A French director of [gay pornography] known for his distinctive style of filmmaking. Born on February 10, 1944, Jean-Daniel Cadinot was the son of tailors, who assumed he would follow in the family business. In defiance Cadinot ran away from home at 17 to pursue a career as a painter; he instead found a talent as a [photographer] and filmmaker. When he died on April 23, 2008 he left behind a substantial body of work.

The importance of Cadinot's work is its deviation from the work of other houses of pornography. Most pornographic films are composed of long sex-scenes girded by flimsy, laughable dialogue and shallow plots. The actors are usually well-built white men who go robotically through the motions, moaning "Oh yeah!" That's right!" "Take it all!" at predictable intervals. But the films of Jean-Daniel Cadinot feature characters and storylines that are enriched by sexuality, instead of dime-a-dozen [nature films]. Cadinot knew that, sooner or later, watching two faceless strangers [have sex|bump uglies] fails to excite. Pornography's ability to [titillate] is dependent on believable [fantasy]. His fantasies usually included young, thin [twink|twinks], [Arabian] men and locations, and actors that were genuinely turned on by the sex they were having.

Cadinot's [cinematography] is an important part of his appeal. He would often shoot in incredibly low light, with the camera obscured by objects or at odd angles, making the viewer feel less like a disinterested [onanist], and more like a heady [voyeur]. Some of his camera tricks are astounding in their [ribald|ribaldness]: In one film, a young man is being digitally stimulated and the camera abruptly switches to a different point of view, one in which the camera is looking through a pink [aperture] of flesh. Cadinot had simulated the camera being inside of the young man's [anus|orifice].

The delicate choice of setting is integral to an understanding of Cadinot's [oeuvre]. The sexual promiscuity in his films doesn't take place in a nondescript set, tarted up to look like a [hotel] or a [barrack|barracks]; his shooting locations vibrate with secret life. His depictions of sex are played out in the places where men live: in the dormitory at an all boys school, in a dungeon-like [Turkish bath], in the woods. As such, his models always look hurried, rushed; there seems to be someone forever in the next room, waiting to burst in. Rarely undressing all the way, their embraces are as intense as they are [clandestine].

A fair amount of Cadinot's films are disturbing and [unpalatable]; often speaking as they do in the language of [taboo]. In Les Minets Sauvage, a teenager in [juvenile hall] is graphically raped by his bunk mates; Secrets de Famille is about the effect of [incest] on a French family. In his later years, Cadinot became more mainstream; his films took on a more professional feel, and he toned down some of his more controversial themes.

Jean-Daniel Cadinot (person)