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CABIN FEVER
Produced, Directed, Written, and Videotaped by Russ Sterriker
Beautiful Young Woman - Jenny
Why do boys start making movies? To take pictures of pretty girls, or course.
Didn't Fancois Truffaut say something to that effect?
There's nothing more beautiful than the female form. Ask any boy and he'll tell you. Every curve, every line, every sway captures our imagination and fuels our innermost desires. It probably has something to do with the id and our base desire to procreate, but the romantic in me would like to think there's more to it. That man, being intellectual creatures, can appreciate the Lord's finest piece of work, the woman.
Just because one appreciates the female form doesn't make one a lecher. Lust can me removed from the equation completely and that doesn't necessarily mean our appreciation of the female form is lessened. Russ Sterriker's CABIN FEVER is different sort of erotica than what is usually sent to the site. There are no lesbians, or even any sexual situations, simply a celebration of the female form.
A beautiful young woman awakens on a lazy winter's afternoon after napping in a bay window with the warm sunlight pouring through. The camera doesn't linger or debase the woman. We watch her at rest, free from the woea's of the world. All we're concerned about is the way the sunlight falls on her golden hair and lithe body.
The rest of the movie is her lazy day. In the safety and security of her home, she imagines the day away while in various stages of undress. At one point she showers, at another she plays dress up, all the while longing for warm days of spring where she basks outside under the sun. Rather than this gorgeous woman acting out our fantasies, we see her act out her own. The reversal is the difference between porn and erotica.
Sterriker takes his time letting the story unfold. The slow pace reflects the lazy afternoon. Set completely to mellow acoustic guitar music, CABIN FEVER comes across more as visual poem, a sonnet to skin. It's the thinking man's skin flick. Take the shower scene, a staple of erotic features, but Sterriker never provides the lingering shots of the breasts being lathered over and over. Instead, he opts of the image of water cascading down upon the body. The result is something I'm not ashamed to watch. Viewers don't feel cheap afterwards.
The beautiful young woman never primps or mugs for the camera. She's not there to titillate or turn us on. At one point the events move outside as the fantasy girl longs for spring. We see her gallivanting around an expertly groomed garden in her backyard. She listens to birds and takes in the peaceful sounds. She's one with herself and nature. Isn't that how it was in the Garden of Eden?
To appreciate one's body is healthy. To appreciate someone else's body is equally as healthy. To feel comfortable enough in your own skin to expose it to the elements takes a certain kind of person with a strong confidence in who they are. CABIN FEVER is an artful celebration of that kind of person, someone proud to be a woman.