Leather Jacket Love Story (1998)

Glorious film making

This film is everything an indepedent art film should be. All the characters seem to be having such a great time. It is nice to see a film that manages to be both serious and light hearted at the same time. I'm not sure if this is my favorite film from David DeCoteau (that would probably be THE BROTHERHOOD) but I do think this is perhaps his best work as a film maker. The DVD transfer looks very good considering it came from 16mm. The black and white photography of Howard Wexler is quite beautiful. The DVD includes one of David DeCoteaus less informative audio commentaries. While he is often quite the chatterbox on his audio tracks, David gets so caught up in watching this film that he often seems to forget he is recording a commentary track. There are still some great insights from him however. There are over a half hour of deleted scenes that also include audio commentary. All in all this is one of David's most unusual and beautiful films. It is hard to believe this film came from the same director as NIGHTMARE SISTERS. April 9, 2008

Really, really bad transfer

No matter how bad it may be, any film transferred to DVD deserves the best audio and video quality possible. Unfortunately that's not the case with Leather Jacket Love Story.

The transfer looks as though it came from a VHS original, compete with distorted vertical lines, lack of contrast, and extreme artificial edge sharpening. True, the 16mm of the original might not have been the most professional stock, but a decent transfer would have avoided the telltail righmost outlines of a cheap "sharpening" filter.

Unless you really need to see poorly transferred pictures of a couple of naked actors, you can do much better than this film. "Hard" is another indie filmed about the same time as this movie. There's occasional nudity there, too. But what Hard has and Jacket doesn't is better transfer, acting, and story. October 5, 2007

An entertaining, positive movie about twinks, leathermen and drag queens...

This is a movie about a Yin-Yang affair between a "Twink" and "Leather Man", both classic gay sexual personae that have been around forever. Cute as button, blonde and blue eyed Sean Tataryn plays a overly romantic, somewhat naïve "Kyle" who falls for the dark and brooding "Mike" played by Christopher Bradley. The movie delivers a lot of laughs and positive, touching conclusion.

I strongly disagree with all the other reviewers who dismiss Sean Tataryn in his role of the central character, "Kyle". On the contrary, casting Tataryn as "Kyle", as the teenager from the suburbs who writes romantic poetry was inspired! Tataryn plays the role of "Kyle" with the perfect amount of innocence and naiveté that one would expect from a suburban kid exploring his options in the gay scene.

Christopher Bradley is believable as "Mike", the blue collar, leather jacket wearing, motorcycle riding object of Kyle's lust and affection. Mike is sort of "Peter Pan" character, cynical about love, hardened by life, and emotionally unavailable.

Kyle turns out to be the perfect yin to Mike's yang, so the sexual tension between them is interesting to watch as their affair unfolds

At first, Kyle's angelic looks and vulnerability stirs Mike's lust. But Kyle challenges Mike about his promiscuity, and stirs in him repressed feelings for emotional intimacy that Mike finds uncomfortable. The ending scene where "Mike" is so moved by Kyle's reading of a poem he wrote about their affair that he tears up the phone number of the "trick" he was seeing was as powerful and touching moment as I've ever seen in any romantic drama. .

The movie has it's flaws, not the least was it`s $60,000 budget. The movie was shot 10 days with a circa 1969 camera in B&W and combined with the generic 1950's soundtrack, which you may find out of context with the plot and the characters. But the worst flaw in my opinion, is that the movie couldn't seem to decide if it as a serious romantic drama or romp through gay camp. It's not surprising to learn that director was responsible for forgettable flicks with titles like Voodoo Academy and Creepozoids. I found the flood of drag queens and gratuitous sex scenes overwhelmed the dramatic potential of the plot.

Leather Jacket Love Story DOES delivers a positive feel-good experience that is often hard to find in gay fiction and movies. It may even become a gay classic. Sadly this plot, the script and these actors could have delivered a much more complicated and moving picture then this feather duster. On the other hand, it's simple laughs and romantic plot make it the perfect "fluff" movie to curl up with on a friday night when you are too tired to go out, and too lonely to just stay home. I've watched this movie serveral times, and still watch it from time to time a few years later.



April 29, 2007

Strange, soft-core gay porn

Maybe not porn - but there is plenty of nudity. Some nice, some not so nice. The story is incredibly stupid and unbeliveable and the acting is atrocious.

Maybe it would have been better if they went for a plain porn film instead. May 23, 2005

DREADFUL SOFT PORN

This is a dreadful soft porn movie masquerading as "art" with dreadful acting by an unattractive cast, corny dialogue and filler scenes that could cure insomnia. It is truly unwatchable as a movie and unwatchable as porn! March 25, 2005

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