Saturday, April 28, 2012
GREEKS
Today's gay film was
Long Island Expressway. The geographic center of a film about a pederast and a 15 year old boy.
Brian Cox and Paul Dano, the first film for Dano who is now a career actor. Cox was top of the line when they made this film and still is. It says he was warned not to do it. Bad for the career but great for the film.
This is a tough subject to tackle but tackle they do.
We see the situational setup for the boy to be available and interested. We see the unseen forces that drive the older man.
The kid's father is in deep trouble. He is an architect builder whose latest development burned down. Aluminum wiring.
The kid's mother was killed in a car accident. On the Long Island Expressway.
Well acted, directed and photographed. Aside from the Expressway the suburb is Edenic. The kids are all over breaking in houses, doping, sexing.
How is this a gay film? Because it is the experience of a lot of gay men during their early adolescence. The local pullover is a source of income for boys who skip school to pickup Johns. A lot of these kids are gay first. The other delinquent stuff comes after.
It is hard to be sympathetic with a pederast. Cox nearly pulls it off. But, in the end, he is an evil bastard who knows enough about his compulsion to bust himself for it. He doesn't.
I saw this when it came out. I wanted to see it again. It is a 5 out of a Netflix5 because of the two viewings. But now that I have seen it again, I will let it settle back into being a threebie.
