Boys on Film 5 (2010)

 

Title: "Boys on Film 5"
Directors: Various
Writers: Various
Genre: Drama | Romance
Awards/Festivals/Release Info: Cannes, Sundance, Outfest, Frameline
Runtime: 147 min
Spoken Languages: English, Spanish, French
Subtitles: English where applicable

 

 

 

 

"Nine more award-winning short film favorites from the hugely popular Boys On Film canon, from four different continents and celebrated film festivals including Cannes, Sundance, Outfest, Frameline and many more.
Boys will be boys in Pascal Alex Vincent's FAR WEST and CANDY BOY, where a farmyard and an orphanage get a gay makeover. GO GO REJECT sees Flashdance obsessive Daniel aims for the stars, as SWEAT has Holby City's David Paisley infiltrating a bath house with unexpected results. Meanwhile, love proves to be timeless when LAST CALL unites past and present, but TWOYOUNGMEN, UT hints at an uncertain future. Looking back on the dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet, BLOKES focuses on the sexual awakening of a peeping Tom. A confused JAMES and mute DAVID, both reach out for an experienced hand, but will they find what they are looking for?"
Candy Boy
Dir. Pascal-Alex Vincent
(France) 13 min. 2007
Panic at the orphanage! Children start falling mysteriously ill left right and center. Candy Boy, the most valiant of the orphans, leads the inquiry. But our heroes investigations are complicated by the arrival of a beautiful new resident...From the director of Give Me Your Hand.

TwoYoungMen UT.,
Dir. Sam McConnell
USA) 17 min. 2009
Will and Eli meet by chance in a bar and head to the salt flats searching for a party. In the process, however, they take the first steps towards finding and accepting themselves.

 

Blokes
Dir. Marialy Rivas
(Chile) 15 min. 2010
Santiago, Chile, 1986. Blokes tells the story of the sexual awakening of a boy during the dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet. Desire can result in a very different outcome depending on the moment that you live.

Last Call
Dir. Nick Corporon
(USA) 18 min. 2009
After a tragic accident, Gavin is offered the chance to re-live three memories he shared with his ex-boyfriend, who recently passed away, by a mysterious bartender. Gavin takes the offer, but Fate has other plans...

Go Go Reject
Dir. Michael J Saul
(USA) 20 min. 2010
Daniel Ferguson yearns to leave his job at Yogurt World and fulfill his childhood dream of becoming the Jennifer Beals of male go-go dancing, yet his Flashdance fantasy comes a cropper when the clubs specify only muscular dancers. Undaunted, Daniel turns his small frame into a huge success.

David
Dir. Roberto Fiesco
(Mexico) 14 min. 2005
Unemployed businessman José, looking for work in the city, finds instead David; a much younger man who while mute, has no problem in communicating his desire for sex. Roberto Fiesco is the producer of Broken Sky, Bramadero and Raging Sun, Raging Sky.

Far West
Dir. Pascal-Alex Vincent
(France) 17 min. 2003
Eric is forced to spend his holidays on his grandfather's farm in the countryside. Bored out of his mind, an unexpected visit from OTT friends Mika and Koko, and the appearance of a hunky farmhand, pull Eric out of the doldrums. From the director of Give Me Your Hand.

Sweat
Dir. John Lochland
(UK) 15 min. 2009
Starring David Paisley and shot in the bath houses of London's Vauxhall, Sweat portrays Simon's first steps in the sauna scene. How much trouble can one boy get into, or out of?

James
Dir. Connor Clements
(Northern Ireland) 17 min. 2009
Focusing on a boy in Northern Ireland isolated by his sexuality and alienated from his family due to his parent's marital troubles, James reaches out in desperation to his teacher for support and guidance.

Independent Review:
"Go for it!"
"The BOYS ON FILM series no longer needs any introduction. This fifth volume is as engaging and diverse as its predecessors, and it is satisfying to see a range of nationalities represented, including Chile, France and Mexico. Synopses of the individual films are provided in the product description - so a few observations will suffice to introduce the variety of themes.
As always with short film collections, there are clear highs and lows. "Sweat" (UK) is a fairly tedious and predictable troll through a Vauxhall sauna, and "Last Call" (USA) is a dull and unoriginal reminiscence by a man-in-purgatory of mistakes that he has made. Happily, these quickly-forgettable shorts are in the minority, and the remaining seven films all have something to offer.
French director Pascal-Alex Vincent ('Give Me Your Hand') is afforded two slots in this collection: "Far West", a clever and entertaining story in which an urbane dancer finds himself in a rural outback town; and "Candy Boy", an unusual, anime-style adventure of a boy in an orphanage whose leadership is challenged by a troublesome yet enticing new arrival.
"David" (hailing from Mexico) contributes a touching lyricism, in its depiction of a mute young man's desire for an older Mexican man; and "Go Go Reject" is worth a mention for its injection of camp comedy into a generally serious collection.
Finally, pride of place to two absolutely outstanding shorts, each of which is - alone - worth the price of this collection and qualify it for its 5-star rating:
First, Connor Clements's "James" from Northern Ireland: a truly wonderful, and highly authentic, portrait of an isolated 15-year-old male, whose palpable desires for physical connection are consistently denied to him by our culture.
Second, director Marialy Rivas's spectacular "Blokes". An exquisite and intense short film, this is a quietly thoughtful study of a 13-year-old Chilean boy's lust for an older neighbor. Its intimate eroticism is highly compelling, reinforced by a powerful backdrop invoking the fleeting transience of life under the Pinochet dictatorship."
~ Son of Nietzsche "Refuse orientation. Refuse identity."(United Kingdom)

Sasha 2010

  Sasha

Year:
2010

Genre:
Comedy, Drama

Country: Germany

Director:
Dennis Todorovic

Duration:
102 min

Media type:

Actors: Sascha Kekez, Predrag Bjelac, Ljubisa Gruicic, Zeljka Preksavec, Gosia Konieczna, Tim Bergmann, Jasin Mjumjunov, Yvonne Yung Hee, Werner Strenger, Christian Lessiak, Ozgur Cebe, Fang Yu, Lucy Schaaf, Anastasia Clemens, Jonathan Ewald

Description:
While Sasha's mother is dreaming of her son's great career as a pianist, Sasha is left speechless for other reasons: his beloved piano teacher Mr. Weber tells him, he is leaving town forever. Sasha is heartbroken, and the only person in whom he can confide his feelings, is his best friend, Jiao. As a son of an Ex-Yugoslav family even in Germany one rarely lives outside the closet, and Sasha is grateful that his homophobic father believes Jiao is his girlfriend. But what begins as a useful lie becomes a large and complicated one, when Sasha's younger brother, begins an affair with Jiao. All lies get exposed and what appears to be a catastrophe is in fact the revelation of new possibilities in the lives of Sasha's family.

Fit (2010)

Fit (2010)

Director: Rikki Beadle Blair
Scenario: Rikki Beadle Blair
Genre: Drama
Country: UK
Year: 2010
Duration: 108 min
Subtitles: English,Bulgarian, Greek, Serbian

Actors: Duncan MacInnes, Ludvig Bonin, Sasha Frost, Lydia Toumazou, Stephen Hoo, Jay Brown, Rikki Beadle Blair, Alexis Gregory, Andy Williamson, Donovan Christian-Cary, Jack Shalloo, Ambur Khan, Jason Maza, Katie Borland, Alex Papadakis

Description:
Takes a look at gay and straight love among the new millennials. Everything from secret crushes to homophobic attitudes are revealed by the rambunctious students taking Drama and Dance from Loris. None of the teens are what they seem at first glance, with gay hearts lurking behind tough exteriors and straight kids expressing themselves in very queer ways.

Dieux Du Stade (2010)

 

Protect Me from What I Want (2009)

Director: Dominic Leclerc
Scenario:
Genre: Short
Country: UK
Year: 2009

Actors: Naveed Choudhry, Elliott Tittensor

Description:
Fans of acting twin Elliott Tittensor could be forgiven for thinking that all their wet dreams have come true, when in this British short Elliott gets down to some manly hanky-panky with the object of his cinematic desire.
For here Tittensor plays Daz; a gay scally on the look out for some man-on-man action, only to find himself attracted to Saleem instead, namely a young Muslim hardly out to himself, let alone open to the thought of rampant gay sex. Exiting the scene faster than a discarded condom, it isn’t long before the two meet again. Only as a council bed-sit sees Daz instruct virginal Saleem in the art of man sex, could it be that Saleem has a lesson or two to teach Daz?
Written and directed by Dominic Leclerc, this touching short arrives like a cinematic shot of Channel 4's Shameless, given Elliott Tittensor here effortlessly reprises his working class credentials, along the way casting his boxers to the floor in true Chatsworth fashion. And yet it is Naveed Choudhry who emotionally reaches out to you, his nervous glances aptly conveying the mindset of a young man too afraid to even give his name, forever living in fear of the repercussions the true nature of his sexuality would have, if it became known to his family.
For this is more than just a boys first time story, as Leclerc narratively touches upon the issue of what it means to be gay and Muslim in today's society, along the way lacing his script with feelings of disgust and shame. Only as this well-executed work on loneliness and if anything, a longing for friendship and perhaps something more sets out to show, being gay and Muslim is not an oxymoron. Need more be said?

Wild Reeds (1994) - Les roseaux sauvages (original title)

 

Wild Reeds (1994) - Les roseaux sauvages (original title)

Director: Andre Techine
Scenario: Andre Techine, Olivier Massart
Genre: Drama
Country: France
Year: 1994
Duration: 115 min
Rating:

Actors: Elodie Bouchez, Gael Morel, Stephane Rideau, Frederic Gorny, Michele Moretti, Jacques Nolot, Eric Kreikenmayer, Nathalie Vignes, Michel Ruhl, Fatia Maite, Claudine Taulere, Elodie Soulinhac, Dominique Bovard, Monsieur Simonet, Chief Officer Carre

 

Description:
`Wild Reeds,'' from French director Andre Techine, is a coming-of-age story about four young people living in rural France at the end of the Algerian war.
On the cusp of adulthood, the four move slowly but inevitably in the direction of their fears, making uneasy alliances, formulating world views and discover ing sex.
A major success in France, where it won four Cesar awards, including best picture, ``Wild Reeds'' is a sober, heartfelt piece of work, sensitively directed and lovingly photographed -- though slightly dull, if we're going to be perfectly honest.
Still, the picture, which opens today at the brand-new Embarcadero Cinema, to a large degree makes up in sincerity and atmosphere what it lacks in urgency and drive. Only later do you realize that despite the sluggish pace and meandering structure, ``Wild Reeds'' is about people going through some dramatic transitions.
The early part of the film focuses on Francois (Gael Morel), a quiet, hesitant student in the process of coming to terms with his homosexuality.
``I'm a faggot, I'm a faggot, I'm a faggot,'' he says to his reflection in the mirror, in an unsettling moment that works in a number of ways. Is he internalizing the world's view or trying to gain mastery over it? Is he scaring himself or accepting
himself?

The object of his interest is a straight boy named Serge, a tall, earthy peasant played with animal grace by Stephane Rideau. Serge, who lives in Francois' dormitory, is acutely aware of the war, thanks to his brother's having been unwillingly drafted to fight in Algeria.
The title refers to the story of the skinny reed and the mighty oak. When the storm comes, the reed bends, while the oak tree breaks. The use of the metaphor to describe personalities is a bit cliched, but it applies to the characters, who adjust their vision and become more tolerant as they gain in wisdom.
Frederic Gorny, as Henri, a young militant Algerian-born Frenchman, starts off the most rigid and cynical of the four -- and he almost runs away with the second half of the film. Henri's neofascist attitude toward the Algerians is the result of experience. In one of the film's strongest scenes, Henri describes the stench of his father's corpse after an Algerian rebel bomb blew off half his face.
Orbiting the lives of all three young men is Maite (Elodie Bouchez), a Natalie Merchant look-alike who is appropriately earnest to a fault. Nominally Francois' girlfriend, she is also the romantic fantasy of Serge and, as a Communist Party volunteer, Henri's bitter political rival.
``Wild Reeds'' has many lulls, and at 110 minutes it's too long. But it has a cumulative impact, and the last section, which puts the four characters together in an idyllic woodland setting, brings the film to a satisfying finish.