★ 7 / 10
Ok, so this does not get off to
CinemaSerf
Ok, so this does not get off to a good start. It uses so many styles of quick-fire photography, jump-cut editing and unreadable on-screen text messaging that I…
Ok, so this does not get off to a good start. It uses so many styles of quick-fire photography, jump-cut editing and unreadable on-screen text messaging that I was positively praying for anything with a tripod, hell - even a tree-trunk would have done, to stabilise the shot. Then, “Doc” (Tanner Cohen) hoves into view and tells us, after a fair amount of whisky and soda, that he has a monumental crush. He is completely smitten by go-go dancer “Go” (Matthew Camp) - but he hasn’t the cajones to even approach the lad, let alone declare his undying love. It’s very late when he commits that most cardinal of internet sins. He writes an email telling “Go” that he is making a documentary film about dancers and he wants him to feature. When he awakens next morning, suitably hungover and mortified, he is shocked to get a response. He is to come to the club and meet the man! Now the film really comes alive as Camp, one of the most charismatic and energetic people to ever grace gay cinema, bounds over a scaffolding pole and says hello. Now begins forty-odd minutes of cinema that does, indeed, shine some light on the world of the cash-for-a-grope livelihood of these muscle-bound and scantily clad bodies on podia whilst these two men begin to discover more about what makes them each tick. “Doc” is naive, impressionable and gets his sexual kicks “digitally”; his new friend an almost hyper-confident and a very experienced purveyor of the sex industry. The more time they spend together, the more the younger man becomes enamoured, and when they finally do hook up he genuinely believes that something more substantial might really be on the cards. What chance? Once you get to grips with the frenetic photographic style, then I found there to be something really quite natural about their characterisations. In a world where gay cinema is so often - as “Go” himself describes - khaki pants and polo shirts, these two present us with a clash of cultures within a culture. The dialogue flits between the openly flirtatious and the more intelligent. Indeed some of the critique on just how gay people live their lives with regard to casual sex, commitment-phobia, conformation or using a flamboyance to do anything but, is actually quite honestly portrayed by a pair who do look like they really do like one another. It also boasts one of the longest sex scenes you’re likely to see, and moreover one that doesn’t use cupboard doors, or towels, or cameras hidden up the chimney to convey a sense that they are physically engaging. There is even some laughter (though, we don’t see what at!). Sadly, perhaps allegorically, it completely fizzles out after about an hour and resorts to a couple of lengthy musical edits to pad out the film before it heads into a space that it could have been a bit braver and avoided. If you saw Cohen in the enjoyable Shakespearean reimagining “Were the World Mine” then you’ll know what to expect from this man. Camp, though, steals the film as a man who convinces right from, yep, the get-go and I found myself really quite enjoying this.
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★ 8 / 10
A very painful film...suffers from indie problems
CubsandCulture
There are too many sequences of this film that drag on past the narrative point of including them. In particular the final near silent montage of kissing…
There are too many sequences of this film that drag on past the narrative point of including them. In particular the final near silent montage of kissing delays the climax far too much. The pace of the story is killed as a result. Further, several of the montages of Go border on the hypocritical given the rest of the film's commitment to discuss the rampant objectification of people in the gay community. The film is 20 minutes too long as a result. Likewise, there is a amateurish quality to the performances that prevent a more polished film. Camp and Cohen have good chemistry but they are not great actors. Camp, especially, doesn't seem to understand what subtext is. The docudrama construction feels like a vain attempt too hide this. The film is largely experimental in its filming (They shot at Camp's actual apartment for example) and this can be rather off putting at times.
With that being said the film is quite good. The story is a painful, and a painfully accurate exploration of several major tensions present within the gay community. The notions of too much sex, the cost-benefits assimilation, how to be gay, the various "tribes" of gay men and fickle nature of the male gaze all get a hearing in the film. I related to much of it but I can't say I found it much more than hey this problem exist. A lot of it is left unresolved. That is probably a realistic viewpoint but it adds to the indie vibe of the film.
The film is quite forward in its depiction of homoeroticism. I found the sex scenes very naturalistic. I am not sure if I have seen gay sex depicted as realistic as I have seen here. The film does provide a nice counterpoint to the heteronormative depictions of the male form one usually finds.
I am glad I own this but it is a challenging film to watch.
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6.9/10
3.3K
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