Sandstone

Description

TAGLINE: "A Daring Experience in Open Sexuality! Something is happening in America!" An in-depth look at the famous retreat north of Los Angeles where nudity and uninhibited sexual expression are encouraged. A study in alternative lifestyles. "1-1-75 Movie Review by ROGER EBERT : "Enough of these documentaries of the sexual revolution. What we need now is a revolution of the sexual documentary. Hardly a month goes by without yet another analysis of the upheaval in middleclass morality that's allegedly sweeping the land (for "land." read California), and most of these movies are so uplifting and earnest that we end up nostalgic for the good old days of inhibition. At least in those days an illicit thrill was both illicit and a thrill. "Sandstone," for example, is a documentary about a loosely defined group of people who live or visit in a rambling ranch house in the hills above Los Angeles. They seem like ordinary enough folks, pulling up in their Volkswagen stations wagons and talking about their last vacation and lining up with paper plates for the buffet dinner. But they're more liberated, freer, more open and loving than their fellow beings down in the valley; they take off their clothes and embrace each other a lot and get into heavy rap sessions. And, likely as not, by the time the weekend's over they'll have had sex with various friends, strangers, lovers or even spouses. This is known as strengthening a relationship, or testing a relationship, or finding new validity in a relationship. They all talk a lot about relationships. They sit on sofas and debate whether their relationships are "ready" for the idea of the husband or wife having sex with someone else: "Right now it'd be threatening," they say, "but maybe in a couple of years our relationship will be strong enough for that trip." They're mostly married, it would appear; and in "Sandstone" it almost seems that the purpose of marriage is to cement a relationship so sound that it can flourish on adultery.