Strapped

What is it about prostitutes? Their beauty, of course. Another part of it is their easy sexuality and availability. They have no hangups. (Well, not many anyway.) Everyone wants to do it with them, so why not charge for it? Another part of it is this ridiculous fantasy about "converting" them from sex machines into cuddling lovers.

I'm sure someone has written about this as a cinematic theme. It's not a gay/straight thing. It's a prostitute thing. Gays are as fascinated by prostitutes as anyone else. And of course a hustler movie is always going to have some decent eye candy and eroticism.

Well, this is a particularly good example of the genre. We follow a young gay hustler (well played by Ben Bonenfant) as he meets, and has sex with, a number of people who live in a single apartment building.

Our nameless hustler is disingenuous and guileless (for a hustler) but engaging and quite adorable. He is not an injured soul to be used and discarded. Fortunately he seems to lack the background traumas that drive most hustlers. He is a blank slate as he f*cks his way through the apartment building, learning and growing as he goes along. Each client is a revelation. Yes, he's doing it for the money--but there's something else going on there. He's devastatingly good at his work. Our innocent beauty may be a little lost, but he bestows each client with the sacrament needed.

The director slowly reveals some of the face behind the mask, as the hustler-hero explores the various interesting aspects of this gay world. Is he trapped in the apartment building? Is it actually his home? Or is it a temporary way-stop on the journey to a conventional life? You see, he's gay, but not gay gay.

In one memorable scene, when asked how old he is, he compares himself to fresh-cut flowers; that's how he feels of course. In the bloom of his youth. However, his older, wise and worldly client points to a painting depicting a beautiful St Sebastian and points out that the hustler is more like that, young in body but an age old theme, the beautiful but wounded saint.

A captivating and surprisingly intelligent and moving movie. Let's hope Joseph Gordon makes more like this.

So why does this film get only 6.5 on IMDb?? It's inexplicable. Don't let that dissuade you from seeing it.

An astonishing, spectacularly good little movie - much, MUCH better than anybody has words to say. Sexy and poetic, lyrical and heartbreaking and soaring. It is as mundane as a leaking roof and as wide and glorious as the universe. To say it is about a hustler turning tricks is like saying the Odyssey is about a guy who got stuck in traffic on the way home.

Its minor flaws, so tiny they are almost insignificant - sloppy camera focus in crucial scenes, occasionally ponderous dialog, the total lack of tongues during the all-important kiss - simply make it better, realer, more human, as tiny flaws in great works of art always do.

If I could have seen only one gay movie in all my life, this is the one I would want it to be.

This film is about a hustler who gets into one encounter after another in an apartment building, somewhere in America.

The writer of "Strapped" put a lot of effort into making a plot that has a message. It is about a man who looks for sexual adventures continuously. He never looks back on his past encounters. Fortune has it that he has five encounters with different individuals who are wildly different from one another. These clients, and the different ways the hustler interacts with them add depth to the plot. The final encounter is the emotionally satisfying, as the hustler finally finds that special magic that transforms him. "Strapped" is a little boring at first, but steadily improves throughout the film.

It kills me when someone attempts to classify a movie as "gay" and/or "straight". If it falls into either of those categories it fails at being universal. I found this one, minus some of the raunchy dialogue, to be universal. If gays can love "Leaving Las Vegas" and "Pretty Woman", why can't straights love this? Hustler pretends to be whatever/whomever his male clients need, and discovers himself along the way. Is that really so taxing? Brief nudity in the beginning, sex that focuses solely on the facial expressions for the rest of the film, and some pretty rough/real dialogue. Really, too much for straights? I don't think so. The lead is perfect, the rest of the acting can be spotty, and there's a lot of verbal exposition(redundant?) Still an awesome film no matter the genre. When I saw the term "hustler listed in the description I almost passed, as I would "Coming of Age" or "HIV Positive" themed films, but this one is different. A gay guy figuring himself out. Cool flick.

I just saw this film today at Reeling 29, the Chicago LGBT Film Festival. It's my favorite so far and I've seen MANY good, even great, films already. This one was just... great. Ben Bonenfant is an excellent lead in this film, too. I've never seen the short he was in before this, but going to try to find it somehow.

His acting was so good, I felt like I was watching a documentary. He/we learn something with every encounter in this film. I don't want to give anything away. I'm buying it as soon as it's out - actually I'm going to see if/when it's available.

Seriously, watch this movie and you'll feel like you accompanied Alice down the rabbit hole - except Alice is a hustler and the rabbit hole is, well... use your imagination.