Let's not get carried away here: Radley Metzger's 1974 swinger sexathon, newly released in an extended hard-core version, certainly has an elegant look to it that separates it from its ilk---the movies that first launched porn into the mainstream. But compelling drama this is not. You still get the same dumb-as-dirt line readings as you do with Deep Throat ("I'm afraid I'm not a very good junkie!"), and the coupling, while impressively bisexual and liberated, is not all that titillating.
Why, then, is your family-friendly publication Time Out New York lending space to this title? There can be no denying the influence of Metzger, an unshowy craftsman whose beautiful compositions and sneaky zoom-lens abuse have gone on to inspire many young filmmakers. (Anna Biller's recent Viva is a virtual homage.)
Adult cinema is increasingly becoming nonironic terrain for indie filmmakers; you could draw through lines from titles like Humpday, The Brown Bunny and the forthcoming Blue Valentine (a sexually explicit relationship drama starring Michelle Williams and Ryan Gosling) back to the skin industry. So if The Social Network is bringing back the Chayefskyian 1970s thriller---and Paranormal Activity 2 the surveillance-camera shocker---then there should be room for porn.
The DVD presents the movie in a crisp transfer, with a director's commentary.