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Review #135 of 365
Film: Boy Culture [NR] 88 minutes
WIP™ Scale: $11.50
Where Viewed: Landmark Egyptian Theatre, Seattle, WA
[2006 Seattle International Film Festival]
When 1st Seen: 27 May 2006
Time: 1:30 p.m.
One of the producers read Matthey Rettenmund's book, Boy Culture, and decided it should be made into a movie. Enter Q. Allan Brocka, Director of the successful indie cult film, Eating Out, and a couple of years later you have a one of the first American-made films about gay people that doesn't treat them all as HIV hives, swishy sex maniacs, or general ner-do-wells. The film turns out to be a really good story which emphasizes a life-problem/skill with which everyone can relate, risk-taking. Which is riskier? Taking a risk and failing or never taking the risk and then never knowing if you might have succeeded and now are living a life fully unfulfilled? This is brought out through the story of the main character who, for the sake of anonymity, calls himself X. Twenty-five year old X is a professional male escort for precisely 12 older gentlemen who can afford him. And thanks to their generosity toward his services, he can afford to live in a very nice Seattle Loft apartment with two roommates who get to live there for free which helps get the IRS off his back. When it comes to intimate relations, X has no shortage, but when it comes to love, X has zero. He and his roommates, Joey (Jonathon Trent)--a barely 18-year old kid who lives pretty loose and fancy free, and Andrew (Darryl Stephens)—a video store clerk who once dated a girl for three years because he had a crush on her brother, form what X happily refers to as the post-nuclear family. Through impeccable conversations with one of his newest clients, a 70+ year-old gentleman scoundrel named Gregory (Patrick Bauchau), X begins to doubt his profession and wonder if it is keeping him from finding true love. Now part of him isn't sure he wants true love. Indeed, he makes quite a point of keeping his ties to other people to a minimum. His preferred mode of transportation toward that end is a motorcycle, and no, he doesn't have a spare helmet.
"All in All, I thought this film has quite a bit to offer on many levels. The story is entertaining and appealing. I thought it was about time that someone made a movie like this."It was so refreshing to see a comedic drama on this underserved segment of our society that didn't focus on sex as much as it focused on the relationships and the hope that there is a love out there for everyone, if you only stop fighting your instincts and just go for it. The cast is just perfect, especially Derek Maygar who bears some resemblance to Michael T. Weiss of the old tv show The Pretender; but, according to the director, was selected for his voice. X is a guy who sometimes isn't very nice to people. So, finding an actor who could walk this line and still be a properly dashing protagonist I'm sure wasn't easy. Meanwhile, also according to the director, they were not even sure Patrick Bauchau was going to take the role of Gregory until after the shoot of the film began. As the elder-statesmen type, who helps X see that it might be ok to let someone really into his life, Mr. Bauchau was flawless. Their on-screen chemistry made for an additional interesting dimension to the story.
All in All, I thought this film has quite a bit to offer on many levels. The story is entertaining and appealing. I thought it was about time that someone made a movie like this.
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