Bizarre

The title is derived from Bar Bizarre in Brooklyn, a home for fetish performances that take place on stage for all to see! Homeless French teenager, Maurice, seems to be on the run. As luck has it, the female owners of Bizarre take Maurice in, creating a new and strange path in his life. What transpires is almost reminiscent of the Warhol / Morrissey films, FLESH (1968), TRASH (1970) and HEAT (1972), but with less talk and more visual aid in telling the tale. The standout in this curious piece is the stage performers of Bar Bizarre, and how strange indeed. As for the rest, you watch in wonder and get taken in with Maurice's affection with the feminine anorexia barman, Luka (stunning performance and not to be seen in anything else at the moment).

This is not a movie to be watched once. It won't make sense if you do not ponder the meaning beneath the images and scenes. It may look scattered and confusing with many plot lines interwoven through but you have to make sense of it. It is a subjective experience that must be savored more than once.

This is currently airing on Xfinity On Demand for Free. As a native Bklynite in one of the most famous cities...err Boroughs in the world, this was somewhat tedious at times. Its only saving grace was the natural acting ability from the entire cast, and having been shot on-location. The menage-a-trois shower scene (featured on the box cover) appears to have been cut from the film. They edited version only shows Maurice taking a shower, as one of the female owners barges in and leaves. Can only recommend as a late-night cable view.

A French teenager gets a job at the burlesque club Bizarre in New York.

I had a vague idea of what to expect with this, that it would be arty, explicit and the explicitness would be largely gratuitous. It's certainly all that, and less.

A plot would have been nice. There is none, or nothing discernible at least. The teenager is really just a medium to show all the weird, pretentious stuff, as if it's a documentary and he's the historian.

It's all about weird stuff happening just for shock value sake and is totally devoid of any substance.

Avoid.

I liked this movie, not from the very beginning, but as the story evolves - french cute boy comes to Brooklyn and works in exchange for a place to sleep as barkeeper / dishwasher in the underground club Bizarre, - it becomes more and more emotionally dense. And erotic. And this is for me what the story is about: it leaves a lot for your imagination, it doesn't show all, the feelings of Maurice (main actor Pierre Prieur) as well as his motives and fears are just to imagine, as not spoken out. Isn't this what love and Eros is all about. Name it and it's gone. This is not an easy movie, although there are a lot of funny, weird, queer, drag queen scenes, which are seldom seen in bigger productions in such honesty and passion. Because this movie leaves the interpretation of the story and especially the (absolutely not predictable) end to the viewer. I love the movie, I love the actors, their beauty, their self- consciousness. And after I heard an interview with the director in Berlin (Teddy Awards), I also like him and his way of making underground movies. This is not an American gay movie, where everything is clear. This is great European (French) cinema. Its not about sex, its about Eros. If you like movies, where you have to think for yourself and don't get answers served on a silver tablet, watch this gem of a gay themed movie.