Chasing Pavement (US 2015)

The Gist:

A well known successful gay porn star who is making plans to leave the industry needs a new roommate. A Japanese immigrant looking to break into the tech industry needs a place to live. They move in together and realizations are made as boundaries are crossed. 

Comments:

The movie is okay. It's not really that bad, though it's also not exactly good either. 

Best thing is that there are some interesting ideas tossed around, such as the porn dude having submerged his 'real' self in favor of his porn persona for so long that there's nothing "real" left of him. He's just a shell of a person with all depth and humanity worn away. An interesting thought, though nothing much is done with it. 

A lot of the movie is like this, an idea is introduced, but not really addressed in much detail. 

Another issue is the dialogue. Everyone, especially the porn star lead speaks in the style of "listen to how  intelligent I am." Unfortunately it all comes off fake, since people, even smart people don'f talk like that ALL the time. It sounds like an expectation of what smart people sound like rather than how they actually speak. 

The stilted way he talks helps with the idea that the porn star is all artificial surface, though I'm not sure that was intentional. 

More oddness is how the porn star is supposedly leaving the industry to become a chef. Other than one line stating this, there's no indication it's happening. Well there is a scene  of him reading a text book, but for a would be chef, he rarely cooks or shows any interest in food. 

The subplot with the new roommate also goes against this leaving porn behind idea, since the new roomie is hired to work on putting together a website for the porn star's services to expand his "business." A job that results in the introverted, straight roomie watching porn staring his new extrovert gay roommate. A situation that leads exactly where you think it will lead. 

Issues and unsurprising story aside, not much happens here. People talk smart. Talk smart more. Then talk smart even more as everyone present, porn star's, friends, clients, and roommates all lead their lives of lies and artifice. 

So yeah, not terrible, just not overly interesting either. 

Women: 

There are two women in the movie, both seen from a distance voyeristly, one has some dialogue so following my rules of "counting as yes if it's a speaking role then, yes.... barely 

People of color: 

Yes. Very much so. One of the better things in the movie is that everyone isn't a white gay man. 

Gratuitous Nudity: 

butt shots and simulated sex

• Director: Matthew Doyle
• Writer: Mathew Doyle
• Actors: Remy Mars, Tokio Sasaki, Antonio Biaggi
• 82 min
• IMDB

Eighteen (2005 Canada)

The Gist:

Young Pip has run away from home after an incident involving his father and brother. As he tries to survive on the streets he listens to his eighteenth birthday gift from his grandfather, an audiotape where his grandfather describes his own eighteenth birthday as a British soldier in World War Two.  

Comments (with no real spoilers):

First off, despite being included in lists of "gay" movies, it isn't really a "gay flick." While it does have gay characters and some subplots are driven by homophobia (and astonishingly bad parenting), the two leads are straight. Which means the actual gays are minor characters and the focus of the movie is to parallel hetero Pip life as a homeless runaway against that of his hetero grandfather trying to survive the war.

I looked around for reviews of the movie and didn't find many professional reviews, but I did find lots of regular people gushing over it, loving this movie to death. I didn't. Which is not to say it's bad. Parts of it are good and while there are some problems here, it at least tries. More so it attempts to be ambitious, which frankly is not too common. 

One of my issues is of simple suspension of disbelief. Basically, while he more or less does a good job with the role, the idea that the actor playing Pip is just barely eighteen pushes credibility beyond the breaking point. Even characters on a TV show where young thirty-somethings play high school kids would look at him and wonder what the heck was going on. As is the guy playing hustler Clark is also far too old for his role. 

The other issues I have are a bit subjective. The movie is too soap opera melodramatic for my taste and there is a lot of story / points to cover crammed into its running time, so some if not most things don't get quite enough time to be dealt with properly. 

Women:
Yes

People of color:
One scene has one guy with a couple of lines

Gratuitous nudity:
I saw the movie last week and have already forgotten if there was any nudity, so um, maybe? 

• Director: Richard Bell 
• Writer: Richard Bell
• Actors: Paul Anthony, Brendan Fletcher, Ian McKellen (voice only), Alan Cumming
• 106 min
• IMDB

Rhythm and Blues (U.K. 2000)

The Gist:

In London, an attractive man named John befriends a skinhead, Byron, and though Byron in extremely swift order: is convinced he should be become a hustler; joins a gay male escort service; and is chosen for hire by an older, eccentric, rich American called Bad Daddy for a night of debauchery. As all this is going on a mysterious serial killer hustler, "The Rent Boy Ripper," is murdering his clients.

Comments:

First off, the movie is largely bad. It's a gay, hustler, murder thriller, comedy; and it doesn't particularly "do" any of those adjectives very well. 

There are occasional humorous moments, but overall the movie is not that funny. The thriller / mystery part of the story alternates between being mildly interesting and boring. The acting ranges from bad to adequate, which is not helped by occasionally confusing dialogue. That last bit is in reference to dialogue / editing, as the movie has people occasionally referencing conservations that only take place in deleted scenes. 

Negatives aside, the movie has an odd charm to it, a sort of low budget, sad, Britishness to it that made me not mind how bad it was. Then again maybe I didn't mind that the movie sucked because I think Paul Blackthorne (John) is hot. 

Regardless of how prurient thoughts affected my judgement, the movie is not worth watching. Unless you're into comedic hustler thrillers that aren't particularly humorous, thrilling, or good that is. 

Women:

Yes

People of color:

No

Gratuitous nudity:

Women, yes. 
Men, teasingly nearly, but no actual nudity 

• Director: Stephen Lenhoff
• Writer: Michael Jones
• Actors: Angus MacInnes, Ian Henderson, Paul Blackthorne
• 98 min
• IMDB

The Foxy Merkins (U.S. 2013)

The Gist:

A young naive gay kid, new to hustling, is shown the ropes by a more experienced hustler and they make a connection, becoming friends and more, despite the more experienced hustler being, or at claiming to be, straight, as they do what they can to survive the tough life on the streets. 

Now take the cliche filled hustler movie you've pictured in your head and turn into a comedy with adult women in place of skinny gay twinks. 

Comments:

The movie was made by the same people who did Codependent Lesbian Space Alien Seeks Same. This time instead of low budget, extremely quirky and decidedly odd comedy riffing on bad 50's sci-fi movies, we have  a low budget, extremely quirky and decidedly odd comedy riffing on hustler movies. 

The two leads have great chemistry together, and overall it's a funny movie, though given the subject matter it helps if you're familiar with the genre, specifically Midnight Cowboy and My Own Private Idaho. Many of the jokes and situations only really make sense if you are familiar with the source material, otherwise the requisite "search to find my lost mother" or the required "men are incapable of loving another man" speech are not so much funny as just confusing. Although in case with the reversed genders it's now "women can't love other women," which comes off as very strange and nonsensical, and presumably is part of the intent and source of much of the humor. Other jokes, such as having the clothing store Talberts be THE place for lesbian prostitutes to hang out at are a bit more straightforward.

While I enjoyed it, it's not exactly a great movie. It does have a lot of issues. Not all the jokes are funny, some, such as the harassing cops sequence go on for too long; and there is no real plot, just our leads drifting in a vaguely Private Idaho direction with occasional Midnight Cowboy imagery. The basic idea of the movie is a problem as well, as unlike the Science Fiction of Codependent Lesbian Space Alien, not everyone has seen hustler movies which limits its audience to a large extent. 

So while I liked it, I'm not sure I'd recommend it. At least not without a lot of caveats. That you be a fan of quirky low budget movies. That you can easily ignore the lack of plot. That you know your hustler movies. But mainly that you have a very odd-ball sense of humor, because this is no where near 'normal' comedy territory.

Women:

Yes

People of color:

Yes 

Gratuitous nudity:

Yes

• Director: Madeleine Olnek
• Writers: Lisa Haas, Jackie Monahan, Madeline Olnek
• Actors: Lisa Haas, Jackie Monahan
• 81 min
• IMDB

Between Something and Nothing (U.S. 2008)

The Gist:

Small town boy Joe goes to a famous art school in Providence on scholarship and befriends fellow student Jennifer. They cope with the ever growing ridiculous demands of school by constantly partying. Also, Joe has a secret life where he is obsessed with a local hustler and becomes a hustler as well. 

Comments:

It seems that art school is filled with self indulgent, rich, pretentious, asshole kids who are terrible people, who are taught by self indulgent, incompetent, pretentious, asshole teachers who are terrible people incapable of actually teaching. Also, Providence is filled to overflowing with male prostitutes who are assholes. The only sane response to all of this assholery is to drink heavily, do drugs, become a hustler, have sex with as many men as possible, act like a jerk, and use these experiences to fuel your art. 

From reading up a little about him, director Todd Verow tends to create somewhat aggressively stylized movies featuring stories that are neither hollywood standard nor gay / romance / drama cliche. He also revisits themes such as sex and injects autobiographical elements from his life into his movies, such as when he attended art school and apparently worked as a hustler.

Many "hustler movies" tend to feel forced and emotionally manipulative and while this doesn't quite escape all of the traps of the tragic gay hustler trope, the autobiographical feel (that it has some sort of resemblance to reality) combined with the use of digital video (which makes it feel more "personal" than film would have), and the somewhat drifting narrative helps makes this a better movie than many of its brethren. 

It's an interesting movie, well done, and I must admit rather sexy (once Joe gets a Mohawk and loses his ability to wear non-ripped shirts he goes from cute boy next door to smoking hot). 

While I think it's good, actually recommending it would depend on your reaction to experimental movies. While not totally "out there" (it does have a plot and is told in a fairly straightforward manner), it could seem boring and rambling if you're uninterested in the story or the way it's told. 

Women: 

Yes

People of color:

Yes

Gratuitous nudity:

Yes

• Director: Todd Verow
• Writers: Todd Verow, Jim Dwyer
• Actors: Tim Swain, Julia Frey, Gil Bar-Sela
• 105 min 
• IMDB