Death and Sex Intersect in a Celluloid Poem About Beautiful Boy Prostitutes. THE MASSEUR.

The Masseur (2005) Directed by Brillante Mendoza

"Would Sir like me to do anything else?"

Iliac (Coco Martin) works in a massage parlor in Manila.  One could just as well say brothel, since the massage is only foreplay to the real business.  The boys, and there is a collection of cute ones, all work in a rundown building in cubicles just big enough for the massage table; a bit larger than a twin bed.  There are no doors, just curtains, and the sounds from the next cubicle blend in an organic rutting montage of groans and whispers.

Iliac is summoned home; his father has fallen comatose.  He arrives too late, and his father has already died, apparently of cirrhosis of the liver.  Now, the movie weaves together the two story lines, switching back and forth, as Iliac services a particular client Marina Hidalgo (Alan Paule) who is a romance writer.  As he undresses "Marina" it switches to Iliac helping the coroner dress his father, and we come to understand, without words, that part of what Iliac is seeking in his professional life is a little affection, affection his father did not display.

The scenes of dad laid out on the slab, superimposing on the client, laid out on the bed, draws the parallels, these boys die a little inside as the Johns are cruel and callus; in point of fact, Marina had not wanted Iliac, but the other boy in a yellow shirt.

As they move through the service, you note several things; the family is Catholic, close knit, busy bodies, one and all.  Maldon the little brother is called down for not displaying proper grief, but he is not saddened.  Their father abandoned them, and only returned home because he was sick.  Yet in this nest of gossip and criticism, no one asks Iliac what he does.  Not one. 

The cinematography is remarkable; it works so well with colour and texture, the peeling paints of the ramshackle massage parlor, the golden tones of the boys, the pasty white of the clientele.  The rough, shop worn texture of the walls and partitions, the tattered curtains contrast with the silken smoothness of naked flesh. There is a great deal of nudity in this movie, and there are depictions of sexual acts (nothing hardcore, I assure you) yet, oddly, it is not erotic.  It is too nuanced with the desperation and callousness of the sex trade to come across as titillating.  But it does manage to achieve artistic.  Coco Martin is beautiful, by anyone's standards.  His body is his art.

The movie juxtaposes many religious symbols with the life in the massage parlor; is it making a statement about the life and it's sinfulness?  If it is, it is doing it subtly.  The boys do not seem to be much burdened by guilt.  No, if anything, their deadly sin is greed.  And even in that Iliac does not do very well.  He is shorted his tip by "Marina" for being the bottom.

The ending is odd, and abrupt, and strangely unsatisfying, on the lines of "And they all lived happily ever after."  What then, is the point of the movie?  This is an excellent question, and I think you are going to get different answers from everyone who watches it.  What I took from it is the way the sex industry is so integral to Manila that it is woven into the fabric of life.  They had to know what Iliac was doing, but he sent money home, and that bought not just their silence, but their approval.  No one criticized Iliac, not even behind his back. 

I also think that Iliac discovering his father's love for him broke part of the hold the Massage Parlor had on him.  He never got what he needed from his encounters, affection, but I think he quit trying to find it there.  So, is this a coming of age story?  Sure, let's call it that.  And he lived happily ever after.

Like the Sex Trade, this review is Lean-N-Mean, at 666 words.  It is also entered in Captain D's Good Movie Write Off.

Gay Movies:

La Mission***Burnt Money***8: The Mormon Propo$ition***In The Flesh***The Sensei***The 24th Day***Wrangler: Anatomy of an Icon***ZMD: Zombies of Mass Destruction***East Side Story***Dorian Blues***Creatures From the Pink Lagoon***Satyricon***Ice Men***Richard O'Briens Rocky Horror Tribute Show***Prom Queen***The Kids are All Right***Between Love and Goodbye***The Mudge Boy***That Man: Peter Berlin***A Single Man***Almost Normal***Outing Riley***Outrage!***Law of Desire***Love is the Devil***Cowboy Junction***Horror in the Wind***Bedrooms and Hallways***Cut Sleeve Boys***Big Eden***For A Lost Soldier***Midnight Cowboy***Redwoods***The Massuer***Boy Culture***Breakfast With Scot***The Fluffer***Flesh***Little Ashes***L.I.E. ***Dorian Gray***9 Dead Gay Guys***Shank***I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry***Beautiful Boxer***Bangkok Love Story***Schoolboy Crush***Shelter***Back Soon***Dog Tags***Theft***The Mulligans***The Velvet Goldmine***Swashbuckler***Smoke Signals
***C'Thulhu***Milk***The Picture of Dorian Gray***Brideshead Revisited***Notes on a Scandal***RocknRolla***Mamma Mia!
***Priscillia: Queen of the Desert***The History Boys***Brokeback Mountain***The Broken Hearts Club*** Yaji and Kita: Midnight Pilgrims ***Surge of Power ***In & Out ***Mambo Italiano ***Touch of Pink ***To Wong Foo, Thanks For Everything, Julie Newmar ***Wolves of Kromer ***Rocky Horror Picture Show ***Taboo ***Deathtrap 


Gay Themed Series:

Spartacus: Blood and Sand
Dante's Cove
Hex
Carnivale Season One
Carnivale Season Two
Rome Season One
Rome Season Two
True Blood
True Blood: Season Two
The Book of Daniel: The Complete Series
Torchwood: Children of Earth
Torchwood: Season One


Gay Animation:

Pirate's Booty***Sensitive Pornograph***Loveless: The Complete Series***Loveless: Hope on the Run***Loveless: Soul of Chains***Loveless: Lost and Found***Embracing Love: A Cicada in Winter***Embracing Love: Cherished Spring ***Stonewall & Riot***Drawn Together Movie: The Movie***Drawn Together: Season 2***Drawn Together: Season 3

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