House of Boys

Unrated

11/20/20092h 0m

Theatrical Release (US)

~ Make Love Your Goal ~

Overview:

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.

Director:

Jean-Claude Schlim

Status:

Released

Language:

English

Buget:

$2,500,000.00

Revenue:

$0.00

Key words:

aids
love at first sight
amsterdam, netherlands
brothel
cabaret
bully
male homosexuality
lgbt
brothel madam
1980s
rent boy
rent boys
gay theme
hiv/aids epidemic
homosexual
gay sex

Cast

Layke Anderson

~ as ~

Frank

Benn Northover

~ as ~

Jake

Udo Kier

~ as ~

Madame

Stephen Fry

~ as ~

Dr. Marsh

Steven Webb

~ as ~

Angelo

Chris McHallem

~ as ~

Frank's Father

Vicky Krieps

~ as ~

Flower Shop Girl

Harry Ferrier

~ as ~

Karl

Michael Kühl

~ as ~

Christopher

Gintare Parulyte

~ as ~

Rita

View full cast & crew

Reviews (1)

CinemaSerf
Written 8 month(s) ago
7
“Frank” (Layke Anderson - anyone else thing he looks a lot like Freddie Fox?) is a young British gay lad living in Amsterdam who has just left school and who is looking for life, love and some sort of adventure. He arrives at the “House of Boys” where “Madame” (Udo Kier) believes his assertions that he’s a great dancer - even if he looks bedraggled! He has to share a room with the club’s straight star “Jake” (Benn Northover) who kicks him out each time his girlfriend come for a visit, but quickly this eclectic yet friendly group welcome him to their fold and he starts to become popular. The emphasis now shifts a little to “Jake” who is having a fairly torrid time with his “my body my rules” partner whilst simultaneously providing services for wealthy visiting Americans who pay well to sleep with him. Things come to an head when someone steals his savings and when he discovers who took it, feels betrayed and that’s where the arms of the waiting “Frank” might come in handy. Their relationship starts to take on a new dimension but it’s not long before an incident leads to an hospital appointment and the entry of Stephen Fry’s “Dr. Marsh” who has some news to deliver - news that was grabbing headlines all around the world in 1985! Initially, this is quite a light and fluffy look at stereotypical gay culture, centred around a seamy dance club where sex is bought and paid for with scant regard to any though of the repercussions. It’s only when the story beds down and the characters become a little more established that it becomes a bit more substantial. It looks a little at transitional sexuality, and it addresses (albeit entirely one-sidedly) issues around abortion but the main thrust of the plot sees two characterful efforts from Anderson and Northover emerge from the “Magic Mike” elements and take us on quite a tormentedly plausible story set at the outset of the HIV/AIDS epidemic that was being stigmatised by not just the community at large, but the gay one too whilst the scientific one struggled to get it’s head around people with no T-cell count at all in their blood! The plot is not that original, but it has an earthiness to it; a darkness peppered with bits of sarcastic comedy and some decent drag routines at the start to illustrate quite potently a naive and cavalier way of life that was in for a shock. Given it’s timeframe, the outcome is pretty much writing on the wall, but to watch now when the disease is relatively manageable reminds us that a mere forty years ago this was an out-and-out killer.