Heat & Lust (British/Gay)
Picture: C
Sound: C Extras: D Feature: C+
In the struggle to make more interesting explicit sexual
material, Gordon Urquhart has tried to come up with a more refined gay sex
program, even if it is with the usual thin narrative. The thing that makes Heat & Lust (2000) more than just
a sexually explicit gay sex program is the humor and approach, which is why it
is getting brief note here.
Yes, the sex is hardcore, but not always and not on the
very bad, who-cares-if-its-dirty-amateur level we have seen in all such titles
(gay, straight and otherwise) in the last 15 years. The show starts with sex out in the isolated open, but before it
can become the usual quiet hardcore “exercise in engagement” as it were, one of
the participants with a British accent, talks about the situation. It is meant to be funny and is. Though the real story that could have
developed out of this and made this a real narrative exercise that never
happens. It is amusingly used in its
transitions from situation to situation in a way that seems like the next
logical step in this kind of production.
Too bad it is the kind that never happens much.
Why so few titles, gay or straight, never surface like
this speaks to the sloppiness and tired glut such titles have fallen to,
reinforcing their “smut” reputation and dirtying sex in general. A long time ago, there really was such
material (regardless of preference) that was meant to be entertaining and
hardcore sexual at the same time. The
industry has lost this, but Urquhart tries to revive it here. Unfortunately, six years later, this did not
have an influential impact. For gay
viewers, they luck out and find a relatively classier title in the hardcore
world for a change. With Internet and
other cheap sex venues on the increase, this is the kind of approach the
industry should embrace more often.
Yes, sex schlock sells, but dies it all have to be so lame and
stupid? Heat & Lust is
superior such product, putting too many heterosexual equivalents to shame. Even worse, it embarrasses many “legitimate”
narrative gay film (read Gay New Wave) “serious” independent products to shame
just in its casual honesty about sex.
The 1.33 X 1 image was shot on analog video, and though
this is supposed to be British, it is hard to tell if this is NTSC or the more
likely PAL format. It is clear enough
to show the sex, but has problems with detail and one particular sunset scene
(three men outdoors) has video black issues.
The Dolby Digital 2.0 sound is simple stereo at best, usually featuring
the “exotic” music score to match the location shooting in Ibiza. There are no extras.
- Nicholas Sheffo
