Exchange Student, The

I'm confused. "The Exchange Student" is about a young girl from Japan who answers a wanted ad for a babysitter. When she arrives at the home of her prospective employer, said employer, a woman, almost immediately begins to seduce her. It doesn't take long. So the two have sex. As straightforward as this is, I don't blame you if you're wondering why I'm confused. It's simple, really. The credits tell us that this movie was "based on a story by Reno and MX." What I've been trying to figure out is which part of it Reno came up with and which part MX contributed?and why it took two geniuses to work it out in the first place.

I don't want to be too hard on these guys; I think they had the beginnings of something special here. I hope they keep it up. I hope their pretensions lead them to try to make something really different instead of just rehashing the same tired formula time and time again. I'm not holding my breath, but I am hoping.

I like the situation this film presents. I like its simplicity and I especially like its universality: who hasn't had fantasies about a babysitter? On a more personal level I like the fact that the Japanese girl (played by Fujiko Kano) is a lesbian virgin, although I might have liked it even better if the roles had been reversed and the employer (Michelle Lay) was the virgin and Fujiko the seducer. This at least would have eliminated a disturbing undercurrent of coercion. Of course, Reno and MX (producer and director, respectively) could have taken great strides in this direction by telling Michelle NOT to spike Fujiko's tea, especially since they were so keen to get Fujiko on the living room sofa they weren't going to let her drink any of it anyway.

This rush to sex is a problem. The situation demands seduction. That takes time. Instead, the filmmakers' fall back on convention: Michelle asks Fujiko if she has any other talents that might be useful in her job as a babysitter; "massage" is Fujiko's unsurprising response. Naturally (conveniently) Michelle asks Fujiko to demonstrate her technique?on her. And so it begins; the sex, that is. Everyone's in such a hurry, even the massage is given short shrift. Fujiko moves from Michelle's back to her legs; suddenly she's massaging Michelle's buttocks and we miss seeing her push up Michelle's skirt to do so. When it's Michelle's turn (it has to be Michelle's turn next, that's the way the convention works), she goes straight for the kiss: erotic seduction reduced to naked horniness. One thing works, though: the way Michelle slips her hand into Fujiko's panties while kissing her.

The most spectacular mistake Reno and MX make is in the way the draw Michelle's character. If I thought these guys knew what they were doing, I'd be disgusted. Fujiko, as it turns out, is merely Michelle's little sex toy. Michelle uses her, then gives her the bum's rush out the door to make way for the next applicant. So grotesquely oversexed is she that she spends ten minutes masturbating before the doorbell rings. (That's ten minutes that could have been used developing a convincing seduction. At less than an hour long, it's not as though the filmmakers had time to burn.)

"The Exchange Student" disc is surprisingly loaded with bonus material. It includes bios of the stars, each of whom has her own gallery, a segment that goes behind the scenes of a photoshoot with both girls and Nicole Sheridan (though, unfortunately, we see very little of Nicole), and, in an unusual twist, a link to something called "Fujiko Boob Job." This is a little scene in which Fujiko shows off her new enhanced tits?before they've healed from the surgery. It's interesting, but it kind of comes off as an advertisement for going natural.

This film has potential, and if you work hard enough you can make it a worthwhile investment. It's certainly a welcome departure from typical mainstream girl/girl porn. Until proven useless I'm going to hang onto the idea that Reno and MX are simply clueless. And hope that they wise up soon.

First the bad news... the whole feature is only 50 minutes long, and 10 minutes of that is a solo masturbation scene of Michelle Lay. (Well, OK...maybe that scene's not exactly bad news...)

But still, this is a very hot DVD. Fujiko is dressed down, and with her plaid skirt, white socks and glasses, she doesn't look like a "porn star" - she really does come across as an average, innocent Japanese college student. Michelle Lay does a good job as the more experienced "seductress", and the sex is awesome.

There is lots of deep kissing throughout, and both of these girls really seem to love giving and receiving oral. What I like about this one is that the music is nice and romantic, the sex is tender and affectionate, and both of the girls really seem to like each other. You get the feeling that after the cameras stopped rolling, those two would be making plans to get together on their own.

First off, the video quality is "A+" and not your regular, run of the mill video quality. If you're into a mini-vignette with a story, this is a really good g/g movie. The brunette, Michelle Lay, is a knock out. And for all those who want to see Fujiko as a shy, little girl, then this is it.