GAYLETTER

Gay erotic films are having something of a comeback in indie cinema. From Antonio Da Silva’s eye-opening, voyeuristic documentaries to Travis Mathew’s complex, intimate portrayals of sex and relationships, gay erotic cinema is no longer simply confined to Andy Warhol’s lusty depictions of Factory boys. Further proof of this paradigm shift: artist/model/performer/director extraordinaire Damien Moreau. Having performed in BDSM films for Kinkmen.com, Moreau is certainly no stranger to X-rated movies, but it’s his artful film projects that are working to dismantle the negative stereotypes held about both pornography and erotic cinema. Take Moreau’s 2014 short film Kangourou for example: depicting a brief, passing interaction between two men on a train that hurtles one of them into a hot, kinky fantasy, the black-and-white short is artful in its simplicity and transgressive in its presentation, providing a new spin on an old genre.

Moreau’s latest project, Oh Boy, is something of a natural extension of Kangourou. Comprised of a film series separated into chapters that each focus on an individual man and his sexuality (with some overlap between chapters), Oh Boy is already an innovative, promising new addition to erotic cinema in form alone. In a recent interview with Vice, Moreau explained how the series’ narratives and visuals are what make Oh Boy such a unique cinematic experience that is separate from, though clearly indebted to, pornography. An added bonus: Moreau chose to include both cisgender and transgender men in the series, covering a very welcome, broader spectrum of male sexuality. The first full chapter, “Sébastien,” goes live this Thursday, and judging from the gorgeous preview featuring a very limber dancer, it’s going to be well worth the $5.50 price tag.

Oh Boy premieres this Thursday, January 15 on Damien Moreau’s website.