Billy (Dustin Belt) is a young man living with his alcoholic, bible thumping father who catches Billy in his first kiss with another guy. You can guess how well that goes over. Fleeing to the big city, Billy is befriended by a young waiter named Guy (Kadyr Gutierrez) who puts him up and helps him find a job. The job being taking care of Mark, a stroke survivor, for his son James (Hank Fields), for whom Mark and his transvestite friend Thomas have been trying to find a boyfriend. The whole thing had a bit of an “After School Special” feel to it with everything conveniently tied up in the end, although An Angel Named Billy takes it’s time getting there.
Parallel Sons
In Parallel Sons, Seth (Gabriel Mann) is a young man in a small mountain town in the northeast. He’s fascinated by Black pop culture but has never seen a Black man before (although his walls are covered with pictures of shirtless black males). One night when closing the diner where he works, Knowledge (Laurence Mason), a young Black man and escaped convict holds him up and then faints. Instead of calling the local sheriff, Seth carries Knowledge off to nurse him back to health. Eventually the two develop a relationship, but by then the sheriff figures out that Seth is protecting the fugitive. You kind of have to set aside the coincidence that the only Black man ever to come to town also happens to be gay.
Different for Girls
In Different for Girls, Kyle (Steven Mackintosh) and Paul (Rupert Graves) were school chums who had drifted apart until one day Kyle literally runs into Paul when Kyle’s cab hits Paul’s motorcycle. Only thing is, Kyle is now Kim, a transexual, who’s not sure she wants to get involved with her old friend. After they meet, Paul begins to develop a bit of a fascination for her. All in all a pretty good flick.
The Curiosity of Chance
Chance Marquis (Tad Hilgenbrink) is a gay student transferring to a high school in Europe taken there by his army father. His adoption of eccentric attire (top hats, eye patches) are an attempt to deflect attention from his sexuality, but he still attracts the attention of Brad (Maxim Maes), the school bully who’s captain of the football team. Chance adopts two other misfits as friends and eventually makes friends with Levi (Brett Chuckerman), the straight (?) and hot boy next door who’s also on the football team. But when Brad discovers photos of Chance in drag, Chance’s life gets even more complicated. This was a great movie. Supposedly shot on a low budget, but you couldn’t tell. The Curiosity of Chance.
More after the jump. . . .
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Nine Lives
Nine Lives is presented in a quasi-documentary style and follows nine people connected through largely anonymous sexual encounters. I’d classify this one as “interesting” but it was a little hard to watch between the characters talking directly to the camera and the sometimes jerky camera movements. Some of the characters have some slight redeeming characteristics, but mostly they’re flawed in one way or another and not that sympathetic. The acting was good, but don’t look to this film for light entertainment, although we do get Steve Callahan in a speedo.
Long Term Relationship
Glenn (Matthew Montgomery) gets tired of the “gay scene” and decides to respond to a personals ad found by one of his group of friends. Adam (Windham Beacham) the guy running the ad is a “shy romantic” from the south and has some trouble fitting in with Glenn’s California friends. The couple decides to hold off on sex until they get to know each other better, only to find after they’ve fallen in love, that the sex isn’t that great. A cute romantic comedy as they work their way through their relationship. Long Term Relationship.
A Four Letter Word
Luke (Jesse Archer) is a, well, “free spirited” gay man who spends his evenings on “manhunts” with his friends. He runs into Stephen (Charlie David, from “Dante’s Cove”) at a bar who calls him a “gay cliche.” The two have another encounter and start to fall for one each other. Meantime, Luke’s co-worker, at a gay sex shop, Zeke (Cory Grant) discovers Stephen’s hustliing ad. The movie also follows Luke’s friends Peter (Steven Goldsmith) and Derek (J.R. Rolley) who’ve just moved in together and are working through their relationship with Peter being a control freak and Derek just wanting to be left to be himself. “A Four Letter Word” is a semi-sequel to Caspar Andreas’ “Slutty Summer.”