In the Flesh

I knew nothing about this movie other than the blurb I read at Netflix. I was intrigued by the promise of a relationship between a cop and a hustler. I must say that, overall, the film delivered.

In brief, a police department thinks that there might be some drug sales going on at a boy bar. While this premise is not enough to get excited about, when Philip (Ed Corbin) is sent as an undercover cop to discover what's really going on, he has to fight his attraction to one of the bar's boys, Oliver (Dane Ritter).

The suggestion of an intense sexual relationship between the two, that may or may not ever be consummated, keeps the excitement level high. That, with a murder, a heavy-duty alibi, a semi-tragic subplot and a left-hook-to-the-jaw surprise towards the end were enough to keep me on the edge of my seat.

There were a couple of cliché moments, a couple of unbelievable moments (when Oliver opens his front door without looking through the peephole) and for some reason the writer/director felt compelled to throw in a few humorous bits/lines, especially in the beginning, which really didn't work. But overall, I thought this movie was really worth watching. The two leads looked more like father and son, and it did take a while to get used to their relationship, but the beauty of it is that it seemed that it could have been real.

I applaud the producers for taking a chance on this film without big Hollywood stars and for really piecing together a story about a sad, tragic world which seems like it can only destroy all who inhabit it.