There used to be a cliche that pornography was cheesy.

Badly written, badly acted, badly produced and badly edited...

But that's a cliche that's been increasingly challenged by the new films being produced in the San Fernando Valley - and perhaps no movie more exemplifies that fact than Almost Heaven.

With a script and production values that would put most Lifetime channel movies to shame, Almost Heaven is a romance movie first, and pornography second. It's the story of a young woman, Angie, who passes away and must choose one memory to take with her before she's allowed to enter the afterlife.

It's a simple concept, but one that's very deftly transferred to the screen. The secret of a successful erotic film plot must surely be the same as a successful art film - both have low budgets and limited resources - and that's an idea director Eddie Powell has seized on. He's taken a simple concept - what is the memory of your perfect relationship you'd want to take with you to heaven? - and expanded on it by going deeper and opening it up to dissection. What IS the perfect memory of a perfect relationship?

The strong concept is matched by beautiful cinematics - a very heavenly 'washed out' look that flatters the actresses and actresses as they combine in intimate, erotic couplings. The sex on screen is less intense and frantic than most 'porn' - but that ties in with the whole 'romance' angle to this particular line of erotica and is delivered beautifully.

If one thing interfered with my enjoyment of the film it was the highly responsible use of condoms throughout. I feel guilty even writing this, because it's great that the actors and actresses were using protection - but for a film based on a fantasy setting, in a consequence free environment, and with scenarios generally set between monogamous couples, it seemed starkly out of place. It's one of the occasions in which the reality of adult entertainment interfered with the fantasy of erotica.

Ultimately, though, Almost Heaven was a truly romantic, erotic, thought-provoking film that is ideal for couples and romantics. The sex scenes seem totally natural, well filmed and realized and the result is a DVD that satisfies as both a movie and pornography; a rare achievement.