Brocka stripped bare

There wasn’t the nudity in Boy Culture that was found in Q. Allan Brocka’s previous films about gay love affairs, but that didn’t stop lovelorn hopefuls filling theatres to watch.

It was such a hit at this year’s Mardi Gras Film Festival that Queer Screen brought forward a second encore screening.

But as Brocka sees it, the opportunities to see portrayals of uniquely gay relationships are so few that audiences don’t need to be drawn in with gratuitous eye candy.

“In a lot of gay films – such as Eating Out – if you replace one of the characters with a member of the opposite sex, it would still work as a heterosexual story,” Brocka said.

“This one you can’t. It’s three roommates all the same gender and the same sexual attraction to each other.”

Boy Culture, based on the book by Matthew Rettenmund, is the story of X, a rent boy reaching the end of his youth and in search of a boyfriend from among the fraught territory of his own flatmates.

Under his own curious definition, X considers himself a virgin because sex doesn’t count if he’s getting paid.

It’s those unorthodox and personal definitions around sex and relationships that Brocka sees as lacking in the portrayals of gay couples who seem no different from straight ones.

“We don’t even know what sex is in our community. I hope this film allows people to talk about how we are different than heterosexuals. And that’s okay,” he said.

Brocka explained that the lines can so easily get blurred in gay relationships. X’s relationships with his flatmates bounce between being just friends, being dependent on them, seeing them as tricks, possible lovers or backup plans.

“I found that true in my own relationships, but I hadn’t seen it on screen very much,” Brocka said.

“I like the idea of a backup plan and possibly turning a friend into a lover in the future. When is the right time to make a move on a person? Is it okay to have sex with one guy, even though you like another guy more?”

Part of that confusion comes from obsession with boy culture, as Brocka defines it, where young people come out and sleep with the very people they’re looking for as role models.

Art – particularly independent film – is the only representation of real gay people, Brocka laments, where much of the American gay media is entirely geared towards the goal of marriage.

“There’s a pressure from gay people to look like straight people so we don’t freak them out,” he said.

“I was accused of being selfish for promoting that image [of sexual fluidity], because I don’t have their goals in mind. Aping heterosexuality isn’t right for everyone.

“But if you want a squeaky clean gay couple, Rick and Steve, the happiest gay couple in the world make fun of that. They try to be the white picket fence family.”

He’s referring to his latest project, Rick and Steve, which is about to launch on MTV Network’s gay-themed Logo channel, bringing back his Lego stars from his very first film shorts.

“It’s a plastic world of people and houses. There’s a lot of comment about the gay world with it all being plastic,” Brocka said.

“Even though everyone is the exact same size and shape, some are called fat and some are called skinny, some think they’re buffed.”

Brocka has found success making gay movies, helped by the ready market eager for more.

“I’ve already worked on stuff that absolutely isn’t gay, but I don’t think I’ll ever get over the gay thing. I love doing gay things.”

As for the lack of nudity, Brocka didn’t think anyone would mind.

“The nudity in my previous films was meant to be sexy and fun. In Boy Culture it was a bit more intense and romantic. Any frontal nudity would have been a distraction.”

Boy Culture is released on DVD by Force Entertainment.