Hommes à louer

The subject matter is interesting, the stories compelling, but the idiot filmmaker decided to make a 2h24min documentary solely with extreme close ups of faces. Literally unwatchable.

It is always difficult to make a study in the prostitution world and even more in the gay prostitution. This great documentary consists in monthly face to face interviews with some gay hustlers in Montreal downtown.

From the very first minutes, it appears that most of those hustlers are actually straight but they accept to have sex with male clients for the money, which they spend buying drugs. Many of them have actually started drugs before prostitution. But it is definitely not that simple!

They all want to get out of the prostitution, but can a "normal" work make you earn that much money and that fast? On the other hand, a "normal" work keeps you busy, so you have much less free time to do drugs. Eventually, you will get no answer: just more questions. And so what? If you want a clear answer, you must have a clear question!

Documentary about men who have sex with men for money to survive in Montreal. They were all interviewed at a clinic they go to once a month to get tested for diseases and health info. It follows them over the course of one year. Most are in their early 20s and are forthright about their lives and what they do. Some of them are very casual about having sex with guys and being addicted to drugs. They're also young but in terrible shape. Some are missing their teeth and the ones that are left are yellow and they all had abusive childhoods. It is fascinating but, at 145 minutes, terribly depressing and sometimes boring. There's only so many times you can hear a person go on about being addicted. Also it's in French so you have to read subtitles for almost 2 and 1/2 hours. So it's interesting but far too long.

"Men For Sale" is a harrowing look at about a dozen hustlers over a year's time in Montreal as they come into a clinic known as Sero-Zero. It's a place where they can get health checks and information about AIDS prevention. It's also where documentarian Rodrigue Jean set up his cameras for month-by-month interviews. The over two hour running time adds to the nightmarish aspect of the men's existences.

They live in a constant parade of drugs (Crack, mainly), sex, hustling, fights, and dreams that even they know won't come true. One by one, these young men talk about being in a life that seems like a death wish (some of them repeatedly say they want to commit suicide) or a never ending lurch from score to score. There's scenes of deep denial about their lives, like the one man who is the father to a baby that he thinks he could be a good father for, even as he talks about buying more crack. Some of these men think it's a major achievement in detoxing if they stay off the rock for more than 10 hours.

But then it's right back to the viscous cycle. After awhile, the film becomes almost numbing in it's predictability, repetitive nature, and a serious lack of editing. (Did there really need to be shots of the men getting microphones taped on their chests? Or the transitional shots of Montreal in the dark?) The film is also in French, so you're reading subtitles throughout. With the exception of "Willy," whose face is never fully shown, most of these men are inarticulate, which renders the subtitles into something resembling a news-channel's repetitious lower screen ticker bar.

The story never seems to change. It makes "Men For Sale" a depressing portrait of prostitution and drug use. To the movie's credit, there's no glamorization or teary fake redemption scenes, and plenty of close ups of men beaten both mentally and physically. "I'm 23 and I'm losing my teeth," one of the men grouses. They may be "Men For Sale," but ultimately, they give up whatever value they could have and the DVD refuses to flinch at that fact.

This movie is about drug addiction and hustling. It's a pity that people might think its just a sensational fast look at hustling.

The Québécois and the street "verlan" really challenged me at first. The guys are very articulate, its the audience that needs to adjust to the way they communicate. I would imagine it would be a challenge to sit through this film if you can't understand some French, even though there are subtitles.

In fact its the turn of phrase in their street language that delivers the full story of what their lives are like. There are dozens of different ways to think about what the guys are saying.

I can't think of another film that is so long and just talking heads. Its startling to look at these guys' faces for so long, listening to them talk.

Over all its a great documentary. And purely as cinema, there is something similar to Morrissey's Trash (the Warhol production), the fiction that puts the camera on heads and lets the people talk and talk and talk.