This documentary is basically a love letter to a super specific and mostly forgotten slice of queer history—the world of all-male magazines between 1955 and 1973. It’s a really interesting guide that shows how these images changed over the years, eventually moving from still photos into the world of film. Before 1966, these gay magazines were all about musclemen in jockstraps posing like Greek Gods. But then, everything flipped. In this "golden window" from 1966 to 1973, the pages started featuring young guys between 18 and 22 who had boyish faces and totally normal bodies. They weren't gym rats; they were just ordinary kids, often drifters or runaways, who modeled for unknown photographers for just a few bucks. They’d show up in a magazine for a minute and then just disappear. After 1973, the "hardcore revolution" happened, and these softcore magazines became old news almost overnight. Just like that, the whole era was gone. The movie mixes together old photos,...
Told through flashbacks and also with dramatization of their sexual encounter stories, the documentary does make for an interesting watch, but I also feel that what is the point behind. it. We are not told why this specific couple was chosen, what was special about them? I mean all of us gay men probably have all kinds of hook up stories that have left a very memorable experience, good or bad, but that detail was not told to us. Also the documentarian himself was the most boring interviewer ever. He has no charm or charisma or doesn't know hat to say, how to react or anything. He should just not have come in front of the camera. Thankfully, the runtime of this is short and can breeze through it easily. In a nutshell, it is a sweet story, presented as a documentary with cinematic flashbacks to show the stories of the couple's experiences. (3.5/10)
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