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FILM REVIEW:The American Boys @ NQVmedia

Brian Butler December 22, 2020

Film distributor New Queer Visions has put  together an interesting group of films about everything from a boy’s crush on his teacher to the tricky territory  of queer love in American football.

In These Things Take Time ,  Zander is a talented 8-year-old  boy who is obsessed by his handsome class teacher Mr Wiley. He decides the only way to gain attention is to behave badly but when this fails to work he takes drastic action that has repercussions on Zander’ father and his own honesty. It’s a wonderful performance ,  well beyond his years, by Zachary Arthur .

The Legend of Scotty Watts is also about  obsession – a teenage boy’s total fanaticism about a rock singer , attending all his concerts but not wanting to break the magic by actually meeting the singer. When his female friend gets involved too, life gets complex.

Two Fish is about the emerging love between two young guys , symbolised in their swimming activities . It’s a slow paced atmospheric short tale about how two people can need to take different lengths of time to get to an agreed position.

You Can Play throws us into the testosterone-filled world of college football, where a coach pushes a small-town boy towards national status and where the player has to weigh up the cost of leaving his roots and his newly realised queer love for his best friend. As the changing room slogan  points out ” football doesn’t build character; it eliminates the weak ones “.

The comic I Think I’m Gay follows the failed hetero sex life of Zac, who to be brutally frank  can’t get it hard with his girlfriend.  His gay friends initiate him into the queer clubbing world to test the waters, with hilarious and pointed results.

Billy’s Blowjobs is the most explicit and sadly funny of these shorts. Billy , played by Star Trek Discovery star Wilson Cruz,  vows to have nothing but casual oral sex night after night when he encounters a young guy with binoculars who’s been surveilling and stalking Billy for 2 weeks. What starts as a wry commentary on casual sex and damaged relationships turns into something altogether more uplifting.

More information on The American Boys at nqvmedia.com

 

 

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