very interesting interview that even works in a little smoking tease. It’s a great interview for anybody who’s curious about some of the background of a dom and an extra I’d recommend anybody who’s a new viewer for this type of movie to check out.

Themes: Bondage, spanking, ropes, clothes pins, and fetishwear

Raincoat Factor: Very high if you’re curious about bondage, very low if your not or want extreme S&M

Condom Usage: None, since there’s no actual sex in the movie

Overall: Currently, Seek & Destroy is available online for around $25. This is a little higher than most bondage movies, but Anders Manga has also given you a little more. The movie is unique and nicely done. The transfer is also well done, and unlike most bondage movies, there’s extras. If you’re at all curious about this movie, check it out!

Note to Twisted Transmissions: This is a very interesting take on bondage movies. I’m really glad you

If you have any questions or comments, please e-mail me .

Other reviews by Astroknight

Review from Adult DVD Talk