Garçon Stupide (2004)

20 year-old Loïc (Pierre Chatagny) works in a chocolate factory outside Bulle, Switzerland by day and spends his after hours in Lausanne pursuing one-night stands with older gays contacted on the Internet, day after day, night after night. He has a hard time differentiating desire from pleasure, friendship from sex, and admiration from success. By filling his life with meaningless sexual encounters for extra cash he can block out the fact that he's unhappy. Loïc has delusions of grandeur, vague dreams of doing something big, but can't figure out what or how. For example, he imagines he's a good photographer because he takes pictures with the built-in camera of his cellular phone. In Lausanne, Marie (Natacha Koutchoumov), a childhood friend who works as a museum guard, provides Loïc with a place to stay after his urban flings. Marie isn't judgemental, and refuses to be a mother, big sister, or a nurse to him. Then one day he meets Lionel (Lionel Baier), who pulls aside the curtain of anonymity and seems more interested in Loïc's life than his body. Loïc arrives at one of the most crucial crossroads of his life and begins to take notice of Marie and himself. His journey to self awareness is told through a series of episodic events, including the suicide of his best friend, his growing infatuation with a local soccer player, a car accident and subsequent hospitalisation that reunites him with his parents. He says, "You can be interested in someone without wanting to fuck them." At the end of the film he realizes that he can be his own person and he recites a list of things he will never do in order to fit in and belong. He won't be a stupid boy anymore.

Overall this coming-of-age drama is an an exceptional film with good acting, a great soundtrack, unique camera angles and film styles, a wonderful story, and it is well-directed. Director Lionel Baier shares the writing credits with Laurent Guido and based this film on his own experiences. With rave reviews from the New York Times, Variety, and the L.A. Times "Garcon Stupide" tells a realistic story of sexual awakening. This French/Swiss film is in French with English subtitles

Violet's Visit (1995)

Australian girl Violet (Rebecca Smart) is weary of her single mother's wild romantic life, filled with boyfriends old and new. When Violet's mom introduces her to the latest "dad", she runs away from her boring small hometown in search of her estranged father she has never met. The fiesty 15 year-old prefers the nickname "Scooter" and believes he lives in Sydney with his new wife. In fact he is in a gay relationship with his long-time lover. With his address given to her by her grandmother, she turns up on his doorstep to surprise him. Gym owner Alec (Graham Harvey) and lawyer Pete (David Franklin), a pleasant pair of well-buffed, domestically partnered gays are very shocked! The three negotiate a "La Cage aux Folles" relationship with humor and sensitivity. This inevitably leads to changes and readjustments all round as Alec gets to know the daughter he never wanted and hardly knows. After agreeing that Violet can stay on a trial basis, the boys soon realize that having a teenager around the house is not easy for two gay men whose sole previous family was a pair love birds. Violet finds the gay world of her father heady but also confusing. Scooter takes to the streets. Her long absence only brings the couple together in a new appreciation for the importance of family and their mutual love for Scooter. The way in which the story is resolved is predictable but genuinely warm and tender.

This sweet Australian film is well paced, and never makes the error of going over the top in its depiction of Scooter's plight or the way gay people are portrayed. All of the male actors are handsome and so comfortable in their roles that their sexuality is simply an aside. Graham, Franklin, and Smart give excellent performances and their screen presence is realistic and warm. One aspect of the film that may present a problem for non-Australian viewers is that the Aussie accents are so thick that the dialogue at times is indecipherable. But that also adds to the flavor of this significant film. It was written by Andrew Creagh and Barry Lowe based on a story by Richard Turner, who also directed.