This is the third film released this year coming from the Land Down Under or nearby territories that involves a same-sex male romance and that focuses on an interracial or intercultural relationship. The first was Of An Age (2023), a road trip flick. The second was Punch (2023), a coming-out boxing tale and now this one, which could be considered a typical story about a male hustler. The latter two titles were both distributed by Dark Star Pictures, a distributor that seems to be very friendly to LGBTQ content.
The so-called Land of Oz has also been quite friendly to LGBTQ content. Since the 90's with titles like The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert (1994) and The Sum of Us (1994) to films in the 2000's like Newcastle (2009), Monster Pies (2013), 52 Tuesdays (2015) and Cut Snake (2015), the Aussies have always provided interesting queer films. This year, they give us three. Other than Of An Age, these films only get very limited releases, mostly to be overlooked.
Josh Lavery, in his feature debut, stars as Casey, a drifter who is hitchhiking his way to Sydney, Australia, from what looks like the Outback. He manages to get there, but once he does, he's broke, has no money and is veritably homeless. He does what he can to survive and to find food and shelter. One way he does so is by using Grindr or a similar Internet app on his phone. Grindr is a social media app that allows gay men to find and have sex with one another. Essentially, Casey uses it, trading sex for simply a place to stay and even shower, if only for a night.
Technically, he's not a hustler because he's not trying to get paid for having intercourse. However, being young and obviously attractive, he does take the opportunity to benefit financially from his sex appeal. Moments when he's shirtless and showing off his ripped physique, he knows he's doing so to benefit monetarily. Yet, he's not above doing legitimate or ordinary jobs like cooking, cleaning, gardening or in general being a handyman. Nonetheless, Casey does exude a vibe or essence that's reminiscent of other cinematic male hustlers from River Phoenix in My Own Private Idaho (1991) to the most iconic, Jon Voight in Midnight Cowboy (1969).
Daniel Gabriel, in his feature debut, co-stars as Tib, a young gay man living in Sydney. He seems to have his life together better than Casey, but perhaps not. He's a man of color. He's not indigenous. He seems like he's more of African descent and possibly biracial. Being a minority though, he possibly has his own struggles, which he does a good job of hiding. His struggles might also include issues with his family that remain obscured for the most part.
Writer-director Craig Boreham (Teenage Kicks and Boys on Film 6: Pacific Rim) already did the family strife and young man navigating his way through it in his previous work. This film is more about a young man branching out on his own and having to pick himself up, be it alone or with the help of another. There's a brief and momentary glimpse in the psychical effect of homophobia, but mainly this film is a love story amidst the non-monogamous and fluid, queer hookup culture. It's also about exploitation of certain individuals on the bottom rung of the economic ladder.
Ian Roberts (Fantasy Island and Superman Returns) rounds out the cast as Pietro, one of the individuals that could be accused of that exploitation. Pietro represents the extreme or the possible dark side of what is basically prostitution. He represents how there are those who don't see people like Casey or those in his position as even a person. Instead, he's simply a servant or play-thing. This is underscored with an intense sex scene that isn't prurient at all as it feels mostly dehumanizing.
Obviously, the point of the film is ultimately to reveal what happened to Casey and why he became a drifter in the first place and what sent him on this particular odyssey. Again, some of it comes from the psychical effect of homophobia, as well as the pain of unrequited love, a pattern that is possibly repeated for Casey. This film isn't as dark as Félix Maritaud's work in Sauvage / Wild (2019) or as pessimistic as Midnight Cowboy or even its modern-day update, Scott Silver's Johns (1997). Strangely, this film is warmer and more romantic.
Not Rated but contains language, violence, sexual situations and full-frontal male nudity.
Running Time: 1 hr. and 38 mins.
Available on VOD.
