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Review

What is hustling? Is it just getting by day to day? Is it escaping an existence you were born into? Is it something we all do every day? River Made to Drown In opens up this and a host of other questions encased in the story of three men, always on the move. Thaddeus (Chamberlain) is an attorney who has come back to his old lover Allen (Imperioli) in a search for a beautiful young hustler, Jamie (Duval).

Thaddeus, who drinks too much, comes to Allen because he is dying and his final wish is to save Jamie. Allen meanwhile appears to have cleaned up his act. He's an artist, has a girlfriend, Eva (Lemper) who owns a gallery and she's mounting a show for him. But because Allen is personally indebted to Thaddeus he goes out to search the streets for Jamie. But Jamie wants nothing to do with Thaddeus, he's on his own path. It's reading from the Tibetan Book of the Dead, taking drugs and turning tricks. While Allen says he's given up hustling, isn't art just another hustle? With glimpses into cheap hotel rooms, street violence and johns who want to fuck without a rubber, there are plenty of glimpses into "the life".

With Michael Imperioli, Richard Chamberlain and James Duval all playing gay, this is a rare opportunity to see three name actors in such roles. While this is Chamberlain's first outing in a gay film, both Imperioli and Duval have crossed the line before. Of course James Duval is the star of several Gregg Araki films and before "The Sopranos" Imperioli had gay roles in I Shot Andy Warhol and Postcards from America. First class acting, terrific cinematography and a revealing portrait of hustling in several guises make River Made to Drown In a sleazy, sort-of-classy favorite.

 -- Scott Cranin