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Amos Lassen wrote on 08/11/2010:

“LEATHER JACKET LOVE STORY”



A Love Story



Amos Lassen



Cute 18-year-old blonde boy Kyle (Sean Tataryn) has just graduated high school and is deep into trying to figure out what he wants to do with the rest of his life. He knows that he is a poet but he has never published or shared his work but he would really like to. He is tired of the snobs of Hollywood so he decides to move to another part of town and see what life is all about. Of course he did not realize what it was like and the kind of people he would meet—drag queens and the man of his dreams.
While Kyle worked on his poetry one afternoon, Mike (Christopher Bradley), a 30 year old hunky carpenter walked through the door and totally captured him. The movie looks at what these two guys have in common. They have great sex between them, but Mike has already found himself on his journey in the world while Kyle is just beginning.

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Despite the title, “Leather Jacket Love Story” is a sweet, romantic, gay comedy. Shot in black and white and doing little to disguise that it is a low-budget film, it manages to capture certain aspects of first love and a funky L.A. coffeehouse scene without hurting the frequency of its raunchy sex scenes. Kyle gravitated toward the coffeehouse in his new neighborhood, a place that hosts regular poetry readings and is frequented by colorful locals and drag queens. It is run by Mink Stole. When Mike walked in, Kyle was smitten. However, instead of the rest of the film focusing on their X-rated sex scenes, the film deals with a number of other issues -- the inevitable conflict between the young lover and the older man and the daily life of the coffeehouse regulars. There are some excellent solid performances and the film is obviously a labor of love, a labor that is about much more than just sex.

It is the contrasting worlds of drag queens and leather queens in Los Angeles's Silverlake district that form the background for the film. There is some satire here but the film does not go as deeply as it could into the lives of the two heroes. There is a lot of full frontal nudity and the acting is very good. I just wish I had gotten to know Kyle and Mike a little more.
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