Everybody has an opinion about the whole Circuit Party craze, but often the films about the subject are basically made by a bunch of apologists. Apparently, none of these guys are able to really find community unless it's accompanied by drugs and sex. Oh, and being white and having a great body doesn't hurt either. This documentary (which at times seems a bit forced) aspires to be hard hitting, but it's yet another version of "Valley of the Dolls."
This documentary is mercifully short and concise. I am ambivalent about some of the characters. People like Brandon seem like a nice guy, but the documentary strives to make him look like an outsider when, with his looks and body, he's already rather clearly an object of desire. (All the forced shots of him eating alone while gazing upon the gay guys at another table and of him painting in a field are supposed to emphasize his "outside looking in" status but end up looking artificial. We KNOW the camera is there, and we know he is the subject so it's hardly a revealing shot of some candid moments.) His conversion to the circuit scene happens rather quickly although he does come across to me as the smartest of the group.
The less said about Jon and Todd the better. The filmmakers telegraphed the denouement of their relationship so far in advance that we knew exactly what would happen. How each man handled what happened was the real surprise. I found myself hoping Jon is doing well.
And then there's Tone, whom we are supposed to see as the tragic character, but instead he's incredibly annoying. Nothing about him seems real, every moment he is mugging for the camera (there is a scene with him trying to be funny while eating an apple that comes off as bizarre and very forced.) Tone is really nothing more than a real life Neely O'Hara, at least as the film wants us to believe. I wouldn't doubt that he got into a wig pulling fight with Susan Hayward in the lavatory.
No need to see this and Circuit, see one or the other. This documentary really has nothing new to say.
This documentary is mercifully short and concise. I am ambivalent about some of the characters. People like Brandon seem like a nice guy, but the documentary strives to make him look like an outsider when, with his looks and body, he's already rather clearly an object of desire. (All the forced shots of him eating alone while gazing upon the gay guys at another table and of him painting in a field are supposed to emphasize his "outside looking in" status but end up looking artificial. We KNOW the camera is there, and we know he is the subject so it's hardly a revealing shot of some candid moments.) His conversion to the circuit scene happens rather quickly although he does come across to me as the smartest of the group.
The less said about Jon and Todd the better. The filmmakers telegraphed the denouement of their relationship so far in advance that we knew exactly what would happen. How each man handled what happened was the real surprise. I found myself hoping Jon is doing well.
And then there's Tone, whom we are supposed to see as the tragic character, but instead he's incredibly annoying. Nothing about him seems real, every moment he is mugging for the camera (there is a scene with him trying to be funny while eating an apple that comes off as bizarre and very forced.) Tone is really nothing more than a real life Neely O'Hara, at least as the film wants us to believe. I wouldn't doubt that he got into a wig pulling fight with Susan Hayward in the lavatory.
No need to see this and Circuit, see one or the other. This documentary really has nothing new to say.