The hero who calls himself "X" is a variable in a world that does not add up. As detached as his name, he strives to love no one, not even his two caring roommates and especially not his johns. Only the hustle drives "X" until an elderly trick tells a love story that opens his eyes. Of course, "X" will have to blink several times to get it. Brocka's 1999 short. Rick & Steve: The Happiest Gay Couple in the World, employed characters made of Legos; this time he uses hot flesh and blood to animate his tale of lust and liberation among Seattle's queer and curious. But Boy Culture isn't just a microscope on modern gay life. It is an exploration of the push-me-pull-you in all of us when it comes to making the ultimate connection. Fueled by "X's" cheeky, hard-boiled narration, Boy Culture jumps from clubs of the sleek and sinewy, to the damp streets where "X" rides his motorcycle, to the trendy lairs where "X" fancies himself the hunter and anyone who desires him to be the quarry. Brocka's insight allows the hero to laugh and cry at himself, and to realize that sunnier possibilities await if he can seize them. Only then can he fill in the blank.

Q. Allan Brocka