Le prix de l'innocence

Excellent movie. Loved every moment of it. The ending had a creepy twist but was justified as it was a proper conclusion to the storyline. Aleksandrs accent is cute. The therapist is gorgeous. Overall a nice mature psychological thriller

The story, told in flashback sequences in a therapy session with a psychiatrist, follows the story of a young Russian man brought to New York by his unstable mother searching for his father. After her suicide, Aleksandr, who lacks immigration documentation, goes for a "dancing" job in a gay strip bar, and ends up as a high class prostitute. He does not enjoy his work, but finds himself with no viable choices. His horrendous experiences take him further down to the brink of suicide. Many of the scenes are frightening and appalling. This is a damning look at the seamy underside of New York gay life. It is never made plain whether Aleksandr is gay or not (I do not believe he is). None of the gay characters is sympathetic. Well worth watching. Pau Maso is outstanding as Aleksandr. The other actors turn in creditable performances.

This is a really strange, at times puzzling movie about the lower depths of the New York gay club scene filled with enough internalized homophobia to sink the Good Ship Lollipop, as well as the Titanic. A lot of things in it make little sense, and I think that Pau Maso really overestimated his skill and even talent trying to do everything on it-act, write, direct, etc.

But ultimately I found it appealing and even satisfying-Aleksandre hits pure rock bottomn and has to either come up or die. And he does come up, and survives.

I have always said, after many years of living in NY, that if you want to destroy yourself, there is a whole army of people in New York who will be more than happy to help you do it; then once they have pushed you to your own self destruction, they will just go on to the next sucker.

This movie proves it.

Perry Brass.

I thought I'd better offer an honest opinion to balance out the high ratings apparently conferred by writer/director/star Pau Maso's family and friends. This film is an amateurish, muddled mess.

It's framed as a therapy session for gay hustler Aleksandr, who tells his story in a series of flashbacks. This setup is completely unnecessary, and detracts substantially from the film by repeatedly killing the momentum. The therapist, "Dr. Mary", shows no compassion at all for her patient; she sounds like she's reading her lines off a Xeroxed sheet. She asks questions that I hope no professional therapist would ask, and says things that I hope no professional therapist would say (telling an extremely distressed guy he's "strange" won't win any awards for bedside manner).

Aleksandr, who seems to have developed his Russian accent by studying Mr. Chekov in the 1960s Star Trek series, makes one incredibly bad decision after another, to the extent that we feel even less sympathy for him than his therapist does. Suffering one traumatic experience after another, he continues to let bad things happen to him with no resistance offered or judgment exercised whatsoever. After the THIRD TIME a trick hands you a glass of mysterious liquid and says, "Drink it," you either turn and run away or you give up your right to feel you've been taken advantage of.

Tom, the character who seems to be Aleksandr's greatest potential ally, is confusing at best. His dialogue is written as if he's genuinely concerned, but the actor's delivery is so flat - a perpetual cheeriness that sounds like he's speed-dating - we aren't sure if he truly wants to help Aleksandr, or is just looking for a quick and easy hookup.

And then there's the "twist" near the end - not really a plot twist at all, just a ridiculously improbable happenstance. Based on everything we've learned so far, there's no reason to believe this particular incident would be so much as a blip on the radar, compared with a dozen or so other traumatic experiences little Alek has been through. Apparently, this is the one that lands him in therapy - although how and why are never explained.

Mr. Maso isn't a bad looking guy. Too bad he can't write, direct, or act.

Poor script, poor cinematography, poor direction, poor acting (though not sure if it's the actor's fault. Just a titlilating tale of one dimensional characters.