Chasing Pavement

A porn star leads multiple lives--Rashawn, the young actor he aspired to be but now he's Elijah, the hot porn star and escort who still struggles to pay the rent. I found this independent effort to be a subtle, intelligent view at the complicated life of an adult star and the accidental relationships he finds himself in. 'Chasing Pavement' is a quiet character study of a young black porn star, Elijah Young , who has created walls around his life to keep his livelihood discrete but also to keep his own desires trapped within. He has an 'escort affair' with a troubled Latin man, Bryson, played by real adult star Antonio Biaggi, then, he develops a random friendship with a young Asian, Takeshi, which ultimately takes a dramatic turn. The film is quite literary and intimate in its look at the randomness and disappointments of modern gay life and it's refreshing that the filmmaker opted to cast real-life adult stars in dramatic acting roles. Although the performances are somewhat amateurish, there's a certain legitimacy of casting here and an interesting exploration of a diverse cast of characters confronting each other. The themes of emotional disconnect within cycles of intimacy and abandonment are very truthful. A serious gay independent film effort for those looking to deal with more 'real' in their films than the usual happy-go-lucky standard gay film fare.

This held my interest, despite its many flaws. I found the storyline original and engaging, though the execution is sometimes both amateurish and pretentious. Often simultaneously.

The story did not go quite where I thought it would, so for that achievement alone it deserves some respect. The dialogue sometimes rings hollow (inauthentic) but it isn't predictable. It might not always be well written dialogue but it isn't trite.

More than one reviewer here has observed that the lead actor is too old and shopworn to play a character who promotes himself as young and desirable. I think that's unfair-real life hustlers often misrepresent themselves. We're talking about people working in an industry that lost its moral compass eons ago.

Yes, there are cringeworthy scenes. Yes, the acting will disappoint. We all know there are plenty of gay movies with similar defects. At least here there's the kernel of a profound theme. You might get glimpses of it if you can overlook the flaws.

I found this little gem of a movie on Vimeo last week and thought I'd give it a whirl. I'm so glad I did!

Chasing Pavement is a serious drama about identity and the dichotomy of who we really are and who we portray ourselves to be online and on phone apps like Grindr, Adam4Adam et al. For most gay men, this is a new reality that few of us choose to discuss openly in a time when queer culture is being pushed underground in favor of assimilationist, heteronormative lifestyles.

A low-budget effort, Chasing Pavement starts out feeling a bit too 'indie' (the actors' line readings are a bit flat), but the last 40 minutes are truly world class.

At a time when most American gay-themed films are campy comedies or third-rate psychological thrillers, Chasing Pavement is truly a refreshing reminder of what serious gay cinema should be.

This is kind of an odd film since it dealt with subject-matter which COULD have been interesting, namely, 1) a day in the life of a porn star 2) real vs imagined/public vs private identity 3) gender/sexual fluidity. However, it really didn't land on any one of those, and didn't give ANY of them enough time and dedication to be meaningful; it was just all over the place. The dialogue and acting was very rigid (you can tell that several of the participants have had no formal training and this is probably their first time in front of the camera). The details got pretty specific to the point of being irrelevant to the story (they made it a point to ensure we knew the lead was a "black, bareback bottom porn actor"...why not just porn actor? Or even black actor? What purpose did the specifics serve?). If there was an actual deeper meaning it was lost.

you know how on TV they sometime play softporn movies and completely cuts out the sex scenes and are left with 30 minutes of bad acting and cheesy dialogue? that's what this is, porn actors without the porn scenes.. it's bad on a colossal scale

.. the main character is old and can't act (not at all sexy or attractive) .. Antonio Biaggi is not a serious actor, the reason he is popular is between his legs, without it he is like a singer without a voice,, now,, if you want to make a movie about "cultured" men.. maybe first you should 'learn them proper' you know, like the English language..

this might have been a good movie if it had real actors with sex appeal. Remy Mars' attempt at acting like an Opera and Literature buff is just sad,,{CRINGE} don't waste you time guys.