Poor sixteen year old David is really on his own. His father has left the family home to live with his mistress which means his alcoholic mother now stops hiding the drink and just gets off her face every day; his elder brother moves out and in with his girlfriend, and his younger sister never comes home. Teenage David is now the sole carer for his out-of-control mother and also as the family budget has been cut, he can no longer afford the acting classes he had been attending with his girlfriend. They were the only source of joy in his life after it turned out that his girlfriend wasn’t.Good looking Kenny, a failed actor who teaches the class has taken more than a professional interest in this minor, and when the dramas at home get worse, his house, and arms, are the ones that David runs too. Kenny introduces him to sex and drugs, and very soon the young man is addicted more to the latter. When David auditions and gets his first movie acting job, his older mentor/boyfriend gets jealous and so everything finally falls apart for everyone.
This micro-budget indie movie was made in 2004, and the Directors cut released five years later is well-meaning particularly as this agonisng story is true and somewhat a labor of love. Young David is the pseudonym for actor/writer/director Rob Moretti who starred in this as Kenny his seducer. Whilst its sincerity is to be admired, the very weak acting certainly cannot. It ranges from hammy to offensive (Zack the store clerk …urgh!).
When you view this knowing the back story then it does make better watching …..it’s a worthy attempt to keep something real ….but masterpiece, it certainly isnt.
Labels: 2009, coming out, drama, dramatized real-life, gay
