Release Date: July 21st, 2006 (Quad Cinema) by Picture This! Entertainment. The Cast: Bryan Marshall, Sam Barlow, Sebastian Lamour, Jesse Lee, Bryan Bevege, Tammy Warwick, Francie Gray, Salim Kechiouche, Amanda Lear, Stéphane Rolland, Nancy Beatty, Greg Atkins, D. Garnet Harding, John Militello, Timothy Lee DePriest, Aron Tager, P.J. Lazic, Darryn Lucio. Directed by Tony Krawitz, Welby Ings, Bastian Schweitzer, Greg Atkins, Mary Feuer, Armen Kazazian. BASIC PREMISE: Six narrative short films about young hustlers’ relationship to their clients. ENTERTAINMENT VALUE: Into the Night, about an Australian teenager whose older, wealthy client who reminds him of his deceased son, has great cinematography, a natural script and convincing performances. The bond between the client and the teen could have been played out longer to make it more engaging, but, instead, it’s just subtly hinted to which is also effective. Not much interesting happens other than that the client attempts to kiss the boy on the mouth, but getting slapped instead. Boy is about a teenage prostitute who witnesses a fatal hit-and-run accident while his family tries to silence him from revealing the truth behind what he saw. Great cinematography doesn’t help to stop this film from seeming like a bizarre, pretentious music video—no dialogue; just music and visuals along with some captions. Gigolo is the most boring of the shorts. An Arabic male prostitute living in Paris comes to terms with his past while showing his anger regarding his current lifestyle of meaningless sex with clients. Then there’s Build about a hustler who befriends another young hustler and spends the night at his apartment. Soon enough, he befriends his friend’s mother and parties with her—but where there’s no dramatic tension and plenty of poor acting. In Rock Bottom, an obese man picks up a young hustler and, gradually, the two form a bond that may or may not be based on true love. This short film is quite well-written and well-acted with decent performances and complex characters. It does have promise to be turned into a feature film. Finally, there’s Gold, about a young hustler who lives with an elderly artist who happens to be going blind. The plot doesn’t really get particularly imaginative as the hustler leaves the artist, has sex with another hustler, and then returns to the comfort of the elderly artist. It’s not surprising nor engaging enough. SPIRITUAL VALUE: Unfortunately, none. INSULT TO YOUR INTELLIGENCE: Mostly unimaginative short films. NUMBER OF TIMES I CHECKED MY WATCH: 4 IN A NUTSHELL: Mostly unimaginative, often boring and unmemorable, but with the exception of Into the Night and Rock Bottom which are both well-written and show some promise. RECOMMENDED WAY TO WATCH: VHS/DVD Main Page Alphabetical Menu The "B" Menu ______________________________________________________ |