This movie tells the story of what happens one week to a number of gay men in and around Clapham Junction, a well-known gay cruising area in London.
The characters include various gay men who visit the park, including a gay couple, two or three closeted married men, a teenage musician, an amoral park lothario, a basher and his victims. The movie captures the excitement and danger of park cruising, but without showing the eroticism. Gay bashing is a major part of the plot.
In one narrative, we follow sexy but tortured Tim, a suspected pedophile, as he is seduced by 14-year-old Theo. There is no doubt who is the aggressor. Tim, who apparently likes them young, is helpless. (I agree with the other reviewers that this scene is powerful and erotically charged. However, it would have been more disturbingly realistic if the actor playing Theo actually did look 14. He looks more like 19. This robbed the scene of its shock value.)
However, in the end, Tim must face the acidic wrath of a demented mother who knows nothing about her son, and perhaps does not wish to.
All these characters are neatly linked, and not just by the geography.
The final scene shows the musician's smashed violin, complete with sad music. I get it. Clapham Junction is not a happy place. Cruising in a park is double plus ungood, and not just because of the violence. Gay men are victims. Resist temptation at all costs. The picture this movie paints is a dark one. A stereotypical one. We are living in a world of hysterical mothers, gay bashers lurking in the bushes, and desperate gay men with unacceptable urges.
Yes, these are stories that should be told, I suppose, but...surely there are also a few happy gay stories in and around Clapham Junction? The movie feeds on the stereotype of gay men as unhappy creatures leading pathetic lives. Sorry, but it's not realistic, is it?
The characters include various gay men who visit the park, including a gay couple, two or three closeted married men, a teenage musician, an amoral park lothario, a basher and his victims. The movie captures the excitement and danger of park cruising, but without showing the eroticism. Gay bashing is a major part of the plot.
In one narrative, we follow sexy but tortured Tim, a suspected pedophile, as he is seduced by 14-year-old Theo. There is no doubt who is the aggressor. Tim, who apparently likes them young, is helpless. (I agree with the other reviewers that this scene is powerful and erotically charged. However, it would have been more disturbingly realistic if the actor playing Theo actually did look 14. He looks more like 19. This robbed the scene of its shock value.)
However, in the end, Tim must face the acidic wrath of a demented mother who knows nothing about her son, and perhaps does not wish to.
All these characters are neatly linked, and not just by the geography.
The final scene shows the musician's smashed violin, complete with sad music. I get it. Clapham Junction is not a happy place. Cruising in a park is double plus ungood, and not just because of the violence. Gay men are victims. Resist temptation at all costs. The picture this movie paints is a dark one. A stereotypical one. We are living in a world of hysterical mothers, gay bashers lurking in the bushes, and desperate gay men with unacceptable urges.
Yes, these are stories that should be told, I suppose, but...surely there are also a few happy gay stories in and around Clapham Junction? The movie feeds on the stereotype of gay men as unhappy creatures leading pathetic lives. Sorry, but it's not realistic, is it?