It is 1984. Frank is a determined English teenager who runs away from high school to find an alternative gay lifestyle in Amsterdam. He finds a home and a job at the "House of Boys", a bar-cum-brothel run by a strict Madame who has an eye for what his punters crave. Frank works his way up from barman to on-stage dancer and falls in love with some of his housemates, Jake. The first intimations of what is described as 'the gay cancer', casts a long shadow over Frank's tight-knit group of friends. Yet despite the troubles that cloud the hopes and dreams of young Frank, his perseverance, along with support from a willing doctor, will carry him through.
Similar titles
You May Also Like
Reviews
Highly Overrated But Still Good
Great Film overall
In truth, there is barely enough story here to make a film.
if their story seems completely bonkers, almost like a feverish work of fiction, you ain't heard nothing yet.
Some of the reviewers on here and I,must have watched different movies.For one thing,there is no character in this movie called Justin.Furthermore,I thought the characters were well developed and the portrayal of the AIDS crisis as it existed in the 1980's was spot on...I,like many other people,sadly,have known several victims of AIDS and have seen many of them die, much too young....The two lead characters,I thought, had a great chemistry together and it was very distressing to watch Jake die and Frank have to go through it with him....Especially touching,for me,was the fact that Frank traveled to Morocco to scatter Jake's ashes,since it was a place Jake always wanted to visit.All in all,I thought this was a great movie and not what I was expecting based on the DVD cover.
Unlike some other reviewers, I watch movies for the quality of the entertainment, not for the quality of the preaching. If I want to learn about AIDS, about the history or symptoms or progression or politics of the disease, I'll look it up - I won't watch a movie. I watch movies ONLY to be entertained, never to be educated.The big problem with this movie is that it's stupid, boring and totally, totally unbelievable. It starts out like a farce, with cartoon good kids and cartoon bullies and cartoon bad parents all interacting frenetically; and the thirtysomething high school kid pumping his thing behind his unlocked door right when Mom and Dad and Little Sis noisily come home - but does he hear them before they barge in and catch him full-handed? Of course not! Or even like a high school musical (the painfully contrived, amateur Fame-esque dance that bursts out of nowhere on the high school steps as the opening credits roll?) Or God only knows what - except that it turns into a maudlin, preachy, soapy tragedy long before the end.This is a TERRIBLE movie, in which Luxembourgers talk like Cockneys and the Dutch talk like Americans and everybody always looks like they just stepped out of the shower... and it's all just a crazy, mixed-up, phony mess that's as annoying as gnats swarming around your face. I hated it.
Filmed in Germany and Morocco this is a beautifully told and well thought out story. With a cast that is so believable in their roles that you lose yourself in the film, leaving you with the feeling that you are there with them through it all.You begin falling in love with the characters, rooting for them to overcome circumstance, overcome barriers and find happiness in life. In the end, they all achieve just that. One gets the wish to become the person they've always known they are, another receives an unexpected but very welcomed visitor, and two find love when they least expect it.I recommend this film and give it 8 out of 10.
I saw this nice little movie in Luxembourg one week or so after it's premier here. Basically it's a story of two teenage boys who leave home for different reasons and meet up within a Gay show club in Amsterdam. After falling in love, one ends up sick with AIDS. Stephen Fry plays a sympathetic doctor but basically helpless with the knowledge of the disease back in the 80s. All the cast act great. I was impressed. Apart from a few short porno scenes, it is a neat little gay drama with some nice music and film direction. There are also some scenes filmed in Luxembourg and Morocco.If the movie doesn't come to your town, buy it on DVD when released!