Product Description

A lively compilation of award-winning short films about gay first love, presented by JASON TOBIN of BETTER LUCK TOMORROW and MICHAEL SAUCEDO of RIVER MADE TO DROWN IN, who take the viewer on a fabulous tour of world-famous Melrose Avenue.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #85368 in DVD
• Brand: Wolfe
• Released on: 2000-09-26
• Rating: Unrated
• Aspect ratio: 1.33:1
• Formats: Color, DVD, NTSC
• Original language: English
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 90 minutes

Customer Reviews

A peppy collection of first gay love stories!
Wow, I've never seen this before: a collection of short films presented like MTV music videos (with two VJ-like hosts giving a humorous intro and outro to each one). The films -- six in all -- range from sexy to funny to jarring. My fave was Stanley, Beloved, from Hong Kong. I also liked Absolution of Anthony, which is about a boy who is obsessed with his priest, but who ultimately scores with the neighborhood basketball hunk. Oh, yes, and then there's Piglets, which should be required viewing at every gay party. What a hoot!

Eclectic collection of gay short cinema
Well the idea is always good -- showcasing short cinema, in this case with a common theme of young gay men coming to terms with their sexuality. Yet, as with nearly every short film collection, some of the installments are great, some are pretty lousy.

"Smear" is as confused as is the protagonist (at least I think he was the protagonist). "Front Room" is a gimmick that is more akin to something a high-school student would do in the privacy of his bedroom.

"The Absolution of Anthony" is good, especially with a cast that includes Victor Garber (of "Titanic" fame). "Stanley Beloved" is even better, but the ending is so unresolved and the characters so underdeveloped, I found it hard to care for it beyond the limited scope.

"Fairy Tale," while second-best here, is a bit uneven and I thought some of the characters were broadly-drawn and stereotypical, but there is some real depth to the plot and the dialogue. Like any short story or short film, it is difficult to keep the pace up without feeling rushed. This one handles it pretty well, with a few fits and starts that frustrated me. Still and all, among the dramatic pieces here, it was the most emotionally satisfying given the genre.

BEST BY FAR is "Piglets." I haven't laughed out loud like that in quite a while. The bizarre situations and characters made me watch this one over and over. I like the pantomime aspect of it, it is a German production, which lends a universal feel to it all. Kudos!

I'm renting Boys Briefs 2 soon -- let's see if our fortunes improve a bit...

A great selection of shorts! From a biased guy.
This is a really great bunch of shorts. Of course, I would say that, being that I wrote & directed the longest short on it, "Fairy Tale".

This 30 minute film took 3 years to make when I was 24 years old, just a couple of years out of NYU. We shot on 16mm in 1996 and it premiered in 1998 at Outfest in LA. It went on to win some awards and screen at over a couple dozen festivals around the world.

To make "Fairy Tale as a young indie filmmaker, I had to max out my credit cards to the tune of $30K when my annual salary as a temp/secretary was about $29K. My relatives and friends thought I was crazy. Looking back on it, I'm really happy I did. So many people have bought "Boys Briefs" on VHS and DVD and have let me know how much they like the film. I've long since paid off my credit card debt and moved on to higher paying gigs, and have made another short called "Target Audience" which recently showed on Showtime. Even understanding all the struggle that was put into it, "Fairy Tale" will always be really special to me.

I'm really happy and thankful the people at Picture This decided to distribute it-- they're the real thing, a great independent company run by good people. If you want to support gay cinema and you like smarter movies, put your money toward DVDs & tapes like this. Independent filmmaking can only exist because of stuff like this.

Best wishes, and I hope you enjoy!
Dave
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