''Boy Culture'' is a 2006 American romantic

drama film In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. Drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular super-g ...

directed by

Q. Allan Brocka Quenton Allan Brocka (born 1972) is an American television and film director based in West Hollywood, California. He has directed and written a number of feature films while creating an animated television series for the Logo cable network. He ...

, based on the 1995 novel of the same name by

Matthew Rettenmund Matthew Rettenmund (born December 25, 1968) is the author of the novels '' Boy Culture'' and ''Blind Items: A (Love) Story'', as well as the non-fiction books ''Encyclopedia Madonnica'', ''Totally Awesome '80s'', and ''Hilary Duff: All Access''. He ...

. The film stars

Derek Magyar Derek Magyar is an American actor. He is best known as the director and producer of the film ''Flying Lessons'', as the lead character "X" in the film ''Boy Culture'', and as Commander Kelby during the fourth season of ''Star Trek: Enterprise''. ...

Darryl Stephens Darryl Stephens is an American actor and author. He is best known for playing Noah Nicholson on the television dramedy ''Noah's Arc''. Film career Back in L.A., Stephens appeared on the sexy late-night serial ''MTV's Undressed'', the short-liv ...

Patrick Bauchau Patrick Nicolas Jean Sixte Ghislain Bauchau (born 6 December 1938) is a Belgian actor best known for his roles in the films ''A View to a Kill'', '' The Rapture'' and ''Panic Room'', as well as the TV shows '' The Pretender'' and '' House''. ...

, Jonathon Trent, and Emily Brooke Hands.

Plot

A successful escort describes in a series of confessions his entangled romantic relationships with his two roommates and an older, enigmatic client. The story remains the same as the novel, about a man who goes by only the letter "X" to maintain his anonymity and relationships between his two roommates—one of whom he's in love with—and an enigmatic older client who challenges him to find his heart before he will consent to sex. The film's differences from the novel include Andrew's character (now an African-American) and the location of the story in

Seattle, Washington Seattle ( ) is a port, seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the county seat, seat of King County, Washington, King County, Washington (state), Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in bo ...

, instead of

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern United States. Its largest metropolitan areas include the Chicago metropolitan area, and the Metro East section, of Greater St. Louis. Other smaller metropolita ...

Cast

as Alex "X" *

as Andrew *

as Gregory Talbot ** Chris Bethards as young Gregory * Jonathon Trent as Joey * Emily Brooke Hands as Lucy * George Jonson as Blondie * Kyle Santler as Scooter *

Matt Riedy Matt Riedy is an American actor and voice actor. He was born in Buffalo, New York. He moved to Los Angeles in 2005 and Atlanta in 2019 with his wife. Career Riedy has stated that he most often plays "Cops, doctors, lawyers, businesspeople, ndp ...

as Frank * Clifford Harrington as Renaldo ** Joshua Boswell as young Renaldo * Peyton Hinson as Jill * Demene Hall as Zelma * William Hall, Jr. as Oren * Molly Manago as Cheyenne * Laprell Nelson as Matthew *

as Bruce Lee

Production

''Boy Culture'' is based on a novel, with a few important differences found between the two. It was decided in the film to set it in Seattle rather than Chicago, and to make substantial differences to the character of Andrew, including his ethnicity. The film is also noted for the careful eye of the director, who managed to turn what was an 18-day production cycle into a fully realized film.

Soundtrack

Release

The film made its

world premiere A première, also spelled premiere, is the debut (first public presentation) of a play, film, dance, or musical composition. A work will often have many premières: a world première (the first time it is shown anywhere in the world), its f ...

in the United Kingdom at the London Lesbian and Gay Film Festival (since renamed BFI Flare: London LGBT Film Festival), on April 1, 2006, and made its debut in the United States at the

Tribeca Film Festival The Tribeca Festival is an annual film festival organized by TriBeCa Productions, Tribeca Productions. It takes place each spring in New York City, showcasing a diverse selection of film, episodic, talks, music, games, art, and immersive progra ...

on April 26, 2006. It subsequently received a very limited theatrical release in the United States on March 23, 2007. ;Film festival circuit ''Boy Culture'' was shown at the following film festivals: * 2006 London Lesbian and Gay Film Festival - April 1, 2006 * 2006 Tribeca Film Festival - April 26, 2006 * 2006 Seattle Film Festival - May 25, 2006 * 2006 Atlantic Film Festival - September 15, 2006 * 2006 Verzaubert Queer Film Festival - November 14, 2006 * 2006 Paris Gay and Lesbian Film Festival - November 19, 2006 * 2007 Cleveland International Film Festival - March 16, 2007 * 2007 Philly Film Festival - April 6, 2007 * 2007 Mostra Internacional de Cinema Gay i Lèsbic de Barcelona - July 7, 2007

Reception

Critical response

''Boy Culture'' currently holds a 71% rating on

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...

based on 31 reviews; the consensus states: "Eloquent one-liners and quick pacing make ''Boy Culture'' sharper than the typical gay indie flick." On

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that review aggregator, aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted arithmetic mean, weighted average). M ...

, based on 12 critics, the film has a 56/100 rating, signifying "mixed or average reviews". Maitland McDonagh from ''

TV Guide TV Guide is an American digital media company that provides television program Television, sometimes shortened to TV, is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving images and sound. The term can refer to a television set, or t ...

'' wrote, "Shrewder than you'd think and not half as dumb as it looks." Jeannette Catsoulis from ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'' wrote, "A slick and absorbing drama." Ronnie Scheib from ''

Variety Variety may refer to: Arts and entertainment Entertainment formats * Variety (radio) * Variety show, in theater and television Films * ''Variety'' (1925 film), a German silent film directed by Ewald Andre Dupont * ''Variety'' (1935 film), ...

'' wrote, "A strong cast, formal visual style and cynical voiceover that propels the action help elevate this Seattle-set gay romp from the ranks of the stereotypical."

Awards

Home media

The film was released on

DVD The DVD (common abbreviation for Digital Video Disc or Digital Versatile Disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any kin ...

on August 14, 2007, courtesy of

TLA TLA may refer to: Organisations * Tennessee Library Association, a professional organization for librarians in Tennessee * Texas Library Association, a professional organization for librarians in Texas * Tour de las Américas, a professional gol ...

Video. The release includes an

audio commentary An audio commentary is an additional audio track, usually digital, consisting of a lecture or comments by one or more speakers, that plays in real time with a video. Commentaries can be serious or entertaining in nature, and can add informatio ...

from writer/director Q. Allan Brocka and writing partner Philip Pierce, interviews with Brocka and the four stars,

deleted scene A deleted scene is footage that has been removed from the final version of a film or television show. There are various reasons why these scenes are deleted, which include time constraints, relevance, quality or a dropped story thread. A similar o ...

s, premiere footage from the

and the film's trailer.

''Boy Culture:The Series''

In 2017, a

Kickstarter Kickstarter is an American public benefit corporation based in Brooklyn, New York, that maintains a global crowdfunding platform focused on creativity. The company's stated mission is to "help bring creative projects to life". As of July 2021, ...

campaign was launched for "Boy Culture: The Series" an episodic sequel to the original, which proposed to star Matthew Wilkas (X),

(Andrew), Matthew Crawford (Chayce), as well as

Stephen Guarino Stephen Guarino (born November 14, 1975) is an American actor and comedian, known as Sully Patterson on the Jim Carrey-produced Showtime series ''I'm Dying Up Here'' (2017–2018) and for his recurring role as Derrick in the ABC comedy series '' H ...

and singer

Steve Grand Steve Grand (born February 28, 1990) is an American singer, songwriter and model from Lemont, Illinois, a Chicago suburb. He became an overnight internet celebrity and the music video of his first hit " All-American Boy" went viral on YouTube ...

. The campaign met its funding goal and the series was filmed in August 2018. It was also announced that

, who played the lead role "X" in the original film, is now reprising his role, taking over for Matthew Wilkas, who was originally announced to be replacing him. In June 2021, Magyar announced that the series will be seen publicly before the end of the year. On August 3, 2021, The Kickstarter was updated to include the date of the 1st public viewing to be 21st Annual San Diego LGBTQ Film Festival! on September 11, 2021, at the Museum of Photographic Arts (MOPA) at Balboa Park.

References

External links

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Boy Culture 2006 films 2006 independent films 2006 LGBT-related films 2006 romantic drama films American independent films American LGBT-related films American romantic drama films 2000s English-language films Films about interracial romance Films about male prostitution in the United States Films based on American novels Films set in Seattle Films shot in Washington (state) Films shot in Seattle Gay-related films LGBT-related romantic drama films 2000s American films