"The Fluffer" - O.K., Just Tell Your Folks It's Artistic Work, in Films
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November 16, 2001
O.K., Just Tell Your Folks It's Artistic Work, in Films
By A. O. SCOTT
ean McGinnis (Michael Cunio), the title character in "The Fluffer," is a
naïve young film buff who has gone to Los Angeles to break into the
movie industry. One day he rents a videotape that he thinks is "Citizen
Kane" but that turns out to be a gay pornographic film with a similar
title.
Before he can eject the tape, Sean is transfixed by the star, who goes
by the name Johnny Rebel, and he makes his way, résumé in hand, to Men
of Janus pictures, where he is hired as a cameraman. His arty technique
irritates one of his colleagues, a grizzled old hack named Sam (Richard
Riehle), who has a clear if unimaginative idea of what the public wants,
which is sex. "Farmers in the Midwest do not want to see the model's
ear," he explains.
Men of Janus is clearly not run according to union rules, and in
addition to his duties behind the camera and in the stockroom Sean
becomes Johnny Rebel's designated fluffer, an occupation helpfully
defined by the film's production notes as "one who provides the
necessary stimulation to enable a male porn star to perform." Sean
provides this service strictly for love and is soon obsessed with the
gorgeous, self-involved and self-destructive Johnny (Scott Gurney),
whose real name is Mikey. Mikey, who says he works in gay pornography
for the money, has a girlfriend named Julie (Roxanne Day) who works as a
stripper under the pseudonym Babylon.
Directed by Richard Glatzer and Wash West, "The Fluffer," which opens
today at the Quad Cinema, moves nimbly from behind-the- scenes comedy to
melodrama, with occasional stumbles into pop psychology and film-noir
violence. Along the way there are sneaky flourishes of surreal style to
perk up the film's drab, low-budget realism: every time a clock is
shown, it happens to be 9:30, and references to a legitimate movie
called "Confusing Sarah" pop up in unexpected places.
These touches suggest a thoughtfulness that is also evident in the three
central performances, which could easily have slipped into caricature.
Sean is, in some ways, a corrective to the smitten cameraman played by
Philip Seymour Hoffman in "Boogie Nights." His desperate crush on Johnny
is made more interesting by its contrast with his generally responsible,
even-keeled temperament. And Julie is, similarly, a fundamentally stable
woman whose love for Mikey is tinged with maternalism.
Mr. Gurney's role as the object of their devotion is both simpler and
more difficult. While he needs most of all to look beautiful, he also
has to serve as the screen for their fantasies and a troubled,
inarticulate young man. He manages both to solicit the audience's
sympathy and to deflect it, so that the film's center of gravity remains
with Julie and Sean. This it does even as the story piles up a few too
many plot developments and shifts of tone.
THE FLUFFER
Directed by Richard Glatzer and Wash West; written by Mr. West; director
of photography, Mark Putnam; edited by John Binninger; music by the
Bowling Green and John Vaughn; production designer, Devorah Herbert;
produced by John Sylla and Victoria Robinson; released by First Run
Features and TLA Releasing. At the Quad Cinema, 34 West 13th Street,
Greenwich Village. Running time: 94 minutes. This film is not rated.
WITH: Scott Gurney (Johnny Rebel), Michael Cunio (Sean McGinnis),
Roxanne Day (Babylon), Taylor Negron (Tony Brooks) and Richard Riehle
(Sam Martins).
Copyright 2001 The New York Times Company | Privacy Information
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