Customer Reviews

Boys Life 2

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

In 3 of these 4 shorts, homophobia lurks. All 4 are artistic, from minimal-realistic to episodic. MUST BE THE MUSIC: It's only four young teen guys going clubbing one night, scrappy and bopping. Business as usual with young males, but these prowlers are all gay--showing we're "different and the same." SECOND COUSIN: the tables turned, a New York cop makes a gay-basher come home for dinner at mother's. The subtlety? Residual internalized homophobia. ALKALI, IA: The film's jolty uneven flashback style well suits its subject, a farm boy discovering his father was gay, and his family is still anti-gay. But the best is THE DADSHUTTLE. Apparently only the conversation between guy and dad in a car drive, actually it's artistic genius, re-creating (not just reporting) son's attempt to communicate, father's non-intended awkwardness. Bravo.

Sure TREVOR has its own video release, but I really prefer viewing it with MUST BE THE MUSIC, ALKALI (from the director of 54) and NUNZIO'S SECOND COUSIN. As seen in theaters, TREVOR rounded out the multi-generational aspect of the program. Seen that way, we were shown the experiences of various characters from pre-teen to middle aged. I don't want to knock THE DADSHUTTLE (included in this DVD release in place of TREVOR) for it is a well performed piece and worthy of a look. I must thank IMAGE ENTERTAINMENT for releasing this DVD in the first place! MUSIC and NUNZIO'S are both presented letterboxed in their original cinema format. ALKALI, filmed in 16mm is presented full frame. As usual, Image's quality is great and the picture and sound quality runs circles around the previous VHS release. The reds and flashing lights of MUSIC's club sequences don't look as fuzzy and those colors don't bleed into each other as in the VHS version. The sound is much more audible as well. ... Waiting for Boy's Life 3...

After watching both films (on DVD) I thing Boys Life 2 has more depth. (Well the first film in BL2 isn't very deep... but the last three are...) Anyhoo, Nunzio's 2nd Cousin is rich in dark humor, Alkali Iowa a gritty and honest depiction of life in rural farm country... and Dadshuttle is an interesting film... Someone earlier railed against this last film... It isn't a film that you can sit back and be bemused and entertained, but it is an incredible film showing a father who isn't listening to what his son is telling him... How the father is able to not confront the truth of his son's message is amazing....

Very good movies overall...

BOYS LIFE 2

(USA - 1998)

Theatrical soundtrack: Mono

BOYS LIFE: THREE STORIES OF LOVE, LUST, AND LIBERATION (1995) was an interesting - though blandly filmed - trio of stories which explored the pleasures and pitfalls of coming out. Though not without problems of its own, BOYS LIFE 2 represents a broadening of narrative horizons, with four short films that explore different facets of the gay experience.

MUST BE THE MUSIC (USA - 1996) is Nickolas Perry's take on the lives of four young friends (three gay, one ostensibly straight) who's visit to an LA nightclub reveals an array of barely-suppressed emotions. The tone is raucous and hard-edged, but the film comes to an abrupt ending long before the characters have been fully established or their situations resolved. Aspect ratio: 1.85:1.

Tom DeCerchio's NUNZIO'S SECOND COUSIN (USA - 1994) is the ace in the pack, a superb vignette in which a potentially lethal gay-bashing is turned completely around when one of the intended victims turns out to be a gun-wielding cop who seems to recognise something ambiguous about the motives of one of his attackers. By turns hilarious and frightening, the film revels in its contradictions (ie. the warm-hearted gay man with an explosive temper; the sweet old guy who turns out to be an ignorant racist; the handsome young thug who isn't what he seems, etc.) whilst offering viewers a wish-fulfillment assault on small-minded bigots everywhere. Vincent D'Onofrio (the cop), Eileen Brennan (his dotty mom), and the gorgeous Miles Perlich (the thug) topline this small gem of a movie, and they each play their roles to perfection. Aspect ratio: 1.85:1.

Mark Christopher directs the much-praised ALKALI, IOWA (USA - 1995), the tale of a young gay farmer who literally unearths the secrets of his long dead father and immediately upsets the deceptive tranquility of his deeply troubled family. Beautifully photographed, the film generates an authentic sense of landscape and mystery, but the ambitious narrative is defeated by a patently inadequate running time (17 minutes). Aspect ratio: 1.37:1.

Finally, Tom Donaghy's THE DADSHUTTLE (USA - 1994) records the conversation between a young man and his doting father during a short car journey which culminates in a tragic revelation. Deliberately uncinematic, this is basically an actor's piece, nicely underplayed by Matt McGrath (son)and Peter Maloney (father), but the dialogue is slightly too theatrical at times and the confined staging limits the film's emotional impact. Aspect ratio: 1.37:1.

Viewers should be aware that the original US DVD version of BOYS LIFE 2 (this title doesn't appear anywhere on the print itself) differs from the original theatrical release, which offered Peggy Rajski's Oscar-winning short TREVOR (1995) instead of THE DADSHUTTLE. This is possibly due to copyright wrangles over the Diana Ross songs which figure heavily in Rajski's film.

Followed by BOYS LIFE 3 (2000).

Ok. This is a compilation of 4 short films which are all focusing on being young and gay. This set of films includes the exceptional story The Dadshuttle by Tom Donaghy, a haunting and poignant drama of a young man coming out to his father while in a car; Alkali, Iowa by Mark Christopher, a serious drama of a young rural man accepting his homosexuality; Must Be the Music by Nickolas Perry, a tale of 4 teenage friends out on the town in L.A.; and the smart and funny Nunzio's Second Cousin by Tom DeCerchio about a gay detective who gets his unusual revenge on a young gay-basher. You will laugh out loud!

I had some difficulty understanding the first story, guess that's the generation gap. Nunzio's Second Cousin, while dark, highlights our need to encourage each other to be honest with ourselves. Alkalai, Iowa, is my favorite: there is gay life outside of New York, San Francisco and LA. It also raises the question of gay being genetic. The Dadshuttle is a spectacular example of the problems we have not only communicating with others, but with ourselves. Overall, the stories are a good reflection of the gay struggle for honesty, openness and acceptance, both within our culture and in the general culture.

Where is Trevor? You see I saw this at Chicago's famous Music Box Theater. And the film then had, instead of the boring 'Dadshuttle', a small gem called Trevor which actually recieved some attention in most of the reviews I read before going. This would otherwise deserve 5 stars. What happened to Trevor? This could cost the film company a few sales.

None of the 4 shorts on display are bad, but MUST BE THE MUSIC isn't very inspired, just 4 teenagers out clubbing and that's it. THE DADSHUTTLE is OK, featuring a conversation about mundane things between a father and son. Lots of words left unspoken there. Too long, though.

The standouts are ALKALI, IOWA, a novelettish subject worthy of Checkov given subtle treatment by Mark Christopher. NUNZIO'S SECOND COUSIN is an actor's dream, Vincent D'Onofrio hamming it up something wonderful as a gay Chicago cop out cruising, being harassed by gaybashers. Eileen Brennan as his chatty Italian mama
has a jolly old time, as well.

This is worth buying, for ALKALI, IOWA alone.

... this is a charming collection, and MUCH better than the first BOYS LIFE. The vignettes are sharper, more distinctive, the writing is more incisive, there's more humor, and more complexity in the supporting (i.e., non-gay) characters. That said, if you're not gay, or not close to someone who is, these short films will probably strike you as nothing special.

The stories in and of themselves were well directed and performed; however, having seen the first Boys Life, these stories were not what I was expecting. Some of the stories were just too, for lack of a better word, weird. Primarily, I cite "Nunzio's Second Cousin." I sat through this story wishing that it would hurry up and end. "Alkali, Iowa" was the best story on the video for it dealt with being gay and multigenerationality. ...