Arcadio Bolanos Inspired by Bruce La Bruce's short stories, Tom Palmer's daring film ventures into a world of male prostitution, heavy drugs and depravation.In the first minute of "Sugar" 18-year-old Cliff, the protagonist, stares at a boy kissing his girlfriend. Cliff is there as a voyeur, as his presence irrupts the intimacy of a couple, but he is also there to acquire the necessary visual stimulation to masturbate afterwards. Regarded from the very beginning, the order of the phantasm mediates the relationship between the protagonist and his world.And what world is that? There is the nice house with the white picket fences which conforms reality and there is also the real, which Cliff encounters as he heads downtown and arrives in a place in which prostitution, she-males and drugs are the norm; why is that the 'real'? Because it exceeds and surpasses reality, but at the same time is excrementitiously derived from that reality. It is in this environment that he meets a handsome hustler named Butch.If, according to Lacan, the desire comes from the real as it cannot be fully articulated or tamed by language, then it's understandable that Cliff will bond with Butch through the phantasm. What are the implications? That he doesn't know anything about this male prostitute, and yet he is very attracted to him. Deep inside, Cliff trusts in the possibility of a successful relationship with Butch. But is it possible to maintain a healthy rapport with someone whose motivations remain unclear? Butch considers himself an actor, after all, he has to reenact the fantasies of his clients. He seems to specialize in seriously disturbed individuals that have banned themselves from normal pleasure and instead aim subconsciously for their particular phantasms (the abusive father, the strong macho, the hockey player, etc.). According to Freud not all libido can be transferred into the image, there are limits. The recognition of ourselves and our bodies, in which conscious knowledge is modeled, bears great limitations, because something eludes this primitive libidinal investment that shapes the image of the ideal ego; there is a portion of libido that cannot be transferred into the image, neither in the image of my body nor in the image of my partner, remaining instead invested at the level of one's own body in a non-specular way, avoiding the laws of representation. When Butch's clients rely entirely on this young man to relive their fantasies they fail at obtaining pleasure, because as Freud explains, they're trying to put all their libido in an image, in a specular representation of their past which obviously doesn't work in the present.Perhaps dominated by the real, the clandestine world of drugs and illegal activities, Butch has no option but to keep doing the things he knows how to do best. Cliff's mistake, however, is to enter into this ambit of the real, turning his back on a more familiar (and familial) reality. Cliff sleeps with his friend in the same bed, but they do not touch each other. They masturbate in front of each other, but they do not have sex. Cliff fills the void in his life, his lack of a loving partner, with the phantasm of something that's clearly not there. But what happens when Butch gets violent and crosses the line? Somehow, adopting the phantasm is easy, but when Cliff finds himself occupying the role of the 'object a', when he finds himself turning into Butch's phantasm, an already feeble relationship starts to unravel.

bkoganbing This small budget Canadian production shot in and around Toronto has acquired something of a cult status due to the untimely death of its young star. Andre Noble as young gay male Cliff exudes a kind of sheepish naiveté as he turns 18 and seeks to explore his sexuality.The film is a character study of young Cliff who gets into the underside of the gay world in his coming out by hooking up with street hustler Brendan Fehr. The two of them help each other out in many ways until tragedy strikes on the film as well as in real life.Playing another street kid is former Power Ranger Jeffrey Parazzo. The former White Ranger from the Dino Thunder edition gets a chance to bare all for art.Only the fact that Andre Noble did not break into the big market with a popular TV series or big budget movie success has not gained him the fame of a River Phoenix. Accidentally ingesting some kind of deadly poison that grows wild in his native Newfoundland is one of the freakiest demises I've ever read about. Still Sugar is going to be his premature epitaph.No great production values in Sugar, but the cast performs well and knowing about what happened to young Mr. Noble brings an additional poignancy to his performance that could not be anticipated.

wes-connors To celebrate the coming of age eighteen, boyish virgin Andre Noble (as Cliff) hits the streets, with a bottle of vodka and a joint. His nighttime cruising leads Mr. Noble directly to handsome bisexual hustler Brendan Fehr (as Butch). For Noble, it's love at first sight - but, Mr. Fehr has locked his closet with drugs and denial. Can two gay young men find love in a repressive society? The answer to that question should be obvious (which is unfortunate on more than one level). Although you can't (as yet) rattle off a series of mega-popular "coming of age" gay romances, the topic has been approached enough to make much of what happens in "Sugar" expected. But, the film is so well cast, and covers most of its ground so believably (based on stories told by Bruce La Bruce), it overcomes the predictable.John Palmer's "Sugar" is sweetest when Noble and Fehr are interacting on screen - it's a typical "anti-romance"; but, the two play it as well as James Dean and Sal Mineo might have. Little sister Haylee Wanstall (as Cookie) and mom Marnie McPhail (as Madge) are an unimaginably kwel family.Some graphic sexual content is integral to the film - one standout scene involves Fehr compassionately satisfying an obese woman (Pat Butcher) - another (with Michael Riley) illustrates Fehr's inability to "legitimately" consummate his love for Noble. They are filmed well; but, was it really necessary to have everyone except the two lead actors go full frontal in the limo? In a tragedy having nothing to do with the plot of "Sugar", Noble died, shortly after its premiere. He would have, obviously, had additional success as an actor. Fehr bravely essays his role as the object of Noble's affection. By the way, his question to Noble about the "last time" is his directive/permission to move on..."We had fun, didn't we?" Yeah, it might have been a little scary, but it was fun.******* Sugar (2004) John Palmer ~ Andre Noble, Brendan Fehr, Haylee Wanstall

Jammal0 This movie was really really out there. There was a lot of implied sex in this movie it was ridiculous. Well anyways, I like a movie that's not afraid to show it's true colors. This movie shows the greatest of impacts on one's life. The lost of innocence and the power of friendship. I feel that this movie, (with it's gay implications) really gets a more in-depth feeling of the movies true purpose. Also through the expected ending, and the very cliché plot twists, this movie comes out proving to be more then just a "kill me now" movie. The acting was also quite moving also. This movie could of really used some transition. Every so often the screen would go black, and then everything would be different.