Zona rosa

What a wasted opportunity to actually make an interesting film about a complicated subject. There is very little exploration about what it really feels like to be a straight (or gay) man working in a gay sexual environment.The dancers keep talking about their art as if it has no erotic component. They may not all be prostitutes for hire, but they are indeed sex workers playing out fantasies and selling private sessions where more than dancing is offered. From the film one would get the impression that they mainly appeal to the women who go to the gay clubs and then end up hiring the "dancers" for private sessions. Even the shots in the club only show women in front of the stage and the "dancers" only playing to the women in the audience. This just isn't the reality of these clubs. It would be pretty hard to make a living doing private dances for straight women and couples. So what do they really feel about their gay admirers and clients? We learn very little. Instead we get filler. A gay activist who adds nothing to the study of straight dancers. A manager who tells us about the costumes for the drag acts but offers no insight into the dancers' lives and attitudes.

The pictures of Mexico City are generic. The phallic montage showing sausages roasting is ridiculous.

This is a totally simplistic film which should be of interest only to those who want to see a few pictures of pretty boys dancing. The rest of the movie is an insult to gay men.

ZONA ROSA is a colorful, lively, and entertaining documentary about the young men who are male strippers in the gay clubs of Mexico City's Zona Rosa. The credible parts of the film are those showing the actual dancing that takes place in these famous clubs: the controversial aspect of the 'documentary' is that portion (the major part) of the film that goes out of its way to emphasize that all of these hunky stripping Latin men are straight and are doing this work for the art of it and for female customers! Indeed, almost all the shots of the men in action on the stages of these clubs focus on the front rows of people in attendance - and naturally those are women, in gay clubs, without men in sight....

Director Dan Castle uses a lot of film to interview one Christian, an exotic dancer in the most famous of the clubs, and the interview includes footage of his approving mother, his young son (he is divorced and living at home), and repeated declarations that exotic dancing cannot be examined as a preface to any other aspects of life. Likewise his fellow dancers are interviewed, declaring that the dances are intended for female clientèle, while at the same time the young studs are adamant in their claims that women are rude and intrusive whereas the gay clientèle are respectful of their roles as entertainers (wherever those reverential men might be hiding in the club shots). Jump ahead one year and we see Christian living with his protégé, a body builder/trainer who Christian is prepping as a stripper, each of the two men commenting at length about each other's physical erotic attributes...

The DVD 'Extra' is an extended survey of several of the men's dancing routines, dances that ultimately include full frontal nudity. There is also a funny 'banana contest' which in many ways seems demeaning to the contestants. Along the way in this film we see interviews with club owners describing their complete control of the shows, gay activists who talk about the police censorship of the clubs, the failed attempts at gay pride parades, the closure of 60 of the clubs in 2001, and the lack of a vocal gay community. All of this goes along with the 'Latin macho' concept that everything associated with male stripping in gay clubs is solely for the pleasure of women. It leaves the viewer wondering why the very erotic film was made in the first place! Hello? Grady Harp, September 06

SEXY IN THE CITY, Dec. 5, 2005 Reviewer: Preston A dazzling display of dance and drama, Zona Rosa has been an international film festival fave and viewing the DVD even makes it better due to the bonanza of DVD extras. Director Dan Castle has taken his camera through the infamous and intimate strip joints of Mexico City's Zona Rosa. Not content to merely record performances, Castle has conducted up-close and personal interviews with the scintillating strippers, their family members and the actual club owners. The result is funny, sad, sensational and sexy all at the same time. This is the ultimate voyeur's trip into the exploration of the male psyche behind the meat market. The 40-plus minutes of DVD extras include complete strip routines from all the performers involved in the movie, obviously rife with male nudity. Of particular interest will be the raw Big Banana contest, which would seem to validate the old cliché that size does indeed matter. Latin lovers will savor this confection of Mexican machismo.

Zona Rosa a salacious romp into the hot and hard world of gay for pay strippers. The film provides both an up close and personal insight into the real world of these drop dead beautiful studs and strippers. It provides a voyeuristic spectacle as well as a not so glamorous glimpse beneath the skin and into the private world of these gigolos. Zona Rosa provides an insight into the guys' relationship with their male and female clients. Whether these lover boys are bisexual, gay for pay, closet gay, or just cashing in on their youth and beauty, who knows, but its up to the viewer to decide from the interesting interviews. A nefarious roller coast ride into the kinky back stage and on stage dramas and real life issues of these modern day midnight cowboys.