Party boys

I went to the premier of "Circuit" at Outfest 2001 and left the theater feeling somewhat overwhelmed, which is a good thing. The story is about a smart, handsome gay cop from a small closed minded town who moves to Los Angeles to live an openly gay life. After his first party in the Hollywood Hills, he becomes friends with a gay male escort and falls into the circuit party scene which slowly tears him apart. He becomes obsessed with muscles, drugs, parties, and the fast gay West Hollywood night life which eventually ruins his personality and spiritual growth. This film has a special kind of honesty that is both good and bad. Good because it can serve as an awakening towards certain gay men that live to abuse themselves in the party world and bad because it may encourage the circuit lifestyle as cool or glamorous, which in reality can become the complete opposite and ruin peoples lives. The ending left me feeling angry and sad about the circuit scene, and I hope it will for others too. The story line has the ability to leave an important message to certain people that desperately need it.

I saw this at the Reel Pride festival last November (2001), and couldn't stop thinking about it for days afterward. While it's been called a "wake-up call" to some members of the gay community it doesn't come off as didactic as it could. Instead you find yourself caring about the characters and wondering what will happen to them after the movie ends.

The only thing wrong with the film is the intended main character, i.e., the cop who leaves the repressive and hostile smalltown life for the wildlife of West Hollywood. While his character is not a static one, the changes that take place in his life seem to come as a result of his passivity rather than any active move on his part. This isn't helped by the bland and vanilla acting of Jonathan Wade-Drahos. Andre Khabbazi as the jaded Hector on the other hand brings much to his character, and so Hector becomes the one your heart goes out to. Wade-Drahos acting aside, this is a well-told story, and one that merits a wide release. Check it out as soon as you can. As for me, I can't wait for the video.

Director Dirk Shafer does his low-budget best to capture the vibe of cruising the California Gay Circuit. The rather bland soap opera device used to connect the party sequences is unaffecting. A much more prurient approach to the sex and drug culture here would have probably worked better. Needless to say, the acting is amateurish, but, for the most part, acceptable. The editing is fairly refined for an indie project, but the film is not as good as Shafer's MAN OF THE YEAR. The unrated DVD is the way to go for those interested, even though the soundtrack is rather poorly rendered for a film filled with pulsating rave tracks.

I saw this movie with a title "Party Boys". For me, it was NOT about some circuit in L.A., or wherever. It reminded me of the feelings I had - in my party times - every weekend - in the middle of Europe - far away of the gay paradises of the west. This is why I dare to call this portrait more general. Forget about drugs, forget about time and place... the thing that remains is that next-day's "why?" and "nothing more?". All that love-is-in-the-air (that is just the text of the song, not what is present in the atmosphere), all that boys-good-in-bed (that are so bad actually in their imitating of the porn, thinking that THIS IS a sex), all that care-about-your-body that disguises the lack of purpose of the void corpse, all that rainbow-colourfulness (that is the dictate of one color actually - even if different every weekend).

Being myself...??? Come on! I loved and still love the parties, music, dancing, nice guys, feeling of something happening - but I don't wanna see just ones side, to get drunk by this "pure happiness"... After one gets drunk, the hangover comes... I like gay culture (subculture, pseudo-culture, whatever), the ideas of colours, unconstrained love, freedom, enjoying of life - but what there really is - is far from this ideal. Uniformity, sex as a sport (who experienced nothing else, will not understand), vogue, must-have-fun must-smile must-laugh for any price... Maybe this is what the director wanted to say.

Maybe it's not true about your L.A. circuit - but there's more to feel than to see.

Dirk Shafer, Playgirl's man of the year a few years back has put together a little bit of heaven & hell in this nugget of gay club-life in the city of angels. Although the acting is only mediocre, the direction, script, and overall film is very good. Dirk uses just the right amount of music, drugs, sex, exploitation, and beefcake to hit the nail on the head. The story revolves around a smalltown Illinois former cop named John who moves to L.A. & discovers sex, drugs, and techno. What's also interesting is the supporting cast of William Katt, JM J. Bullock, Nancy Allen, andPaul Lekakis. The music is great as well with new cuts from Taylor Dayne, Lonnie Gordon, and a slow remake of E.G. Daily's Love in the Shadows. For those that love the circuit, for those now out of the circuit, and for those who are oblivious to the circuit, watch and learn.