cinemaqueer.com - aaron: albeit a sex hero
GAY FILM REVIEWS BY MICHAEL D. KLEMM
Aaron... Albeit A Sex Hero
Waterbearer Films,
2009
Director/Screenplay:
Paul Bright
Starring:
Matthew Charles Burnett, Rafiel Soto, Christopher Lee Gibson, Mary Farrar, Mary Anzalone, Steve Powers
Unrated, 82 minutes
Lock, Stock And Two Smokin' Gay Guys
by Michael D. Klemm
Posted online, December 2009
Aaron... Albeit a Sex Hero gets my vote for the most unusual and creative queer film title that I've come across this year. The strange name sets the tone for this offbeat and tongue-in-cheek, low budget action flick from writer/director Paul Bright. This one is a fresh and comedic take on those intolerable late night thrillers on cable that usually star Stephen Baldwin (before he found Jesus). What it may lack in studio gloss is more than compensated by its quirky originality.
Instead of an ex-marine or an international assassin, our hero is a cute but quasi-geeky Texas tour van guide who dreams of a new job on a cruise ship. His name is Aaron (Matthew Charles Burnett) and he's having a bad day. For starters, he hates his job. The cheesy tour forces him to feign excitement as he points out a mountain used as an establishing shot in a John Ford Western. His doting grandmother (who acts like one of the mothers in an old Woody Allen film) is amongst the passengers on what is supposed to be his last day as tour guide. The van is populated by an assortment of older women dressed as movie stars and wearing way too much perfume. On the bright side, Aaron has a new driver, a hunky Latino named Jesse (Rafiel Soto) and there seems to be an unmistakable sexual tension between them.
Aaron gets off on the wrong foot at first with Jesse and things are about to get worse. Unbeknownst to Aaron, the tour van is being used to smuggle cocaine over the Mexican border and his life will soon be getting complicated. Before the film is over, Aaron will find a tarantula in his hotel room, almost get killed by drug smugglers, get stung by a scorpion and attacked by a rattlesnake while fleeing for his life. When Jesse, brandishing a gun, finds Aaron hiding in the woods, we are unsure at first which side the gunman is on. The two men become unlikely allies and, later, lovers.
A number of years ago I used to complain that I was sick of coming out and fabulous makeover films. Aaron... Albeit a Sex Hero takes a wild left turn at Albuquerque and runs with the ball full throttle in my book. Taking a page from the Hitchcock thriller manual, Aaron is an ordinary man caught up in extraordinary circumstances. Movies like this are dumb when the hero is a James Bond clone; make him an everyman and not only is the film more believable but it's also more fun. The filmmaker's quirky sense of humor assures that this will be more than just a passable, and mindless, action flick.
Yes, Aaron... Albeit a Sex Hero is sometimes silly but that's part of its charm. I lost it laughing when I discovered that the cocaine was being smuggled in this tour van because the stench of the women's perfume fooled the drug sniffing dogs at the border. There's also a great running joke involving coitus interruptus: each time that our heroes get down to some hot lovemaking, they get interrupted by the untimely arrival of the bad guys.
Expect the unexpected in Aaron... Albeit a Sex Hero. A slutty border guard, who promises to drop in on one of the women at their overnight lodgings, shows up at Aaron's door instead. A crime boss is henpecked by his wife. The grandmother's "niece" turns out to be her lover. The cocaine, which is hidden in food supplement bottles, accidentally winds up being added to the old ladies' orange juice at breakfast. The concluding punchline is a hoot, don't stop the film as soon as the end credits begin.
Inbetween all the hijinks, the director slips in a few lines of politically charged dialogue. A climactic shooting suggests a climax of another kind. We're not talking Quentin Tarantino here, but the film is more violent than most gay action flicks are. In a really controversial character touch, a series of quick flashes suggest that Aaron is a former teacher whose career ended because of inappropriate relations with one of his students. (The pupil looks almost as old as the teacher so we can surmise that he isn't under-aged.) I'm not sure what point was being made with this detail (except maybe to contrast with Jeese's previous undercover job conducting internet sex stings) but it adds another dimension to what is already a very unconventional movie.
I've written before that that I can look past a low budget when the story and the acting is worthwhile. I cannot judge a handmade personal film by the same standards as a Hollywood blockbuster, nor do I expect such a film to look like it was shot by Vittorio Storaro or Nestor Almendros. It's similar to the difference between an edgy Off-Off Broadway play done on a bare stage and overblown kitschy glitz like Phantom of the Opera. Aaron... Albeit a Sex Hero is a fun and unpredictable movie that deserves an audience. It offers an offbeat story and two scruffy but attractive leads who heat up the screen. Take a walk on the wild side, you won't be sorry.
More on Paul Bright in:
Theft
Altitude Falling
Matthew Charles Burnett also appears in:
