Finding passed out hunk Brad (Kevin Miranda) on the streets of Paris, Claude (Yann de Monterno) takes him home and a passionate romance ensues, however Brad it seems isn’t exactly who he says he is.
A weekend of missed texts, sex and a mid-Atlantic accent that threatens to drive you slightly insane the film is essentially a short story about a twenty-something boy who isn’t, or who can’t come out and the forty-something man who falls madly, head-over-heals for him. The relationship between the two actors feels genuinely touching, immersed and well played and this gives credit to the scripting, casting and direction. Despite the films obvious low budget the relationship between the two men is enough to keep the audience sat still for the 80 minutes duration – and the copious amounts of nudity also helps. This, however, is where the compliments for the technical side of the film must end.
The music is ear scratching terrible. It sounds as though Greg Sabo got out his cheapest Casio organ and pressed the demo button. It starts of well, helping to create an atmosphere of intrigue but before long the disjointed scoring descends bad 80s Borderline (ala Madonna) samples, vintage porn pumping followed by a smattering of a rebirth of John Cage’s 4 Minutes and 33 seconds.
The casting of some other of the actors is dubious. Why Todd Verow (the film’s producer, director, cinematographer, editor and co-writer) felt the need to appear in this film baffles and whilst the audience is left no doubts that Brad’s “agent” is gay and has no ‘moral contract’ he fails to be believable as a Hollywood bigwig. Claude’s best friend, the wine guzzling but refined Catherine (Florence d’Azemar) steals the best line in the film with:
“I must stop drinking and sleeping with gay guys!”
The film’s production just feels a little too rushed and some editing choices make the film feel like a student production, which feels little too rough to be a stylistic choice. I really enjoyed the bi-language nature of the film. The mix of British and French is an interesting and greatly appreciated mix. However, looking passed the technical issues, Bad Boy Street had my attention and surprisingly managed to keep me absorbed until the rolling credits.
Quite.
