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Sarwin44
Reviews
Southside (2002)
A smart, violent film about manhood and machismo.
`Cock & Bull Story' is a film that does not pigeonhole neatly. Ostensibly a buddy film it goes deeper into the male bond, and its limits, than anything previously seen. This is a brave motion picture and to its credit, director Billy Hayes (the real-life protagonist of `Midnight Express'), does not opt for a neat and easy outcome nor does he waver from exploring the important message of this film.
When is a man not a man? If he can fight, get rowdy and drink beer, protect his mother from his violent father, be a good buddy, but maybe get aroused by violence in the boxing ring when he's in a clinch with another man; is he still a man?
You'll have to answer that by yourself. Because Hayes rightfully keeps the question unuttered as he skillfully builds the relationship between Jacko, the gay basher buddy of Travis, the up and coming amateur boxer.
At the center of the story is Brian A. Green as Jacko. This actor has totally reinvented himself since his time in `Beverly Hills 90210'. In `Cock & Bull Story' he proves himself to be a formidable actor. Smiling, always on the edge of violence, and ultimately applying test after test to determine if his best friend is gay, Green turns in a riveting performance.
Bret Roberts is Travis; a quiet, cute young guy whose timidity betrays his strength as a boxer. Set between Travis and Jacko is Greg Mullavey (yes, `Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman's' husband) in a beautifully etched performance as Pascoe, the boxing coach who sees Travis as his ticket to the big time, and Kay Lenz as Travis' mom. Both turn in outstanding performances.
At first the film seems like a gritty film noir about pulling one's self up by the bootstraps as Jacko sets up the trap for Travis. The confrontation that ultimately takes place explodes when Jacko beats three cross-town rivals to death for spraying graffiti calling him a `fag', then trudges off with blood on his hands for his final confrontation with Travis.
`Cock & Bull Story' is a film to be reckoned with, it has outstanding photography, an original score that drives the story forward, enough anti-gay violence for a skinhead convention, and an uncompromising attitude that refuses to feed its audience the Pablum of a happy ending or get caught in the trap of trying to answer questions that real life hasn't yet settled.
Don't miss `Cock & Bull Story'; it's a must see movie.
(Reviewed at the San Francisco Gay and Lesbian Film Festival, Castro Theater.)