Venus as a Boy

I'm not going to explain anything about this film. If you live it, if you hate it, I think that says a lot about who you are. I'm not saying that it defines you negatively or positively, but it puts you into one of two camps. I know exactly which one I fall into. Loved every second of this film.

Characters ring false. My body was literally cringing listening to the dialogue. Beware of someone who both writes and directs and stars in their own movie. This proves why you shouldn't do this.

33 year old attractive black man wants to be an artist but winds up being a serial girl toy for successful women. After some soul searching, he finally starts producing art and begins getting noticed for his work instead of his looks.

The acting, direction, and scenery are all well above average. The story was just okay.

If the intent was to display how 'different' and 'out of touch' the art culture is with everyday people, then mission accomplished, I guess. Otherwise, that was just some bizarro story about the starving artists and the rich elite they have to satisfy to succeed.

I get the message that Hunter wanted to be true to himself and his art and he was going to stand on principle, and I thought that was about the only good part of the story. However, that was a long journey for a pretty common movie theme. I can't imagine a large segment of society relating to this movie. I'm sure the 'critics' will love the diversity and portrayal of culture, but that is their world. For most of us, it was just a P. T. Barnum spectacle that wore off after the first 20 minutes, IMO.

One last point, what the heck is with all the smoking? I thought we were past glamourizing cigarette smoking in the movies?

Ty Hodges wrote, directed and starred in this himself. I haven't seen anything he has done before but I hope I see more after this. This movie is so honest and open. The story telling is amazing, layered and artful. It explores a lot of very relevant things; social class, sincerity in art, love and identity. It is not done in a "shove it in your face" or preachy way, instead it feels genuine. Like you're just watching someone's life. There are more artistic scenes exploring the character's state of mind that are done so well. All the characters are written pretty well, even those more in the background feel real. Projects like this need more mainstream recognition cause they are few and far between.