Normally with gay-themed online series, we can just post the episodes and let you decide for yourself whether you like it or not. However Oh Boy, from porn model/actor/director Damien Moreau, is a little different, both because it’s being released on a pay-to-view basis and also because it’s sexual nature means it’s a bit too rude for us to post here anyway.
While quite a few straight filmmakers have tried to explore the point where art and porn meet, in the last few years it’s been on the gay side that a lot of the more interesting work has been taking place, whether it’s Travis Mathews’ In Your Room and I Want Your Love films, or the Black Spark hardcore vignettes that set the internet on fire a couple of years ago (and which many have said resulted in an increase in production values for real gay porn).
Now Damien Moreau is delving further into those waters with his mini-series Oh Boy, which is described as being ‘focused around the sexuality of men following a loose and subtle narrative featuring occasional reoccurring characters and their personal exploration of sex’.
The first episode, Sébastien, was released a few days ago, and it will be followed by two more, while Episodes 4&5 are yet to be filmed while Moreau gathers funding.
In many respects the 20-minute Sébastien is incredibly simple – a dancer/choreographer practices some moves, heads out on his bicycle around the city, then returns home, checks his phone messages and decides to masturbate.
That is the sum total of the plot, but like many of the better examples of so-called ‘art porn’, where it succeeds is in feeling like it’s getting far closer to the reality of sexuality than the artifice of porn. The result is something that almost surprisingly get you to ponder your own relationship to your sexuality, while also adding to the eroticism purely because of the voyeuristic tinge there is to taking an unfettered view into someone else’s life.
There is a backstory, involving Sébastien feeling pressure to deliver an important piece of choreography and looking to the city to provide inspiration. Due to the stress he is in need of solitude and relaxation. However even without knowing that the dialogue-free short film has a lot to offer – indeed it is perhaps better to look at it in isolation from a specific story.
It’s very well made, with Moreau’s camera picking out the eroticism of everyday life, whether it’s good-looking people on the street or advertising that pulls the viewer’s eye towards the crotch, alongside the social, unquestioned normality all around us. It’s a subtle look at the general sexualisation of modern culture, which makes few judgements but does make you wonder how culture at large relates to personal sexuality.
It sets the scene for when Sébastien returns home, and here the film again does a great job as the character hangs around and then rather nonchalantly starts to masturbate. Unlike porn, it’s not just showing you a sexual event with a big trumpet fanfare. Here it’s part of life and it’s all the hotter for it, contrasting the size of the city with the insular, personal act of playing with yourself. As you hear Sébastien’s breathing quicken as he gets closer to climax it’s a rare moment on film of taking you into something that most men know well but is rarely ever seen properly on screen.
It then closes with a scene that gets you to reconsider the truth of what you’ve seen, metaphorically at least – is this just a solo, erotic sexual act, or the result of someone having no one to share the moment with and wanting to fill some sort of hole?
It’s very well made and incredibly erotically charged, helped by the actor playing Sébastien, who is hot while still looking like a real person (which is certainly not like in most porn). As with Travis Mathews’ work, it’s surprising how much art-porn can make you think, just by taking you into a situation that feels like the sort of thing that happens all the time, but which rarely has a camera trained on it and an artistic eye that can reveal what feels like the reality behind everyday sexuality – erect penises and cum shots included.
Even so Oh Boy does have a tough job on its hands, purely because it wants people to pay, and on the web everyone expects everything for free. It’s also true that it’s slightly difficult to fully judge the mini-series without seeing all the parts. Hopefully though enough people will stump up some cash, as well as donate more through Moreau’s website, so that he’ll be able to complete his project and we’ll be able to see how it works as a whole.
Take a look at the NSFW trailer for Sébastien below.
Overall Verdict: Extremely sexy and surprisingly thought provoking, Sébastien’s surface simplicity turns out to be its greatest strength, allowing the viewer not just to enjoy the eroticism but also consider the relationships and ideas behind something as common as masturbation.
Oh Boy is available to purchase from Damien Moreau’s website.
Reviewer: Tim Isaac
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