Bad Boy Street

By: Raymond Murray
In-House Review - Jun 29 2012

Filmmaker Todd Verow abandons his home base New York City for the City of Light?Paris in this sexy drama of two very different men thrown together by fate. The story begins one evening when Claude (Yann deMonterno) happens upon a young man on a side alley. With no ID, he decides to take him to his apartment to safely it off. Awakening the next morning the hunky young man returns the favor by immediately going down on his host?and this begins the unconventional relationship between forty-something Claude and twenty-something Brad, an American actor. With that unconventional first date, the two?despite their age difference, nationalities and Brad's personal demons-tenuously begin to get to know one another and possibly find love. An accomplished, serious gay romance featuring an especially touching performance by deMonterno as a man whose stable life is upended by the presence of either the love of his life or just a sex-filled mistake.

By: Amos Lassen

Claude (Yann deMonterno) is in his forties and when we meet him he is in the middle of picking up a much younger man that he sees lying in the gutter. He takes him home even though he knows nothing about him. Claude puts the stranger in his bed and goes to on the sofa downstairs. The next morning the stranger comes down stairs, wearing nothing, and thanks Claude by taking his penis into his mouth (does a blow job sound better?).

The stranger has a name-Brad (Kevin Miranda) and we learn that he is an American and soon the two men fall for each other. However, there is something mysterious about Brad and it certainly seems that he is hiding something. As we learn more about him, the relationship of the two men is on very slippery ground. When we do learn who he is, we see director Todd Verow's take on living a lie. It seems that because of his profession, Brad cannot be openly gay and must hide who he is. I cannot say anymore about who Brad is without spoiling the film for those who have not seen it but I can say that Verow takes issue with people who refuse to come out and be who they are.

Both of the actors turn in wonderful performances and because of this the relationship that they project is exciting and filled with passion. Claude is a man filled with desire and passion and as an "older" gay man, we feel his fear of being rejected. Miranda is visually beautiful and his body and face are perfect.

I am a huge fan of Todd Verow and love that he never stops pushing the envelope and going where others dare not go. His use of full frontal male nudity is always perfect and never gratuitous and when we see the two in naked carnal embraces, we fall for them as they did for each other. In this film, Verow tells us not only to be who we are but to embrace our identities and to be at peace with them. He always seems to have his next film up his sleeve and with each new film, he offers something new. His films all have strong messages and he presents them to us with subtlety and with grace. Using raw passion to show how these two men feel about each other is his way of not sermonizing. Yet, we get his message and a visual feast at the same time.