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Reviews
Kink Crusaders (2011)
"These are my people, this is my tribe"
For those unfamiliar with International Mr. Leather, it as an annual event where literally thousands of Leatherfolk gather every May in Chicago. The centerpiece of the weekend is the International Mister Leather contest, in which men from around the world compete for the chance to promote the Leather Lifestyle (among other activities).
But it wasn't always like this. In a DVD that is destined to take a place next to the book "25 Years Of Champions," "Kink Crusaders" chronicles the humble beginnings of IML in 1979 (12 contestants from 6 states) to the extravagant pageant that it is today. In 2008, documentarian Mike Skiff travelled to Chicago for the chance to capture the 30th year of IML as it unfolded. So as you would expect, this is the kind of film that is laden with imagery of Homomasculinity at its hottest, with pictures, interviews and event clips documenting every year of International Mr. Leather. (Including a brief but explanatory clip as a postlude from IML 2010.) But once again, I have to repeat. "Kink Crusaders" is much more than a tableaux of hot men in leather. Perspective comes from a rare "Mr Gold Coast Leather" film clip to ongoing interviews with contestants and commentary from Guy Baldwin, founder Chuck Renslow and others (including the odd interlopers who found themselves inside the hotel as the contest was occurring). Mike Skiff and a host of contributors have created a grand history of this culture of leather in this magnificent 90 minute documentary. But if the thought of all those concepts and heavy thinking intimidates you, fear not. There are contest videos, and did I fail to mention that the pictures are hot? If you missed that earlier on, forgive me. I reiterate; the men are HOT. Get "Kink Crusaders" now. It's going to look great on your widescreen.
Abrupt Decision (2011)
Puppy Love
Denis is having a rotten week. He just lost his job of 11 years. His relationship is gone stale, and rocky. His Mother, a sweet and overbearing woman, is seriously ill. With all the turmoil going on around him, what does Mom suggest? "Get a dog." But when Denis goes to the pound and can't decide which dog he wants, the one he finally chooses is gone when he goes back. When he finds out why, Dennis decides exactly what his modern mid-life crisis needs.
He makes his "Abrupt Decision" (the fifth feature from filmmaker Paul Bright) when he realizes that his creative collapse mirrors that of the dogs' dangerous lives. With some inspiration from his Mom (Cynthia Schiebel) and the reluctant support of his partner, Milosz (David LaDuca), Denis (Steve Callahan) decides that saving the lives of animals and educating people on their care is his way into a meaningful second act. You know how the saying goes, if you don't want to be upstaged in a movie, stay away from children and dogs? Despite the superb job by Steve and David, the pups are "Abrupt Decision's" scene stealers. But beware. Even with the cute pooches running amuck, this is a very emotionally striking movie.
In the new economy, where men like Denis can find their lives upended and discover that your expertise vaporized after 50, there are many among us who will relate to the impact of "Abrupt Decision's" story. As Denis struggles to find the right decisions in matters of utmost importance, you may put down the doggy treats and reach for the hankies. I'll certainly say that the film is a must-see for pet-lovers, but it also carries an intimate, personal life story.
Hommes à louer (2008)
The Lost Boys of Montreal
"Men For Sale" is a harrowing look at about a dozen hustlers over a year's time in Montreal as they come into a clinic known as Sero-Zero. It's a place where they can get health checks and information about AIDS prevention. It's also where documentarian Rodrigue Jean set up his cameras for month-by-month interviews. The over two hour running time adds to the nightmarish aspect of the men's existences.
They live in a constant parade of drugs (Crack, mainly), sex, hustling, fights, and dreams that even they know won't come true. One by one, these young men talk about being in a life that seems like a death wish (some of them repeatedly say they want to commit suicide) or a never ending lurch from score to score. There's scenes of deep denial about their lives, like the one man who is the father to a baby that he thinks he could be a good father for, even as he talks about buying more crack. Some of these men think it's a major achievement in detoxing if they stay off the rock for more than 10 hours.
But then it's right back to the viscous cycle. After awhile, the film becomes almost numbing in it's predictability, repetitive nature, and a serious lack of editing. (Did there really need to be shots of the men getting microphones taped on their chests? Or the transitional shots of Montreal in the dark?) The film is also in French, so you're reading subtitles throughout. With the exception of "Willy," whose face is never fully shown, most of these men are inarticulate, which renders the subtitles into something resembling a news-channel's repetitious lower screen ticker bar.
The story never seems to change. It makes "Men For Sale" a depressing portrait of prostitution and drug use. To the movie's credit, there's no glamorization or teary fake redemption scenes, and plenty of close ups of men beaten both mentally and physically. "I'm 23 and I'm losing my teeth," one of the men grouses. They may be "Men For Sale," but ultimately, they give up whatever value they could have and the DVD refuses to flinch at that fact.
Poikien bisnes (2009)
Half a Boy and Half a Man
In the intriguing documentary "All Boys," film maker Markku Heikkinen travels to Prague and takes on the rise and stagnation of the Czech Boys gay porn phenomenon. While he talks to many in the scene, he concentrates on four particular men; Director Dan Komar, and three of his actors Rudy (stage name Aaron Hawke), Josef and Filip. While each of these men has a striking story, it is Aaron's that forms the film's emotional core.
Komar is an adult trapped in arrested development, surrounding himself with perpetual 18 to 20 year olds and making movies of them having sex. It's hard to tell if he's got any emotional investment in his charges; frankly, he is a blank slate emotionally. Josef is a boy who only wants to provide for his impoverished mom. Filip is a straight boy and a go-getter, who works three jobs and does porn for the extra money. These three stories seem to work on the supply and demand theory. Komar has money and jobs, the boys are broke and in desperate need. In a country that has just broken into uncharted territory, these fresh and innocent faces lunge right into an industry that would die without a constant conveyor belt of fresh names.
However, the dark side of this story is Rudu, who gets discovered sleeping under a bridge. He is the hot new kid on the DVD player, makes a load of fast money, and when his features no longer fit the Czech Boys mold, he doesn't have the maturity to move on. He goes from being a "superstar...like Jim Carrey" to a homeless drunk sleeping in a junkyard. From fresh new face to junkie in barely two years is a depressing arc to behold.
While Josef and Filip found their way out of porn and into a life after their twinky expiration dates, it is Rudu's face that stays with you. There's another man who appears briefly, admitting to being a prostitute after being in porn and is already damaged beyond likely repair...at the age of 27. (I won't even go into the fact that these boys are almost all barebacking.) "All Boys" takes a hard look behind the bright lights and gaudy colors to stare at what happens after the clock runs out.
Altitude Falling (2010)
Here's Your Future
It's hard to do low-budget sci-fi. And when I talk low budget, I am talking about an eight day shooting schedule and very small cast (basically, five main players and a small handful of extras). Plus making a premise that doesn't collapse under it's own weight. "Altitude Falling," a modestly created look at the near future, pulls it off, and is director Paul Bright's best film to date.
To summate, it's a decade or so into the future. There's a deep recession going on, and an inexplicable war in Venezuela. People have been implanted with tracking chips, which started out as innocent ways to identify and locate people in case of serious emergencies, like accidents or natural disasters. But now the mere act of entering a mini-market ID's you and offers you a targeted special sale item. It also means that, as the war escalates, the government can find you if they need you.
The five lives interconnected here are all tied to the chips and how they evolved. Greg Forrster (Bright) has fled his old life to take residence in New Mexico, and Danny's family has come to escape their unemployed status after tidal surges have destroyed their home (the consequences of global warming are where the movie's title come from). One of the more intriguing aspects of "Altitude Falling" is just how easily this future could occur, without any whizz-bang gizmos or vacuously expensive "Avatar" effects. The fiction is subtle, but realistic. "Altitude Falling" is a provocative and enjoyable film.
The Adonis Factor (2010)
Body, want to feel my Body, Body.
Beefcake everywhere you look, and why? "The Adonis Factor" takes to three cities to investigate (primarily Los Angeles, San Francisco and Atlanta, with a side trip to Palm Springs). Director and narrator Christopher Hines is on his second tour of this turf after his "The Butch Factor" in 2009, which was broader in focus. In "Adonis," he asks why big beefy men are the template for 'beauty' and talks to a bunch of them.
He also sidelines with talks with Titan Films, a plastic surgeon, a nude yoga instructor and a bunch of WeHo Twinks (who are all about ten years away from serious therapy). While the Adonises in the film fall into the spectrum of kind of sweet to genuinely annoying, it's the other interviews that shed light on the subject. The Goth Model Chris Catalyst is the most intriguing as a man who discovered his alternative nature and used it to his advantage. The trip to Lazy Bear is almost as interesting. One point I really wish Hines had spent more time on is the aging Colt Model as he muses on becoming the invisible former star. Which is amazing enough in the fact that he still looks like a million beefy bucks.
There are enough beefy men here of various ages (and several of them nekkid) to intrigue the voyeur viewers, but the underlying message is that the subset of A-Listers who cluster with fellow A-Listers aren't always as beautiful as you think. A trip into some smaller cities might have given the film more depth, then again, once goes where the pickings are best. Granted that finding poorly adjusted muscleheads in LA is like shooting sharks in a barrel, "The Adonis Factor" does a pretty good job at balancing the sexy and the smart.
Aaron Albeit a Hero (2009)
Stop! Or I'll...uh...Shoot!
Poor Aaron is having a bad day. He's on his last day of a lousy job. That crappy job has him hosting old ladies who "dress" like old movie stars to sites around Austin Texas that have been used in movie shoots. The new van driver is a creep. His company's boss is about to be revealed as a drug smuggler. The boss's henchmen are trying to kill him. Worse yet, his grandmother has decided she wants to toodle along in the van on Aaron's last day on the job. And things are about to get worse.
That's the setting for writer/producer/director Paul Bright's (Theft, Angora Ranch) new movie, the quirky crime caper "Aaron, Albeit a Sex Hero." Aaron (Matthew Charles Burnette) simply wants to finish a day's work so he can start a new job with a cruise line. Instead, he has to fight to escape drug runners, scorpions, rattlesnakes, spiders and Jessie, the new driver who is in on the trafficking. Oh yes, and to not embarrass himself in front of his grandmother...who is having a secret affair with one of the van travelers! "Aaron..." dodges the usual gay-movie clichés in that Aaron is hunky but no James Bond. He's already come out, so there's no endless angst about "is he or isn't he?" Nobody here is a crazed interior decorator or show-tune queen. In fact, at just under 90 minutes, this movie moves at a rapid clip with little wasted space. Aaron has one night to make everything right, and maybe get his rocks off. "Aaron...Albeit a Sex Hero" is a fun watch, with both Matthew Charles Burnette and Rafiel Soto (who plays Jessie and is one hunky bad guy) are solid in their leads and make the best of this low-budget treat.
PS. Watch the credits for an extra reveal.
Liberty in Restraint (2005)
Documenting The Unusual
We see images of kink everywhere nowadays. Be it our lifestyle publications to the assimilation of the imagery in popular culture (think of the print advertisements for movies like Hostel or the Saw series). At the same time, as often as we see the photographs and the artwork, we forget that there is a person behind the camera. Someone had to set up the studio, find models and assistants, in some cases, come up with a concept, and then start snapping the shutter. Then even if you have the preconception that there is a hand on the camera, what about the person holding it? What makes him shoot that shot? "Liberty in Restraint," directed by Michael Ney, quests to get into the mind of Australian fetish photographer Noel Graydon. Following his creative arc from aspiring commercial photographer to fetish practitioner, Graydon is a man who couldn't just try an activity as much as he had to immerse himself.
Beginning from his candid admission to once being a heroin addict (because he wanted to see what the whole drug culture was all about), Graydon brings the same aesthetic to his kinky photography. He recognized the fetish world as having overlaps in "the psychology of sex and the psychology of addiction." Soon he has a crew of similarly-minded associates who draw him into the Australian Fetish Community. Many of these folk add commentary to the film, including his bondage rope enthusiast/mentor Mistress Felina (who Graydon praises for her "beauty in rope") and Puck, who is credited in the film as "our guide to SM." The various men and women who allow themselves to be filmed and interviewed all comment about the natural nature of their D/s relationships. As is typical in these kind of documentaries, the surprise to most vanilla viewers will be not that the participants are freakish or outrageous, but just how typical they seem to be.
Depictions and descriptions of bloodsport, mummification, hot wax, rope bondage, fire play, club officers and organizers pepper the film with their observations and philosophies. There is the usual common ground about respect and trust, but also interspersed with Noel's fascination with the "why." This documentary, then, is following Graydon's journey. He becomes so engrossed in his new world that he even becomes Master Venom and enters the arena of the Pro-Dom. He gets a full-back tattoo and allows himself to endure a ritual cutting. The deeper Graydon goes, the more intense the participants he attracts become. (I must admit, the session with 'needle boy' even had me cringing.)
"Liberty In Restraint" doubles as your travelogue to kinky Sydney, as historical points of Australian kink are expounded on. While Graydon himself considers photography voyeuristic, he doesn't consider himself a voyeur...and the film often leaves you in the voyeur's seat. Graydon's photography is the focus of the documentary, and his various pieces and their executions/explanations are what move "Liberty" forward. Even his relapse into drug addiction shows his journey, as the ones who help him kick are members of his new community, along with his family.
That individualism among the community comes through in the interviews. A trip to the DV8 play party provides a great chunk of the psychology of fetish participants, and is the segment that features the more explicit play. The most shocking session is the final photo shoot, titled "Suffer the Little Children," where Graydon works his anger at the Australian Catholic arch-Bishop's 2002 child sex scandals, where the Arch Bishop accused the gay community as being "more hazardous than smoking" while covering for pedophiles in the church. Graydon's offense at the hypocrisy is laid out when he states "I feel perfectly comfortable to leave my child with any of my queer friends, but there's no way I'd leave her with a catholic priest." Surrounding a trio of rubber and gas-mask clad individuals in a crucifixion tableau with a variety of kinky iconic characters. There are Nuns with gasmasks, a leather cop, a 'crown of thorns' designed with forehead piercings, a priest, a bishop and Graydon's infant daughter in very nervy portrait. As the climactic moment of Liberty in Restraint, it's a stunner.
At the same time, Graydon also shows himself as a family man who cares for his wife and baby, even as he recognizes his 'alternative family.' The film closes with Graydon conceding that his immense talent as a fetish photographer has to take second seat to his family, but he (along with his subjects and the interviewees) give insight into just what fetish brings to their lives. Sadly, "Liberty In Restraint" also serves as a memoriam to Graydon, who tragically died in 2007 of a heart-attack. One of the extra scenes is of Graydon in New York City in 2004, when a short-cut of the film as a work-in-progress was to be shown to an audience at the Cinekink Festival. Highly Recommnded.
"Liberty In Restraint," directed by Michael Ney, Produced by Sensory Image and Frontier Films. 90 minutes, includes a photo gallery of Noel Graydon's work, 6 deleted scenes and 5 extra interviews. This film contains high levels of adult themes, adult activity and references. But isn't that what you're looking for anyway?
Also recommended: Tom of Finland: Daddy and the Muscle Academy and Arakimentari
Theft (2008)
Wigs and Things in a Small Texas Town
Gentle, unassuming bar worker Guy suddenly finds himself in the middle of a conflict he never asked for when he discovers he is the owner of a small-town gay bar in the heart of Texas. But the local Evangelist nut-case has designs on the property. Thus is the basic premise of Paul Bright's "Theft," a fairy tale that involves drag queens, leathermen, small town prejudice and bizarrely twisted family ties.
It is a fun romp through a tough topic. Bright, whose initial film "Angora Ranch" has become a sleeper hit since its DVD release, has crafted a script that mixes topical barbs with goofy comedy. Once Guy realizes that he has inherited the Golden Door Bar, George/Sister Hosanna (David DeLuca) convinces him to stand up for the community, even when the Bible Thumping Hypocrite Sister Susannah (a spot on Cynthia Schiebel) begins attacking The Golden Door and those who would patronize the place. Of course, like most bashers, the sister has other agendas and is more than willing to cast stones. As the community pushes back, she pushed harder...and so the fun carries on.
This is a positive movie about gays, and has less to do with Christian Bashing than it does with making a statement about Christian Hypocrisy. The dueling "Onward Christian Soldiers" scene illustrate this point wonderfully, and still getting a laugh in the process. It's hard to say more without giving away the best parts of the movie, but as he did in "Angora Ranch," Bright's script takes on gay topics without getting to overtly clichéd while staying positive. It presents leathermen as non-threatening (the total reverse of "Cruising") and dreams of a world where this smalltown gay bar would thrive and foster a sense of community...AND take on crazy church ladies.
PS. Watch the credits to the end, and have a BIG laugh at Paul and "Sister Susannah's" exchange at the opening of the extra featurette.
Angora Ranch (2006)
Bunny Funny
"Angora Ranch" is a sweetly low-key romantic movie that has plenty of animals in it. There are rabbits, goats, horses and chickens (and the cat that managed to sneak into the dinner scene). But the romance is between two men who must overcome a different kind of animal: the paternal kind. Justin (Thomas Romano) is a 20-something cutie working for his father's advertising agency, a self-absorbed manipulator whom Justin can never satisfy. (And Daddy has a few secrets on the side.) Jack (Paul Bright, "Angora Ranch's" writer and director) is a gay widower who has a live-in father, Peter (Tim Jones, the movie's co-writer), that is trying to push "his gay son Jackson" into a relationship before he slips into total senility. A chance accident and a little of Peter's meddling drops Benny the Bunny squarely into the stew and a May/September romance begins in the suburbs of Austin, Texas.
While the movie is certainly not a slick affair (in the extras, Bright and Jones joke about how their budget was in "the thousands"), it does do several things the creators promise:
No tragic gay man dies of AIDS. No screaming queen is running around disrupting things. No men are just straight-acting guys claiming they're gay. And most importantly - All gay male characters are actually played by gay men.
The acting is not going to get any Academy Award nominations, but that isn't why you're going to enjoy this. "Angora Ranch" is a delight for the many things it isn't. Non-hyperactive, not bitter or angry, not political (other than the general wink at gay marriage) and not aimed at the tweaker circuit coming-out crowd. This is the kind of movie I am comfortable showing to friends with dinner, and, I am going to project, feel comfortable with repeat viewings.
And it's worth it just to see a rabbit yawn.
(For those of you who only buy "gay movies" based on skin content, Justin appears naked from the back and the two leads have a love scene from the waist up.)