Review of Boy Culture (2006) by Danifesto G — 06 Jul 2007

Somewhere, the corpse of Tennessee Williams is spinning. When he was busy introducing subtle themes of homosexuality into his plays in the '40s and '50s, surely he must have imagined that 60 years later what we now call Queer Cinema (film being a natural offspring of live theater, after all) might have advanced to a level worthy of the term "art.

" But year after year, mediocre gay films are praised as good since they're not out-and-out bad, as 90% of gay movies made these days are. "Boy Culture" is no exception. While it does get credit for introducing stereotypes only to challenge them and making a valiant attempt at three-dimensional gay characters, it's shoddily made.

The acting is hard to critique because the editing is poor. And because the editing is poor, you have to wonder about the real intentions of the director. The story pitches and stalls, the themes are nicely drawn but ultimately oversimplified in favor of a sappy ending, and the technical elements border on amateur.

As much as the world of "independent film" pisses and moans about the studio system, movies like this leave one wondering what might have happened had this been put through the ringer of rigorous test audiences and spruced up with some nice production values.

Would it have lost its heart? I guess this is the price we pay for not wanting it both ways...