Boy

"Boy" was the third segment of "Boy Briefs 4", a gay-themed compilation.

This short film is about a small town teenage male prostitute (Jesse Lee) and a killing. The boy knows who did it. Entirely without dialog, events are wrapped within an eerie sound track and interspersed with almost subliminally quick captions, flashed in different parts of the screen. It's beautifully made, with all the elements of a meditation.

His day-to-day life, made up of a loving grandmother, the creation of junkyard doll art, the abuse from his schoolmates and and from just about everyone in the town, gives context to the conclusion where justice prevails.

Initially I thought this amazing short film was probably taking itself a little too seriously. I might have even felt that it was bordering on pretentious. Yet, there's something about "Boy" that really grows on you. That's how it was for me, anyway. I first saw it probably 2 or 3 years ago. The film definitely made an impression on me, but the impression was that it was trying too hard to be artsy or "deep" or symbolic or all of the above. I wouldn't have given it a second thought (or a second viewing) except for the song that plays off and on throughout the film - "Anchor Me" - got stuck in my head and I found myself watching "Boy" over and over again just to hear "Anchor Me". The funny thing is that with each subsequent viewing, I noticed new details that I hadn't noticed before. I don't claim to understand any of the symbolism in this film, and I'm honestly not even sure I understand half of the things that actually happened. What I do know is that I've never watched any other movie 30 times and liked it more the 30th time than the first. As you might have guessed, I got seriously, disturbingly addicted to the song "Anchor Me". But aside from that, the movie itself is addicting, too, if you give it a chance. It's totally unique and never boring. Highly recommended.