Age of Consent

In the hands of competent filmmakers, Age of Consent could have been a decent documentary.

The Hoist is seen - by some - as a controversial place, male-only sex club...ridiculously so, what goes on behind closed doors stays behind closed doors.

A splendid array of talking heads appear: the vacuous, the Luddites, the pseudos and the academics...in leather or rubber, they are all the same.

But...when one patron says and to paraphrase: The Hoist is a safe place for those with HIV...not so safe for those who are negative...a cause for concern? Definitely.

The Jeffrey Hinton interview goes on for far too long...especially when he talks absolute bollocks.

The inclusion of the trans*men was a bizarre aberration - worthy of a film in itself, perhaps. The whole issue of 'passing' is interesting. An opportunity missed: why not ask the patrons and owners about their stance on trans*men entering (and participating) in their club.

The cleaner...what was that about? I'm a character, I am - still, he cleaned the toilets without any gloves...yuk. To be fair, he did put them on when cleaning the sling!

Shoddy camera-work and woeful editing do not help the film's cause...but, it's the [extreme] porn intercuts that really pushes this into the gutter...really, there was no need for it.

Sadly, The Hoist is under threat from gentrification...paradoxically, these filmmakers would benefit greatly from a generous dollop of the same kind of gentrification.

Still, it's the best thing that Verow & Lum have done!

Trailer...