SUGAR
Aspect ratio: 1.85:1
Sound format: Dolby Digital
While celebrating his 18th birthday, a naive young man (Andre Noble) travels to the big city in search of his first sexual encounter and falls in love with a gorgeous twentysomething hustler (Brendan Fehr) who leads him into forbidden territory.
Only his second feature in almost thirty years - the first was ME (1975) - theatre director John Palmer helmed this grim slice-of-life movie, based on the 'JD' stories by underground writer-filmmaker Bruce La Bruce (HUSTLER WHITE, THE RASPBERRY Reich, etc.). Uncompromising in its approach to sex and drugs and everything in between, SUGAR follows Noble into the dark heart of Toronto's street culture, blinded by his feelings for beautiful bisexual hustler Fehr (a long way from "Roswell High"), who ends up using Noble as a pawn in his relentless quest for self-gratification. Palmer's script (co-written with Jaie Laplante and Todd Klinck) depicts Fehr's world as an alien landscape where addicts and sex workers struggle to retain their humanity: There's an extraordinary scene in which Fehr masturbates a clinically obese client (Pat Butcher) in her own home, after she's spent months saving the $300 needed to buy his services, a deed which Noble later describes as 'an act of compassion', and which is treated as such by filmmakers and actors alike.
Working on a microscopic budget (the movie was photographed on digital video and transferred to 35mm for theatrical exhibition), Franklin relies on his actors to sell the drama, and they all come up trumps: Noble is quite superb as Fehr's unwitting devotee, more than willing to submerge himself in the older man's lifestyle, until he's forced to participate in one of Fehr's tricks (a haunting, difficult sequence). Fehr shatters his squeaky-clean TV image with a no-holds-barred performance as the street-wise prostitute who sells his beauty to the highest bidder, only to find himself increasingly dependent on hard drugs, a dependency which spirals into paranoia and self-destruction. Celebrated character actor Maury Chaykin (OWNING MAHOWNY) appears briefly as one of Fehr's regular customers, and Sarah Polley (DAWN OF THE DEAD) plays a young addict who asks Noble to marry her and provide a father figure for her unborn child (he declines). The film contains frontal nudity in abundance, but not from the two leads, both of whom are nevertheless displayed in various states of undress throughout; very little of it is even remotely sexy, and that's entirely in keeping with the film's downbeat tone.
The definition of a 'promising young actor', Noble began his career on stage in his native Canada, specializing in Shakespearean roles, and later co-founded The Young Company (later renamed The Noble Players) in Toronto with fellow actor Matt Austin. After brief appearances in high profile gay films TWIST (2003) and PROM QUEEN: THE MARC HALL STORY (2004), he landed his first leading role in SUGAR, for which he garnered hugely positive reviews on the festival circuit. Sadly, whilst on a short break from publicizing the film in July 2004, Noble died of aconitine poisoning after accidentally consuming a lethal dose of monkshood sap during a boat trip to Silver Fox Island, Newfoundland. He was 25.
Aspect ratio: 1.85:1
Sound format: Dolby Digital
While celebrating his 18th birthday, a naive young man (Andre Noble) travels to the big city in search of his first sexual encounter and falls in love with a gorgeous twentysomething hustler (Brendan Fehr) who leads him into forbidden territory.
Only his second feature in almost thirty years - the first was ME (1975) - theatre director John Palmer helmed this grim slice-of-life movie, based on the 'JD' stories by underground writer-filmmaker Bruce La Bruce (HUSTLER WHITE, THE RASPBERRY Reich, etc.). Uncompromising in its approach to sex and drugs and everything in between, SUGAR follows Noble into the dark heart of Toronto's street culture, blinded by his feelings for beautiful bisexual hustler Fehr (a long way from "Roswell High"), who ends up using Noble as a pawn in his relentless quest for self-gratification. Palmer's script (co-written with Jaie Laplante and Todd Klinck) depicts Fehr's world as an alien landscape where addicts and sex workers struggle to retain their humanity: There's an extraordinary scene in which Fehr masturbates a clinically obese client (Pat Butcher) in her own home, after she's spent months saving the $300 needed to buy his services, a deed which Noble later describes as 'an act of compassion', and which is treated as such by filmmakers and actors alike.
Working on a microscopic budget (the movie was photographed on digital video and transferred to 35mm for theatrical exhibition), Franklin relies on his actors to sell the drama, and they all come up trumps: Noble is quite superb as Fehr's unwitting devotee, more than willing to submerge himself in the older man's lifestyle, until he's forced to participate in one of Fehr's tricks (a haunting, difficult sequence). Fehr shatters his squeaky-clean TV image with a no-holds-barred performance as the street-wise prostitute who sells his beauty to the highest bidder, only to find himself increasingly dependent on hard drugs, a dependency which spirals into paranoia and self-destruction. Celebrated character actor Maury Chaykin (OWNING MAHOWNY) appears briefly as one of Fehr's regular customers, and Sarah Polley (DAWN OF THE DEAD) plays a young addict who asks Noble to marry her and provide a father figure for her unborn child (he declines). The film contains frontal nudity in abundance, but not from the two leads, both of whom are nevertheless displayed in various states of undress throughout; very little of it is even remotely sexy, and that's entirely in keeping with the film's downbeat tone.
The definition of a 'promising young actor', Noble began his career on stage in his native Canada, specializing in Shakespearean roles, and later co-founded The Young Company (later renamed The Noble Players) in Toronto with fellow actor Matt Austin. After brief appearances in high profile gay films TWIST (2003) and PROM QUEEN: THE MARC HALL STORY (2004), he landed his first leading role in SUGAR, for which he garnered hugely positive reviews on the festival circuit. Sadly, whilst on a short break from publicizing the film in July 2004, Noble died of aconitine poisoning after accidentally consuming a lethal dose of monkshood sap during a boat trip to Silver Fox Island, Newfoundland. He was 25.