House of Boys (2009)

Two young soul mates find each other while working at an all-male performance club/brothel. Eventually, one contracts AIDS.

Director:

Jean-Claude Schlim

Writers:

Jean-Claude Schlim (screenplay), Christian Thiry (screenplay)

Stars:

Loïc Peckels, Layke Anderson, Harry Ferrier

1 nomination.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Loïc Peckels	...	Young Jake
Layke Anderson	...	Frank
Harry Ferrier	...	Karl
Michael N. Kuehl	...	Christopher
Gintare Parulyte	...	Rita
Sascha Ley	...	Frank's Mother
Chris McHallem	...	Frank's Father
Natalie Slevin	...	Amanda
Kelly Jake	...	Boyd (as Jack Kelly)
Benn Northover	...	Jake
Emma Griffiths Malin	...	Carol (as Emma Griffiths-Malin)
Elias McConnell	...	Young Hippy Boy (as Elias Comfort)
Roya Zargar	...	Young Hippy Girl (as Roja Zargar)
Marco Wirges	...	Bouncer 1
David Imper	...	Bouncer 2

Storyline

A glamorous, colourful coming-of-age story that follows the dramatic journey of Frank, a high school kid in 1984, through an exciting world of sex and music, where his deep new passion is suddenly turned into a struggle for courage facing a new disease - the "gay cancer" - and becomes deep, true love in the expectancy of his friend's horrible death and beyond.

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Plot Keywords:

gay | gay love | male objectification | male rear nudity | bare butt | 

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Taglines:

Make Love Your Goal

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Genres:

Drama | Music | Romance

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Certificate:

Unrated

Details

Official Sites:

Former Official site for the film - site no longer active. Official distributor's page for the film. [Germany] (German)

Country:

Luxembourg Germany

Language:

English French German Luxembourgish Arabic

Release Date:

29 July 2011 (USA)

Also Known As:

Dom chlopców

Filming Locations:

Amsterdam, Noord-Holland, Netherlands

Company Credits

Production Co:

Delux Productions, Elsani Film, Moonstone Entertainment

Technical Specs

Runtime:

117 min

Color:

Black and White (still photographs) (archive footage) Color

Did You Know?

Trivia

(2009-2011) Audience Award at various LGBT International Festivals in Brussels, Rio, Melbourne, Durban.

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Quotes

Emma: Young people fall in love.
Madame: No chance.
Emma: Heart before reason.
Madame: Against the house rules.

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Crazy Credits

In the first years of the epidemic, AIDS would kill an estimated 5,000 people worldwide.

After 25 years, the death toll now stands at over 25 million, making AIDS one of the most devastating epidemics in recorded history.

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Alternate Versions

An extended version of the film (121 minutes) features more explicit material cut from the 117 minute theatrical release, including a short orgy scene between extras in a dark room, and a brief shot of Jake masturbating in front of a client. It also includes more scenes with Frank and Carol traveling in Morocco.

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Connections

References Puckman (1980)

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Soundtracks

Für mich soll's rote Rosen regnen
Written and composed by Hildegard Knef, Hans Hammerschmid
Courtesy of Musik-Edition Europaton / Peter Schaeffers
Performed by Udo Kier
Mr Kier's voice: recorded at Studio City Sound, Studio City CA
Engineer Ben Harrington
Instrumental music: recorded at WPA Studios, Luxembourg by Christoph Simon
Mixed by Christoph Simon and Gast Waltzing
Arranged by Gast Waltzing

User Reviews

Cliché-ridden and Filled with Demeaning Stereotypes

There are many good, in some cases excellent, movies about the AIDS crisis, including recent films like The Normal Heart and Angels in America, and earlier work such as And the Band Played On. House of Boys is not one of the good ones. Another reviewer suggested anyone disliking this movie must be a homophobe. To the contrary, anyone who thinks this qualifies as a good gay-themed movie must have a fairly low opinion of what a well done gay-themed movie can be. Admittedly there has become some degree of fatigue for gay films that trade off the AIDS crisis, but again, referencing the two recent films mentioned above, when done well they are still well-received.

In this film there were too many terribly clichéd personalities. ranging from the world-weary aging "madame" of the House of Boys, to the straight woman rescued by said madame, to the somewhat mysterious wealthy American customer, to the assortment of boys working in the club and of course, to the film's very own Little Nell, the wide-eyed naïf, Justin … and nearly all of them with his or her own unsuitable or overdone accent.

With all this heavy traffic distracting us, it was impossible for us to develop any emotional attachment to any individual, least of all the annoying Justin. In fact, most of the characters' development depended more on our familiarity with their recognizable cliché than anything revealed in the story-line.

At times it seemed like a Dickensian soap opera, heavily over-dramatic and replete with all the trappings, including someone in the snow-covered street singing like an urchin beggar from Scrooge or Nicholas Nickelby. Unlike something written by Dickens, however, none of the characters in this story was very well developed nor did they engender much empathy or sympathy.

The actor playing Justin was a poor choice. He lacked talent, charisma or the sort of good looks that might have made us feel some emotional attachment to him. Most of the other actors were fairly good, but the whole enterprise just never came together. Towards the end, when the tears are flowing on screen, I doubt many were shed by anyone watching the movie. And the subject at hand really should produce tears with little effort. I guess it's a matter of distinction that this movie managed to render the whole HIV crisis as well as the death & love loss experienced by its lead characters, as something banal.

There are far better choices for moving, emotionally-draining and inspiring tales from this period in the gay community. You can give this one a miss.