Boys Life 2

I thought the first short film on this DVD, about the clubbing teens, was trite, except for Milo Ventimiglia and the ending. It's the only one of the four that's a predictable (but not too bad) "gay" movie. The last three films are unusual, each in its own way, and they're all outstanding.

Matt McGrath's performance as the son in DadShuttle is some of the most beautiful acting I've ever seen anywhere, speaking words so realistic and unmovielike that they'd have sounded pretentious spoken by anybody else. Coming from him they're sublime. (Only mediocre actors become big stars. The truly great ones, like McGrath, never do. It's crazy.) I'm glad Trevor was taken out of this collection and issued separately. If it hadn't been I'd probably never have seen DadShuttle.

Alkali IA feels like great literature presented with lovely restraint and grace. I liked it a lot. The real surprise in this set, though, is Vincent D'Onofrio and Eileen Brennan's hilarious dark comedy about a tough gay Italian cop and his mother. Every second of that film is pure delight.

This collection is much better than the first Boys Life (I'm watching the series in order), which surprised me because reviews trend the opposite way. Maybe it's because the three great films in this set are about and for adults, more intelligent and creative than most. They don't fit too comfortably under the "boys" banner, though. It'll be interesting to see how the rest of the series plays out.