BoysTown: Season One, Episodes 5 & 6 (2012)/Kamikaze
Hearts (1986)/Morgan (2012/Water
Bearer Films DVDs)
Picture:
C+/C/C+ Sound: C+/C/C Extras: D/D/B Main Programs: C/C+/B-
Now for
the latest gay & lesbian releases from Water Bearer Films:
BoysTown: Season One, Episodes 5
& 6 (2012)
continues what they have decided to claim is a single season in progress
despite running since 2004. That is some
kind of record if one considers 8 years not too long for a season, though I can
hear the Moonlighting jokes
now. We have covered the previous double
episodes DVDs of the show at the following links:
1 & 2
http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/11474/BoysTown:+Episodes+1+&+2+(2004,
3 & 4
http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/11694/BoysTown:+Season+One,+Ep.+3+&
We get
more of the same that is watchable, but the storylines are starting to wear
thin a little and the actors can only do so much with their roles. I am not expecting Dallas
or Dynasty, but less clichés and
predictability would have been nice. The
actors have stayed well with their roles, but the writing needs to take a new
course.
There are
no extras.
Juliet
Bashore’s Kamikaze Hearts (1986) is
a semi-fictional look at a lesbian XXX star (Sharon Mitchell) back in the
mid-1980s dealing with the politics, ups and downs of the hardcore sex industry
as it is mostly produced on analog videotape and as wacky as ever. This film is shot on film however and wants
to be an important, honest drama on the subject, but the results are mixed and
it becomes a rare time capsule instead of a time when you could make big money
on XXX titles prior to the Internet, big cable, big satellite and the digital
era.
In one
way, it is amusing and almost charming, but at 87 minutes is more than enough
and for some (especially those looking for a lesbian cinematic discourse) may
find it even landmark. It is at least a
record, even by accident, of a time long gone and ironically, AIDS is hardly a
subject so it is the last of such films on this subject that will ever get
made.
There are
no extras.
Finally
we have a big surprise in Michael Akers’ Morgan
(2012) which is one of the best gay dramas and independent dramas I have seen
in a while. The title character (Lee
Minaya) is a very athletic, energetic guy who loves sports and the outdoors,
but a fatal turn in a bike race leaves him in a wheelchair and he has to deal
with many issues as a result, including being alone.
One day,
he is going by a basketball court when meets Dean (Jack Kesy) who is also gay
and is interested in him. Dean has his
won resent problems and rough past, but they start to fall for each other and
get involved against the odds. From
there, the film gets better and shows us a real love story that defies the
genre and sexuality that was a real nice surprise.
The
scenes with the other actors are hit or miss, but the scenes between the leads
are very effective because the actors have chemistry, believability and play as
very personal, private and intimate.
Remarkable and the best gay cinema I have seen in sometime, Morgan is
worth going out of your way for.
Extras
include a feature length audio commentary track by Akers and Producer Sandon
Berg (who co-wrote the script) that is good but is drowned out slightly by the
audio of the film, Original Theatrical Trailer, Deleted Scenes that show how
smart they were in figuring out how to avoid clichés, Slideshow and a Behind
The Scenes featurette.
The
anamorphically enhanced 1.78 X 1 image on all three releases are a bit soft and
save Hearts (shot on 16mm film in an
older video master) are digital HD shoots.
Morgan looks the best by a
narrow margin and the makers actually knew how to push the format so it would
not look generic. The lossy Dolby
Digital 5.1 on Morgan is a little
better than its Dolby 2.0 Stereo mix or the PCM 2.0 Stereo mixes on the other
Water Bearer DVDs. The newer releases
have some location audio issues, while Hearts
is slightly compressed.
- Nicholas Sheffo
