Half a Boy and Half a Man
4 Out of 5 Stars
In the intriguing documentary "All Boys," film maker Markku Heikkinen travels to Prague and takes on the rise and stagnation of the Czech Boys gay porn phenomenon. While he talks to many in the scene, he concentrates on four particular men; Director Dan Komar, and three of his actors Rudy (stage name Aaron Hawke), Josef and Filip. While each of these men has a striking story, it is Aaron's that forms the film's emotional core.
Komar is an adult trapped in arrested development, surrounding himself with perpetual 18 to 20 year olds and making movies of them having sex. It's hard to tell if he's got any emotional investment in his charges; frankly, he is a blank slate emotionally. Josef is a boy who only wants to provide for his impoverished mom. Filip is a straight boy and a go-getter, who works three jobs and does porn for the extra money. These three stories seem to work on the supply and demand theory. Komar has money and jobs, the boys are broke and in desperate need. In a country that has just broken into uncharted territory, these fresh and innocent faces lunge right into an industry that would die without a constant conveyor belt of fresh names.
However, the dark side of this story is Rudu, who gets discovered sleeping under a bridge. He is the hot new kid on the DVD player, makes a load of fast money, and when his features no longer fit the Czech Boys mold, he doesn't have the maturity to move on. He goes from being a "superstar...like Jim Carrey" to a homeless drunk sleeping in a junkyard. From fresh new face to junkie in barely two years is a depressing arc to behold.
While Josef and Filip found their way out of porn and into a life after their twinky expiration dates, it is Rudu's face that stays with you. There's another man who appears briefly, admitting to being a prostitute after being in porn and is already damaged beyond likely repair...at the age of 27. (I won't even go into the fact that these boys are almost all barebacking.) "All Boys" takes a hard look behind the bright lights and gaudy colors to stare at what happens after the clock runs out.
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