From the Stonewall Movement in 1969 to today, self-identity is still a core topic within the LGBT community. "Band Boys", adapted from the stage play of the same name, tries to interpret today’s gay life through a drama full of bickering and spitting tongues. Love, pain and disgust in the world.
The film is starred by eight Hollywood male stars who have come out. It is set in New York, USA in 1968, and describes a game at a birthday party.
Thanks to the blueprint of the stage play, the whole movie is full of witty talk, the finishing touch of the stage music and the dramatic impact of the plot.
American version of "Sisters of the Time"
The film revolves around eight comrades in a party and an intruder with unknown sexual orientation. The eight people have eight unique personalities and experiences. They are self-doubtful male protagonists, ignorant midnight cowboys, and young couples arguing for freedom. , Dare to be your own "Flower Butterfly"...
This kind of group portrait interpretation with very different personalities not only demonstrates the versatility of gay life, but also constitutes the conflict and opposition of the entire movie.
The scene where the eight people carnival on the rooftop is not difficult for people to visualize the "Sister Flower of the Times" in "Little Times". In the plot, the party of "sisters" who were originally youthful and singing and dancing became serious because of the arrival of outsiders. Everyone suddenly played the game of calling their loved ones, and the atmosphere suddenly became weird.
The friends began to quarrel with each other, for fear that the male lead would suddenly pick up the wine glass in his hand, drench one end on his friend, and snarled, "It stinks!"
However, "Band Boy" and "Little Era" are only slightly similar in the temperament of drama. Unlike mv-style movies, "Band Boy" has its full core, which does not demonize and differentiate the gay group, but restores it step by step. The original ecology of gay life.
From buying a birthday banquet to dancing for joy at the banquet, and then to the companions calling their favorite people together, the whole process seems to tell the audience that the feelings of comrades are no different from others, and they will fall into joy, love, and pain.
All being mean to others is an aversion to self
The film was based in New York, USA in 1968. The "Stone Wall" movement had not yet been launched (the first time gays refused to be arrested by the police, which was the starting point of the modern gay rights movement in the world). At that time, society was full of discrimination and ridicule against gays. In such an era, it is inevitable that some people will be shaken by being themselves, and deeply disgusted by themselves.
The male protagonist of this film is a typical representative of the general environment. He is marginalized by society and is not recognized by the mainstream. He can only vent his self-pity by being mean to others. The sudden visit of the former "straight man" roommate broke his inner balance and order.
In a state of fear of not being recognized and self-doubt, he put his emotional breakthrough on his friends around him: sharply complaining about the life of his friends, coercing his friends to participate in phone games like a referee, and hysterically forcing his "straight boy" friends gay......
After the banquet, the friends scattered away unhappy, he could only say something sadly: "If we learn not to hate ourselves, then it will be fine."
The male protagonist is a small microcosm under the projection of the times. He represents a generation of gay groups who want to hide and want to correct themselves.
All the meanness to others is a dislike of self. This sentence is also reflected in the "straight boy" friend of the deep cabinet. He mocks the person who is himself as a "sissy". This disgust is precisely because of his disgust. . To escape the topic of comrades, in reality, too many people are unable to be themselves adamantly under the suspicion and cynicism of others.
The motif of the film is not only about the self-identity of comrades, but also hidden people's struggle between ideals and reality, society and individuals.
Guo Qiangsheng wrote in "Date": "The vast majority of people in this world are living a safe and happy normal life. They have never had the opportunity or willingness to understand how people who do not belong to their world will be different. Emotional needs. Morbid, depraved, lowly, shameless. They can only set standards based on their limited life experience and assume a noble posture."
"Band Boys" may have made a little response. It spreads out eight totally different souls, declaring that the important thing is not to face the problem squarely, but to take it as normal and not regard it as a problem.
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