Boy Culture

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As told in voiceover by the main character, "Boy Culture" is a confession. Confession of what? A confession of a hustler who is in love with one of his roommates. A confession of a man who calls his work having sex, yet has not had romantic sex in over a dozen years. A confession of a man outwardly confident in what he wants and who he is, yet terrified of letting himself be vulnerable with someone he loves.

But lets start from the beginning. X (Derek Magyar) keeps a select group of referral-only clients. In fact, the list is so exclusive, there are only twelve men on it any given time. When one no longer requires X´s services, another man-Gregory (Patrick Bauchau)-takes his place. But instead of paying for his body, Gregory and X talk. The majority of their conversations revolve around X´s two roommates: Andrew and Joey. X considers Andrew boyfriend material, yet neither has taken the risk of letting the other know about his feelings. And Joey is a freshly minted gay man, having as much sex as possible with little regard for tomorrow. But Gregory gets X to think about his future, especially after a disastrous weekend with Andrew´s family.

"Boy Culture" combines themes we don´t normally associate as being together in film. First, as alluded to already, there is a heavy religious theme running through the production. Then the other part of the film is what you would expect from a gay themed movie: a focus on sex and characters ruminating over various love interests. But what we don´t expect is for our main character be the moral center of the story. Early on, he tells us he has sex on a regular basis, only work sex, not pleasure sex. In fact, he hasn´t done that particular act since he was 12 years old. (For the record, he is the oldest of the three roommates.) In our preset culture and in the reality of the movie, that is something we don´t expect. X, a gay man in the prime of his life, is waiting for true love.

In starting the audience off with tidbits like that about X, director/co-writer Q. Allan Brocka tells us immediately that while his job might not be socially acceptable, the hustler is a romantic at heart. So much so he can´t act on his feelings for Andrew even though they are little more than an open secret. He´s our hero, the man we all want to be: confident and good looking, moral, true romantic. But the social stigma of what he does-his term hustler is a fancy way of saying whore-weighs on his mind, making X a highly conflicted character. Why doesn´t he take Andrew up on his offer of sex when clearly they are attracted to each other and Andrew is exactly what he wants?

Their friendship. X won´t throw it away just for sex. There has to be more, at least for him. All of which feeds into his various confessions, through the film´s voiceover. Gluttony, vanity, jealousy, envy…the list goes on. It´s as if he knows there is no meaning in his life without a true relationship, one forged not on money-for-sex, but one based on love and respect. For X, that is the be all and end all of life, not Joey´s desire for as much sex as he can get and certainly not Gregory´s closeted life withholding the truth about a man he´s loved for decades. It is through his talks with Gregory that X figures out (with some prodding from Andrew) he has to just go for it.

The ending of the film, which I won´t divulge here, shouldn´t be a surprise since at the outset, X tells us he knows this is a movie of his life: he will go by a pseudonym and other names have been changed. It isn´t until the finale we understand exactly what we´re watching. Yes, it is a story of a hustler´s life with two roommates and his unrequited love for one, but it´s also selected scenes from a romance. The good, the bad and the downright ugly.

A friend of mine originally brought my attention to "Boy Culture." He was worried it would depict gay men as nothing more than sex-crazed maniacs. And, based on the trailer, I had the same fear, though it wasn´t as great as his. The film does revolve around sex, but it´s more than that. X and Andrew play the father figures to Joey as he learns to stretch his wings. In a stunning sequence at Andrew´s ex-fiancée´s wedding, the two (one black, one white) enter the church hand in hand. Not a single person expresses shock over the racial pairing, preferring to focus of X´s good looks. Even Andrew´s parents, whom he is just coming out too, don´t bat an eye when X is introduced as a "room partner." They actually suggest the two sleep in the same bed…and Mom puts condoms on the nightstand for them.

That message, the one of acceptance and love, is going to get lost in the promotion of the sexual aspects of "Boy Culture" and it´s a shame. These people are fictional and maybe it is a pipe dream differences like sexual orientation and race won´t matter, but it is a good pipe dream to have. Andrew, X and Joey don´t see themselves as black or white, young or old (though there is a small joke about X´s age) and neither do the people around them. Their self-image is of normal adults looking for the things which will complete their lives. X doesn´t go to the bars in order to pick up tricks for the night; in fact, he has a semi-confrontation with a man who moves his jacket from a stool to hit on X. What makes either of them so special? The man can´t answer because, presumably, he is just looking on the surface. X wants more than that.

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