Hustler White

Canadian filmmaker Bruce LaBruce's sardonic, transgressive 1996 cheapie (co-directed by photographer Rick Castro) was shot on location in Hollywood and intended (so says LaBruce in a bonus featurette filmed at the Toronto International Film Festival) to capture the seedy male-prostitution scene along Santa Monica Boulevard before police shut it down. Male model Tony Ward (a onetime paramour of Madonna) plays Monti, a hunky guy who hustles for the sake of his motherless boy. Monti draws the journalistic and romantic attention of pretentious writer Jurgen Anger (LaBruce, whose priggish, comic performance is the highlight), who is touring the perverse underbelly of L.A. A loose ensemble narrative incorporates porn-film sets, an S&M session (with genuine cutting and bleeding), amputation fetishists, and necrophilia. Cult-ish "performance artists" in the cast include Ron Athey and Vaginal Davis. Also included as an extra is an archival piece titled "Letter to Hustler White," a continuous-take effort in which LaBruce tries to get two Gen-Xers to watch Hustler White in its entirety; the guys lose interest, preferring sex with each other. Instances of graphic gay sex will make this out of bounds for most, although LGBT cinema history collections will want to consider. Optional. (C. Cassady)