In 1984, Candida Royalle, an ex-adult film star made her way to director and created the Femme line of erotica adult movies from a female's perspective. These films are made with much thought in mind to positive images, messages, and atmosphere. They are great to watch alone or as a couple. She also has a Femme Chocolat line for women of color. This film, "Afrodite Superstar", is from this select line.

"Afrodite Superstar" is a full length, ~70 minute, erotic film geared towards females of color. Being an erotic film, this isn't a typical porn and some don't consider it one at all. It has a complete plot and story line. You will find positive portrays of females in sexual roles as well as healthy sexual environments. This film even shows safe sex practices in terms of condom use. “Afrodite Superstar” doesn't have graphic sex scenes so it may not get you to finish but has potential to get you in the mood. If nothing else, it is a decent movie.

STORY:

The main character Afrodite and her best friend Isis get discovered in a bar while performing their singing act. A huge hip-hop producer, CEO, wants them to be his next big money maker. He makes Afrodite the lead singer and has her lip-sync all of the lyrics that Isis writes. They get "ghettofied" and taught things like ebonics to make them more gangster and fit for the image. Afrodite starts to be something she is not, hiding her education and true talent. Will she continue to be who she thinks CEO wants her to be and become a superstar or will she be true to her roots and get the guy of her dreams just as she is?

SCENES (Caution: spoilers!):

The production quality of the film is EXCELLENT! The acting also wasn't bad. I'd put it on par with a Lifetime movie, not Oscar worthy, but entertaining and better than most porns that claim to have a plot line. The editing and music was good also. Sometimes I forgot I was even watching an erotic film, which could be bad or good depending how you look at it.

There are four sexual scenes in the film. The majority of it is story and music videos...yes, music videos which I got bored with especially when one of them was a rap that used the *n* word in it. The first piece of nudity doesn't occur until 13 minutes in.

1. Afrodite gets excited by seeing her music video TV. She plays with herself by using toys from the Natural Contours line also co-designed by Candida Royalle. I felt like this was kind of like an erotic commercial, because by the end I really wanted to try the toy that I didn't have! This scene didn't give me high hopes for the rest of the film, because I was not getting into the fake looking orgasm and arousal.

2. This scene is split. Isis and another girl from the group start to dance and makeout while the camera splices to Criminal, another artist on the label, and some random girl also starting to make out. The scene with the two girls was excellent. I loved that they had tattoos and piercings. After some grinding and making out, oral is exchanged and they finish. At the same time Criminal is receiving oral and then they have sex.

3. This scene is even more random. Road Dog, also from the album, borrows Afrodite's Hummer and brings some girl to it. He gives her oral on the roof and hood and then she reciprocates. I was not turned on by this scene because the male looked like a 17 year old Eminem wanna-be with whitie tighty tan lines on his butt. It was very bizarre. I just was not attracted to either participant.

4. The last sex scene is the only one Afrodite has. She hooks up with CEO who was the only male I was attracted to. They exchange oral and then have sex which is practiced safely by using a condom. The positions they used got me in the mood, but I still was not turned on enough to finish.

By the end of all the sex scenes I wasn't as turned on as I wanted. There was no anal at all, and not enough sex shown. Most of the sex scenes didn't show anything graphic. The camera was usually panned to show only their tops. The aim of the film is to not degrade women and to show more intimate sex than the run-of-the-mill cum and go. I appreciated this aspect even without finishing from the film.

The film was produced in 2007, but doesn't appear that dated. I actually had expected something like Superfly out of the 70's because of the cover, but it is set in relatively present time. I recognized only one performer: India (Isis).

The main characters:

Simone Valentino as Afrodite-she actually won an award for best new comer for this role
India as Isis
Mr. Marcus as CEO
Justin Long as Criminal

I didn't like Simone much. I felt her scenes were more forced, but then again she was a new comer and less experienced than the rest of the cast. India was excellent, her acting and sex scene were great. It was nice to see her do something much less hard-core than her norm. Mr. Marcus was also great, his acting and sex scene were among the best. Justin Long also did well acting in his role, but I didn't care for his sexual scenes, probably because he played the part of a jerk. They all acted very well together.

The reason I like this film is in part because of the extra features.

-Chapter selection
-Documentary
-Two behind the scene galleries
-Natural Contours toy line commercial
-Trailers
-About Candida Royalle

The behind the scenes documentary was great. Most people probably overlook things like this when watching an erotic film or porn, but this was very informative and made me appreciate the film so much more. It included interesting statistics and history lessons that explain why this film was made. Women of color are often depicted in negative relationships especially in porn and the cast aimed to change this, which I feel they really did a good job of. They even talked about how the body types were chosen to be appealing to the women watching, not men. This means realistic, non-plastic bodies, with proportionate curves, not the huge asses that are a spectacle of ebony porn.

The DVD is relatively discreet. The cover and side don’t look like a porn or erotic movie at all and could be put amongst the rest of your films. The back does show some nudity however, nothing extremely graphic.

To see a trailer, the opening, scene, and a music video, use this LINK.

I am giving this DVD 3 stars. It wasn't for me because not much of the story, sex scenes, or actors appealed to me. Parts of the story with the "gangster injection" of Afrodite annoyed me. The story is decent, but the sexual scenes just did nothing for me. I was bored by the music videos also. BUT, the production value is excellent and so is all the work put into making this a female positive film. For that, this deserves praise alone.