'Boy Culture'
Opens May 18
Main Art Theatre, Royal Oak
To paraphrase an old jazz standard: It ain't who you do but the way that you do it.
As far as X, the high-priced escort in Seattle at the center of the new movie "Boy Culture," is concerned, sex is something he does for money. If it's not for pay, he doesn't play. You see, he's saving himself for someone he loves. He is, as he says, "a hustler with morals."
While that may sound like the set-up for a terrible "hooker with a heart of gold" story, it isn't. In fact, "Boy Culture" manages to escape most of the trappings of your average gay-themed romance flick, though it eagerly adopts some of the genre's mainstays featuring loads of male eye-candy and a soundtrack fat with gay-anthem dance tunes.
"I felt it important to approach this as a 'guy' film," said director Q. Allan Brocka in a statement. "Only instead of coming together to pull a heist, fight a war, or beat each other up, these 'guys' are falling in love with each other."
On the surface "Boy Culture" is the naughty confessions of X (Derek Magyar) who narrates the film, including plenty about his exploits with his 12 regular clients, who he dubs his "disciples." He lives with two other gay guys, Andrew (Darryl Stephens) and the barely legal Joey (Jonathon Trent) who get plenty of action themselves, just not with each other. To complicate things further, X is in love with Andrew and Joey is in love with X. "It's like a bad porno without the sex," says X.
Thankfully, the film goes deeper than that, touching not only on issues of love and commitment (and how one person's idea of commitment is another's idea of betrayal) but also larger cultural issues. In one scene, X strolls through the local gay club musing about the politics of gay culture. "Anything goes at Boy Kulture, which is rare in our Neapolitan gay community where every flavor is separate but equal."
During a discussion about bad pick-up lines, Andrew tells X and Joey, "You know a line that pisses me off? 'I'm not normally into black guys, but…' They need to be shot. It's like, 'Oh, this must be my lucky night. You're feeling abnormal and I'm black." Later in the film, Andrew takes X as his date to his ex-fiancee's wedding. He warns X that he'll probably be the only white guy there.
Magyar does a fine job making X more than just a piece of high-priced ass. He's actually a pretty complex character and there are plenty of surprises, both small and large, as he reveals himself to the viewers bit by bit over the course of the film. The people around him, however, are another story. He's a man who keeps to himself. "I'm a touch anti-social," he says. In fact, Andrew claims that he doesn't really know X – that nobody does.
X's steely exterior starts to fall away after he meets Gregory (played by the esteemed Patrick Bauchau), a 79-year-old recluse who isn't interested in getting right to the sex. Over the course of several visits, Gregory spins a tale of his 50-year history with his now-deceased partner. Soon X is opening up, too, telling Gregory all about his feelings for Andrew.
Confessing all of this to one of his clients – even if this client is more mysterious and charming than all the rest – is one thing. The big question is, will X be able to tell Andrew?
