Q-Seattle Events: Tacky Tourist Clubs

Boy Culture is a gay move that was filmed in Seattle two years ago, made the rounds of the festival circuit (including SIFF), and finally got its premier last week with a splashy tres gay premier party in LA last week. It opened for regular runs in New York, San Francisco, and LA, but won't make it to a Seattle screen until April 27 when it opens at the Varsity.

The film is garnering mixed, but generally positive reviews. New York Times critic Jeannette Catsoulis gives this glowing summary:

Based on the novel by Matthew Rettenmund, "Boy Culture" is a slick and absorbing drama about an attractive gay hustler named X (Derek Magyar), with an extensive investment portfolio and a restricted clientele of 12 wealthy men. When not servicing his "disciples," X conducts a volatile relationship with his two roommates (Darryl Stephens and Jonathon Trent) and criticizes the gay lifestyle in cynical voice-over. Only when he takes on a reclusive and much older client (elegantly played by Patrick Bauchau) is he forced to pay attention to a story other than his own.

Boy Culture stars Darryl Stephens of Logo's Noah's Arc, Derek Magyar, and Jonathon Trent

Employing a thoughtful, probing tone, the screenplay (by Philip Pierce and Q. Allan Brocka, who also directs) is a cerebral blend of insight, wit and raunchy self-awareness.

Gay.com's reviewer reminds readers that the novel author's previous book credits included Hilary Duff: All Access, Totally Awesome '80s and Encyclopedia Madonnica. He warns, "so don't expect that your horizons will be dramatically expanded."

But the reviewer comes around to the film for more than just its display of sexy man-flesh:

Rettenmund describes his novel as "sexy fluff" and a "spanking of gay culture." The book succeeded not only as a comic novel, but also as an observant critique of gay male relationships. In the hands of Allan Brocka, whose first film, "Eating Out," almost played like a gay sitcom, the film version of "Boy Culture" is engaging, deliciously directed and, most winningly, downright sexy.

And there's plenty of sexy man-flesh:

Obviously, Brocka knows what a gay audience wants to see -- plenty of sex, naked asses and bare chests. But he also explores something unique to gay male relationships -- that two men often have double-trouble with commitment.

But, beyond all that, there's the fact that the movie was actually filmed in Seattle and not in Vancouver-pretending-to-be-Seattle like so many TV shows or -- even worse -- LA-pretending-to-be-Seattle like that horny-doctors show.

Before its Seattle festival premier last year, Boy Culture's director, Q. Allan Brocka, explained to Seattle Weekly why he shot the movie here:

The book was originally set in Chicago and so was the adapted script [by Brocka and Philip Pierce]. We found it was incredibly expensive to shoot anywhere outside of Los Angeles. None of us knew anyone in Chicago or really anything about the city, so the budget would've been enormous. I was absolutely against shooting in LA. It just felt completely wrong for the story. Both my line producer and I are from Seattle, and I had always wanted to shoot a film there. When we discovered we could actually afford to shoot there, we happily packed up.

Lambert House helps actor "play gay"

According to the New York gay party paper, HX, which features Boy Culture on this week's cover, local Seattle services even helped one of the film's actors, Jonathon Trent, become comfortable playing Joey -- a character described by the magazine as "a teen twink with just enough space in his cranium for parties and a lusty crush on X."

Trent, who identifies as straight, hadn't played gay before. So once on location in Seattle, Brocka had Trent visit Lambert House, a center for LGBT youth under age 22, where he might meet and observe real life Joeys. Brocka himself spent time at the Lambert House during his formative Seattle years and admits he met a number of real life hustlers there?some of them destitute teens kicked out by homophobic families. "Darryl went along with Jonathan once for moral support and they stopped Darryl [from entering] and said, 'You're aged out.' Aged out!" recalls Brocka with a laugh.

Trent found the experience valuable. "[The gay kids at Lambert House] were kind of similar to Joey in the sense they were on their own, didn?t have a lot of people or family taking care of them," Trent shares. "They were cast out like Joey was. But they were a little more street and edgy and hardcore. I made Joey into someone who was sweet and innocent?or at least playing innocent to attract people."

[More on the premier party underwear shortly.]

Labels: celebrities, eye candy, Gay Seattle, movie