The Fruit Machine

The film "Wonderland" (aka "The FruitMachine") is a surprisingly dippy, imaginative romp involving two gay teenaged boys who happen to witness a gangland murder and are forced to flee Liverpool for Brighton. The film takes many inventive turns, several of which involve Eddie's dream lover, a man-dolphin hybrid who actually appears at crucial moments in the film to save Eddie and his partner, Michael. There are many subplots and colorful supporting characters, and the ending, albeit sad, is inevitable. It's worth it if only for the dance sequence at the Fruit Machine, a gay showbar in Liverpool, in which Michael competes for thirty quid. His dance is both erotic and touchingly naive. Both boys, Emile Charles and Tony Forsyth, should have had big careers in film. Apart from one distracting editing lapse that blunts the finale, this is a superior film, in that it refuses to indulge in stereotyping and doesn't condescend to its lead characters.

The idea of the story is not bad, but the use of stereotypes (Edie behaves very effeminate, the people in the man only bar too) only makes this movie painful to watch. The only character I liked was Michael, since he behaves like a normal boy (and is sexy too...)

Two gays teens on the run after seeing a brutal murder. It deals with homosexuality, racism, friendship & love.... and handles them all well, what more could ask from a movie! The acting is sincere, the directing well paced. Overall this is a very entertaining movie

This odd movie tells the tale of two gay boys in the UK who witness a murder and are then pursued by the killer who wants to leave no witnesses.

Eddie is somewhat effeminate and likes to spend his time with his mother watching old romantic movies on the telly and retouching her roots while she tells him tales of how she was almost a star. Eddie is a dreamer and sometimes even has visions. He also has an abusive Dad who doesn't want a `poofter' for a son.

Michael is a beautiful rent boy living on the streets after escaping from a youth detention center. Everyone wants him but it's for only one thing.

Somehow the two boys have met up and become best mates. When Eddie decides to run away from home and the abusive father, Michael swears to take care of him. And so the boys begin their adventures, first in gay nightclub called the Fruit Machine and then later in Brighton accompanied by a retiring opera tenor. In Brighton, Eddie visits Wonderland a seaside aquarium with a trained dolphin show. There he meets a girl animal rights advocate and Eddie becomes obsessed with setting the dolphins free. Meanwhile Michael is `paying the rent' with the tenor using the only currency that he has. Unfortunately the killer has followed them to Brighton.

There is a very touching love story here between the two boys and I wanted to know more. How did they meet and become friends? What have they said to each other about their mutual attraction? One can intuit a lot from what is shown but there could have been so much more. Is Eddie still a virgin? How much does he know about how Michael supports himself? Has he never made an attempt to get physical with Michael because he knows?

This movie seemed to me to be two movies uncomfortably joined into one. The whole `pursued by a killer' plotline seemed to have been grafted onto the main story, perhaps to make it more palatable to the general public and hence more commercial. As far as I'm concerned they needn't have bothered. The story of the relationship between the two boys was more than enough and the sporadic appearance of the killer was a jolting distraction to the story I was really interested in.

After viewing "Silence Like Glass", I was fascinated by the strength of Mr. Payne's performance and wanted to discover his "film roots". The closest I could get to, (until I saw "Privates on Parade"), was "The Fruit Machine", or as its known by me, "Wonderland". Mr. Payne's "Echo" leaves ripples in his wake...