S.F. IndieFest

25 Cent Preview

By DENNIS HARVEY

A Boltehgrad Films production. Produced by Merlin Gaspers. Executive producers, Zoran Popovic, Cyrus Amini. Directed, edited by Cyrus Amini. Screenplay, Zoran Popovic, Amini, Anton Herbert, Merlin Gaspers.
 
With: Merlin Gaspers, Dorian Brockington, James Dowling, Christopher Anderson, David Clark, Ru, Georgina Fienberg.
 

Scrappy no-budgeter "25 Cent Preview" offers a convincing slice of life on San Francisco's Lower Polk Street, where drug and (mostly gay) sex trades have a long history. Focusing on a bisexual pretty-white-boy hustler and his older black sometime partner during a couple of consequentially chaotic days, this verite-style drama has the ring of lived-in truth. While the style works for the subject, this DV-shot "Midnight Cowboy" update's edges might be a little too rough for wider play. But it'll be sought after by gay fests and niche DVD distribs.

Longhaired Marcus (producer Merlin Gaspers) looks like a classic California surfer/skateboarder type, a valuable commodity on the streets. His best friend is garrulous, muscular fellow hustler Dot.Com (Dorian Brockington), who periodically bursts into (impressive) soul vocalizing. They turn tricks separately or together, doubling in a memorably grotesque scene with a racist-masochist client.

Though Marcus seems primarily straight -- he's even got a sorta girlfriend in smitten young Gia (Georgia Feinberg) -- his bond with Dot.Com goes deeper. Gia wants to "save" him, but Marcus doesn't necessarily want to be rescued. He seems to enjoy the hand-to-mouth excitement of street life, especially its frequent opportunities to get high a pursuit that gets him into trouble with dealers.

Meanwhile, Marcus' past resurfaces in the unwelcome form of Henry (James Dowling), a now-elderly ex-priest who'd molested him as a youth. A hapless stab at cathartic revenge leads to a poignantly ambiguous fadeout.

Screenplay credited to helmer Cyrus Amini and two lead thesps feels largely improvisational. We don't learn much about Marcus or Dot.Com's backgrounds, which works well enough, since their focus on drugs and hustling barely acknowledges the past.

Very casual storytelling sometimes seems just sloppy, yet Amini's brisk editing ultimately makes all loose ends seem deliberately ambiguous. Perfs are unaffectedly natural, with Brockington (discovered on lower Polk St. by the filmmakers) a thesping natural. Production package is raw but cannily turned.

Camera (color, mini-DV), Popovic, Amini, Herbert, Gaspers; sound, Herbert. Reviewed at San Francisco Independent Film Festival, Jan. 19, 2007. Running time: 91 MIN.