Strapped follows a young hustler (Ben Bonenfant) who finds himself trapped in an apartment building after leaving a trick. While trying to find his way out, he runs into one encounter after another with gay men ready to buy his services all the while adopting new names and personalities to meet the needs of his clients. From coked out queens to closet cases to his final client (Nick Frangione) who shows him the way out.
Joe (Tim Swain) is an art school student on a scholarship who picks up extra money hustling. In between drawing, hanging out and getting stoned with his fag-hag, and getting unfortunate haircuts he starts to fall for Ramon (Gil Bar-Sela) another hustler who works the same street. Between Something and Nothing.
Tom (Daniel Newman) is a young London rent boy being kept by Norris (Mark McGann), a drug dealer, who is into treating him rough. During one session, Tom pushes Norris off him and accidentally kills him. Tom turns to the American couple who live in the apartment downstairs to help him flee the police and the mobster. Endgame is an OK movie but with a few things that don’t add up. Like why the couple, Max and Nikke, help Tom go on the run after only one dinner with him (although it seems Max is a little attracted to him).
Skin and Bone (1996) follows Harry (B. Wyatt), Dean (Alan Boyce), and Billy (Garrett Scullen), three male prostitutes who work for a female pimp who keeps a tight reign on her boys. When they try to leave and go on to knew lives, they find themselves under her brutal thumb. If the DVD quality were a bit better, the eye candy might save the film, but as it is, it’s a bit long and a bit slow.
“X” (Derek Magyar) is the nameless gay prostitute who narrates Boy Culture. He’s built a business around 12 wealthy clients and a perfect little gay family with his two roommates Andrew (Darryl Stephens) and Joey (Jonathon Trent). “X” can’t bring himself to show his feelings for Andrew, but pours his heart out about it to Gregory (Patrick Bauchau), one of his older, wealthy clients. An enjoyable movie.
A Britsh comedy, 9 Dead Gay Guys, is the tale of Byron (Brendan MacKey) and Kenny (Glen Mulhern) who are two Irish lads come to London. Byron is having sex in the local gay pub to earn drinking money. Kenny is surpised about his friend but soon finds himself not only into gay sex for “legitimate business purposes” but because he finds he’s gay.
After Kenny “shags” Byron’s steady customer to death, the two set out to find the legendary money in Golders Greene’s bed; the money thought stolen when “the Queen” was murdered with a “class 5 offensive weapon.” That is, if they can find a way into Golders Greene’s bed without passing the “really hard Red Bull test” (stack two Red Bull drinks together). Along the way, they encounter the Deperate Dwarf, the Iron Lady, Donkey-Dick Dark, and assorted other oddball characters.
In 200 American (dollars, that is), Conrad (Matt Walton), a gay executive, has been dumped by his boyfriend and turns to Ian (Sean Matic), an Australian hustler, for sex and companionship. Infatuated with the young man, Conrad hires him to be a photographer’s assistant at his company in exchange for sex a couple of times a week. Ian’s employment doesn’t sit well with others in the company at first, but then he catches the eye of the art director (Anthony Ames) he’s assigned to work for (and who doesn’t know about his career as a prostitute).
Joe Dallesandro is a young hustler in Andy Warhol Presents: Flesh (1968). The movie follows Joe throughout the day as he picks up men and tries to hustle the cash his wife is demanding. Much of the film revolves around Joe getting naked (much full frontal) for one reason or another. Art? Or an excuse to get a cute guy nekked? You decide, but either way a fascinating movie.
