User Reviews

Interesting anthology with 4 shorts dealing with being gay as a kid, growing up and then old age.

The opening "Crush" is a very sweet little movie about a 13 year old girl who has a crush on a 16 year old gay boy. Well-acted, realistic and very funny.

"Mountain King" has an encounter (mentally and physically) between two men. It has extensive nudity and fairly explicit sex. There's no message or moral here...it just seems to be an excuse to show two cute guys (with nice bodies) in full frontal and having sex. Not that I'm complaining! :)

"...lost" is about 5 minutes long and is just explicit sex...and a one-liner at the end that I saw coming a mile away. These guys were kind of hot too, but what's the point?

"The Confession" deals with a dying gay man who wants absolution from a priest but his lover it totally against it. Very quiet, but extremely well-acted and sweet with a touching conclusion. It's just jarring to see this after two sex shorts.

So, it's worth seeing for 3 out of the 4 segments. Not bad! If you're offended by gay sex or male nudity, stay away. Otherwise this is well worth catching.

Boys To Men is the blanket title for four short films, each focusing on the lives of gay men at various ages. The first short, "Crush", is about a gay teen and the young pre-teen girl who falls for him. While the low budget hurts some--it has an ugly look and bad sound--it is a relatively sweet, funny little film that has a couple of strong moments one wouldn't expect from a trifle. There is a great, telling opening scene that cuts between the two main characters as each stares at and cuts out a picture of a teen hunk in a 16-type magazine; the young girl proudly tapes hers to her bedroom door, while the boy secrets his away in a hidden notebook. And toward the end--no spoilers here--there is a lovely, silent exchange of looks between the two: she watches him outside her bedroom window, he stands looking up at her from the lawn below, and because of what has transpired in the previous scene, the emotional depth of those looks is surprisingly poignant. The second short, "The Mountain King" could benefit from making its intentions clearer; though amusing in part, it is ultimately pointless, and not nearly as mysterious or ambiguous as it wants to be. "...lost", the third film is extremely short--a plus--but remains little more than an excuse to show just-this-side-of-hardcore sex; the sudden appearance of a "message" in the last few seconds is silly (not to mention obvious). I have more respect for the hardcore pornographer--who is at least honest about what he is doing, and saves the moralizing for Aesop. But these small movies are only a build-up to the wonderful final work, "The Confession". This is film craft of the highest order, but in miniature. "The Confession" revolves around a sudden rift in the relationship between Joseph and Caesar after thirty-plus years together. Their problem is simple, yet primal: dying Joseph wants a local priest to give him absolution, and Caesar sees this as an act of betrayal--Joseph would have to confess that his life for the last three decades has been a sin in the eyes of God. Caesar, one senses, has lived his life out and proud--clearly anything that tries to make him feel less so about himself is plainly wrong; he is as black and white about the issue as any fundamentalist. (It's a nice touch that the young priest appears to have more compassion for Caesar than Caesar has for the young priest.) The amazing thing about this little movie is how much life and love and, yes, humor, writer/director Carl Pfirman manages to get into the short without its once feeling overstuffed; one never feels "The Confession" is taking on more than it can handle. While the first three films fall in merit as they go, Boys To Men ends stunningly; one doesn't leave feeling depressed by the subject matter, but rather invigorated by the sheer artistry on display.

Crush is the origin story of how fag hags came to be. Light and funny.

The Mountain King explores the sexuality of two men. One drug addict gay for pay, the other repressed homo. The give and take (no pun intended) between the characters is great and the sex scene is erotic but not raunchy.

...Lost is three minutes of jaw breaking eye candy. I liked it but lacked depth like the other three shorts.

The Confession was my favorite. There is a lot of subtext in this film and if you are not catholic you might not get it. My friend is catholic and explained what they were doing and I was better able to understand the short. It was nice to see the internal struggle between the two characters.

Overall, I enjoyed each film. Go watch it.

Crush by Phillip Bartell is a very sweet and fun movie with a strong, vivid performance by the young lead actress. It will leave you with a smile on your face. The Mountain King by Duncan Tucker is a vividly directed, visually compelling work, sensual without being exploitative. It reminded me a bit of Francois Ozon's A Summer Dress. Mountain King is surprising and funny and sexy and feels very real. Loved the classical music rave sequence... The Confession by Carl Pfirman is another strong, mature film. Whereas Crush has a fun, relaxed, home-made feel, and The Mountain King has a less-is-more art house aesthetic that ends up making a strong visual and stylistic statement, The Confession is a polished production that would be at home on a quality cable station like HBO. Pfirman does a great job all around, and his film is smart and topical, but never loses its strong human, bittersweet edge. Great work from three very promising and very different writer/directors.

Two very good short films at the beginning and end of this anthology about gay male life are the highlight of Boys To Men. The third is like five minutes cut from a soft core porn film and not worth discussing.

The first is about young teen love and a young 12 year old girl with a remarkable gaydar of her own who matchmakes Brett Chukerman and Weston Mueller in her small midwestern town. The kids act like real kids as opposed to Hollywood type kids, these are all wide eyed and innocent and the film is a delight.

The second is a steamy film with John Sloan and Paul Dawson as a married man left alone at his beach house and a young hustler he encounters. Dawson as a player has a real edginess to him. I saw that when he appeared in Law And Order as a young white supremacist.

The final film is Bert Remsen and Tom Fitzpatrick as an elderly gay couple with one of them facing the end. He falls back on his Catholic upbringing something that the other just is not about to deal with.

All of these films were released individually and the thought here was showing folks at different stages of gay life. Gay life like everything else including this film as a totality has its ups and downs.