JOHN PALMER
Bil’s rating (out of 5): BB. Canada, 2004. New Real Films, Actra Tip, On the Stroll Productions. Screenplay by Todd Klinck, Jaie Laplante, John Palmer, based on short stories by Bruce LaBruce. Cinematography by John Westheuser. Produced by John Buchan, Damion Nurse. Music by Ravi Persaud. Film Editing by Robert Kennedy.
An entire movie about junkie hustlers, how fun. Andre Noble is amiable as Cliff, a teenager whose frighteningly mature little sister gives him alcohol, a joint and money for his birthday to go downtown and get laid. Not wanting to deny the mystical powers of children’s intelligence, Cliff does her bidding and ends up meeting a popular hustler named Butch (Brendan Fehr) with whom he becomes affectionate and, eventually, obsessed. Butch doesn’t return Cliff’s feelings, instead opting for a buddy-buddy relationship that has them prancing about town, going to wild parties and partaking in illegal substances, while Cliff makes some daring attempts at playing around in Butch’s profession. This grungy drama’s amiable characters are just about the only thing it has going for it, otherwise it’s an exploitative mess with little entertainment and certainly no particular experiences worth recalling. Based on the writings of Toronto filmmaker Bruce LaBruce, it’s a daring and even sometimes shocking film but also totally unimportant and really boring.
