2 Erotic Gay Dramas to Watch

Photo by Ryan Brandenberg

Two men. One room. No clothes. Two new films, Unfaithful by Claude Pérès (now available on DVD) and Leave Blank by Todd Verow (forthcoming in 2011), are erotic dramas featuring filmmakers having X-rated sex with handsome actors in hotels and flats.

In Unfaithful, Pérès – a writer/director I am unfamiliar with, and based on this film, hope to remain so – asks actor Marcel Schlutt to meet at a flat where they will get physical. The terms are that Schlutt has no obligations and can leave at any time. The filmmaker wants to explore sex without “fantasy, desire, or faith” – hence the title.

Pérès’ “experiment,” however, is so frustrating – on both technical and emotional levels – that Unfaithful is a dismal failure. The first 10 minutes of the film are lit only by cigarettes, which will cause viewers eyestrain. The two sexy men talk a bit in broken English about sex and turn offs and it’s actually pretty boring. Eventually, they kiss and more, and Pérès features pretentious voice-over dialogue during the extended make-out session. This further kills any mood.

When Pérès asks Schlutt to “tease” the camera, the film reaches its potential. And when the filmmaker asks the actor what he likes to do in bed, Schlutt responds, “Giving pleasure gives me pleasure.” Yet Unfaithful offers viewers very little pleasure. Sure, Pérès gets the handsome (and then some) Schlutt naked, but the filmmaker doesn’t seem to know what to do with him.

There is little insight into the two men’s encounter. One conversational exchange has Pérès asking, “Is food more tasty when you are horny?” Schlutt simply answers, “No.” But when Schlutt smokes a joint and answers more questions, it may be the most nakedly honest moment in the film.

Overall, the passion in Unfaithful is forced. And that’s why the film seems like such a missed opportunity. The crucible that is the flat never seems to inform the action, or extract any drama. There is nothing spontaneous or secretive about the interaction between the men, even when Schlutt turns the camera on Pérès and asks him to act sexually; this hollow exchange will likely leave viewers feeling empty, too.

In contrast, Leave Blank is an excellent, and ultimately powerful drama about a man (director Verow) hiring a male prostitute (Gregg Tucker) for a weekend in a hotel room. The terrific opening scene – filmed in a cab – describes the guys’ arrangement and provides details about these two mysterious, nameless characters. Their conversation is full of hesitation and confidences, and it pulls viewers in immediately.

When alone, they have sex almost instantly. It’s an erotically charged scene, and sets the frank tone for Leave Blank. Verow also uses the camera to create a texture – grainy, or antiseptic – and the nervousness of the encounter is recorded as matter-of-factly as the explicit sexual activity. The filmmaker is not shy about presenting – and participating in – graphic sex, and his erotic candor heightens the film’s drama.

When the two men later share small talk over room service, it is as revealing as their earlier, physical encounter. Their conversation addresses issues of Verow’s character’s loneliness, and how and why Tucker’s character got into prostitution. How “sex is easy but companionship is hard,” and why hiring someone for sex allows for control and no emotional attachments.

These insights resonate and likely stem from Verow’s own experiences as a hustler. The script is so real and the acting so natural – it’s exciting when Tucker’s character initiates even the slightest physical contact with Verow’s, as if it is something he should do, or just wants to – that viewers are made to feel like eavesdroppers and voyeurs.

Leave Blank loses a little of its potency when the guys go out to a party and they have a round of drug-fueled sex. But discussing relationships and their thoughts on love, marriage and kids, these strangers connect on a level that feels truthful in the confines of that hotel room together.

Gary M. Kramer is a Philadelphia-based freelance writer and film critic. He is the author of Independent Queer Cinema: Reviews and Interviews (Southern Tier Editions, 2006).