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Manifesto
Rating: 3 Stars
Produced by Chris Ward and Michael Brandon. Edited and directed by Chris Ward and Ben Leon. Videography by Ben Leon. Music by J.D. Slater. Starring François Sagat, Remy Delaine, Huessein, Michael Vincenzo, Justin Christopher, Sarib, Jay Black, Michael Foxx, Fred Faurtin, Derrick Hanson, and Tamas Eszterhazy.
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This sexual marathon marks porn virtuoso Chris Ward's hundredth directorial effort and videographer Ben Leon's first. There aren't many extras here, just two discs packed with skillfully orchestrated, lovingly photographed, intensely enacted sex.

But in the course of nine scenes that sprawl across three and a half hours, the care and taste that went into Manifesto begin to wear thin. There's a sameness to these passionate but borderline vanilla, mostly one-on-one, sometimes solo vignettes. The simple black-box set emphasizes the sex but calls attention to its narrow range. The transgressive sting that used to be Ward's signature effect seems to wait offstage for a cue that never arrives. If a manifesto is a declaration of principles or intentions, this one has less to declare than Chris Ward's fans might expect.

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The cast, however, is superb. Two of the best, French hotties François Sagat and Remy Delaine, appear in "Cock Fight," the opening segment, as fighters in training who segue from boxing to sex. In the fifth episode, "Homage to Colt," Huessein-- dark, rough, and hairy-- fucks the bejesus out of smooth, young Justin Christopher on the hood of a car. In the last and incontestably best episode, "Pumping Muscle," the only scene with more than two participants, Huessein and Sagat return for a sensational gym-themed session with gorgeous African-American Jay Black. Boxcover model Sagat, a major discovery, demonstrates once more that he may be the most rock-solid, drop-dead masculine bottom in porn.