Greek Pete

I saw this at a screening in Hammersmith of all places, which isn't usually a go-to place for independent, art-house or gay cinema, but it was very busy when I arrived. And for good reason. This film won prizes at Outfest and some other festivals and was British, quite a rarity, so I made sure I checked it out.

I left the screening wanting to talk about the film, to discuss it with as many people as possible (unfortunately I went on my own) as it is nothing like I have ever seen before. Some scenes are incredibly powerful and moving, and I wanted to know exactly which moments were real and which were staged. Nothing seemed staged at all (it is apparently a 'docu-drama') and although Pete himself has approached this line of 'work' with a goal to pull together enough finances to invest in an education and a better future, some of the other boys amongst his friends do not have this immediate sense of ambition. What happened to them? This is what I thought was very brave about the film. It never at any point made a judgment. It was an intimate peek into the lifestyle of a rentboy and dashed any preconceived ideas that people have about the oldest profession in the world. Pete is not that person you expect to see, but some of his friends are, yet they all look after one another. This is not Wiktor Grodecki, and anyone who watches this thinking that their Daily Mail high-ground will be bolstered by a mucky, seedy voyeurism that condemns it's subject matter via subjectivity will not get what they want. There is care, love and affection here, alongside extremely raw moments of insecurity and depression simmering beneath that confident veneer you see in many young men. There is no forced introspection. No moment where Pete must explain himself to camera. This is a film projected from within a society that does not judge itself and would never care to.

Greek Pete will divide audiences, but if you go in with an open mind, you will be stirred, jolted into action. It will make you think, and talk about it with others who have seen it. Any film that encourages intelligent debate should be seen, and this is one of them.

this poorly made, unstructured, cheap and seemingly scripted documentary manages to take a popular escort in London's exploding gay escort scene and make it as boring as bat shiz.

it is inept at providing any insight into it's subject, the sex industry, relationships or ...dammit, anything at all!

low-budget film making is fine by me (check out the amazing Tiffany obsessed fan documentary I Think We're Alone Now), but 'Greek Pete' waffles and meanders aimless for most of it's 75mins. around half an hour is wasted on dinner conversations of several hookers babbling half- hearted tales of their clients and sexual history. very little of it is interesting.

it should be interesting, but it isn't.

and i should know. i am a male escort.

over the years London is one of the many cities i've worked in and seen it evolve from when it was a (mostly) lots of fun goldmine in the early 2000s and then suddenly implode into a desperate meth-fuelled barebacking shitfight when the GFC hit. i've also done porn and taken drugs, so there is no prejudice against the content, just how badly it has been captured and presented in this documentary - lifeless and heartbreakingly dull

every opportunity to create an interesting, informative and entertaining documentary is wasted. it even tries to be sexy well after you've learned to hate the subjects

poor Pete. it's not his fault. this film should be 15mins long

Greek Pete-A docudrama (apparently its different to documentary) about the life of a rent boy in London. *** my first review ***

Hey all IMDb users, I saw this in Bristol, Watershed and like it a lot. It is very different to anything that I've ever seen and was excited to find out that its from a home grown film-maker. WOW! We do have talent. OK, OK I am not being sarcastic, seems like all independent films and film-makers comes from U.S.A and good ol blighty us, prefers to make reality TV shows. Back to Greek Pete. It must be a very different & difficult for Pete and fiends to choose what they want to do, a world that a lot of us will never comprehend. We try our best to understand and not quick to judge. All they want is to make a better life for themselves, don't we all. Give them a chance

I think this film is suffering in the votes for two reasons: 1.) It includes many scenes of explicit drug use and gay sex (seriously, some are barely shy of hardcore pornography). 2.) People are approaching it as a documentary, which it is not.... exactly. You need only read Andrew Haigh's notes on the film's website to understand that he is purposefully blurring the lines between documentary and narrative by using a cast of real London rent boys, playing themselves, in a fictional, if not entirely scripted, drama.

In my opinion the result was extremely successful. I found Peter Pittaros incredibly winning (it took all of fifteen minutes for me to fall entirely in love with him) and the supporting cast complex, realistic and often devastating. The scenes in which groups of them hung out doing drugs, dancing, goofing around and sharing (likely nonfictional) war stories spoke volumes to me about their histories as well as their trajectories. In fact I came to feel that the film was really about everyone but Pete, whose sheer positivity and drive to succeed makes it so you never really worry about him. I think Haigh did something clever by giving us a rock of a protagonist to cling to as we explored the sadness, emptiness and insecurity displayed by Kai and the supporting cast. And as someone who has been on both sides of the loves-too- much, loves-too-little divide, Pete and Kai's relationship rung incredibly true to me and was all the more powerful for the way Haigh presented it more often through looks and actions than words.