New Jersey 1994 and young Jack Hoffman is trying to masturbate to pictures of men from clothes catalogues while also hiding in his house to avoid being beaten up as a "faggot", even though nobody knows that he is actually gay. When he hears from a friend that they had found and dumped a stash of gay porn magazines in a dumpster across town, he springs into action to find them and get them. His greed to get them all though sees him at risk from the bullies who are kicking around the neighborhood.
This is essentially a coming-of-age tale where a teenage boy is forced to come to terms with who he is, his sexuality and what others will think of that. The narrative device used is the manifestation of one of the models in the porno and he talks him through the challenges ahead. As a story it is nicely told and it is pretty nice to see a story made with a different sexuality in mind for this sort of thing. In that sense the message is positive even if it is simple. Perhaps it was just me but the hunt for porn as a teen was one that rung true – I would have been a bit older than Jack here in 1994 and yes in the early 90's there was no mountain of online porn just a click away, instead you had to seek it out and yes that maybe did mean situations like this!
The material is simple but the direction is mostly good; no great flourishes perhaps but solid camera work, good color and nice locations which are made to look good. Navarro is solid in the lead although I thought that Fleming was a little bit stiff as a character. Generally though it works and, as straightforward as it is, it is a nice coming- of-age tale that features a refreshing change in the sexuality which is the norm for these types of stories.
This is essentially a coming-of-age tale where a teenage boy is forced to come to terms with who he is, his sexuality and what others will think of that. The narrative device used is the manifestation of one of the models in the porno and he talks him through the challenges ahead. As a story it is nicely told and it is pretty nice to see a story made with a different sexuality in mind for this sort of thing. In that sense the message is positive even if it is simple. Perhaps it was just me but the hunt for porn as a teen was one that rung true – I would have been a bit older than Jack here in 1994 and yes in the early 90's there was no mountain of online porn just a click away, instead you had to seek it out and yes that maybe did mean situations like this!
The material is simple but the direction is mostly good; no great flourishes perhaps but solid camera work, good color and nice locations which are made to look good. Navarro is solid in the lead although I thought that Fleming was a little bit stiff as a character. Generally though it works and, as straightforward as it is, it is a nice coming- of-age tale that features a refreshing change in the sexuality which is the norm for these types of stories.