SIFF Film Review

Last night I finally attended a SIFF (Seattle International Film Festival) film: Boy. I should begin this review with the one that Paul Constant at the Stranger wrote:

An adolescent sells most of his nerdy comic book paraphernalia in order to rent a pretty young boy who dances in a nightclub. Boy feels vaguely cutting-edge, if just because it’s a movie about young gays set in the primarily Roman Catholic Philippines. Some of the shots are gaudy and embarrassing and perfect. But many scenes—including a never-ending sex sequence—drag on way too long. If you like slender young Filipino boys in their underwear, you should line up for Boy right now, but if that’s not your cup of tea, you’ll probably be bored.

If you know me, then you know that nothing is more perfect to me than a young, gay, and slender Filipino boy. Given that tidbit of information, it seemed only natural that I would have to see this film. Overall, the film was all right. It served its purpose, but I wouldn't praise it as anything that goes above and beyond in cinematic terms. The story was very loose; it never quite started or ended. A young boy becomes smitten with another young boy. They have sex. They share a few hours in each others very different lives; the end result is one of them throws up--he was overwhelmed by any number of alluded-to-reasons--and reading a poem about men liking men. Once again, I need remind people that I am terrible at writing reviews. Take them in stride.

[Updated: I found an interesting interview with the director here.]