Steve Pulaski
Twink is an intriguing, experimental pet-project about how deep and revealing a subject and an industry can be if you confine a film in terms of its setting and the number of its characters. The only two actors, one of them an unseen character, are Jason Impey and Wade Radford, who also serve as the writers and directors of the project. We focus on Quinn (Wade Radford), a retired gay porn star who used to go by the name "Kayden Daydream." Quinn is approached in his tiny, disorganized loft by a documentarian, who is interested in Quinn and his experiences with the adult industry, particularly the "twink" demographic. For the next hour, we watch Quinn uncover revealing details about the industry, in addition to seemingly treading the line of his own personal instability.Confining Twink to only one setting, consisting of medium-length, static shots of Radford's Quinn was probably the best option for this film as a whole. Rather than getting distracted by stylistic attributes and bathing the film in random, decorative aesthetics, Impey and Radford are more concerned, at the end of it all, with the subject at hand and painting him as a severely troubled soul, addicted to drugs and alcohol, because of past experiences in a very dirty industry. Quinn gives us brutally honest reasons as to why we, the audience, watches and loves porn, but rarely do we think about the repercussions and the emotions of the performers. Quinn's explicitness only adds to the true layer of honesty the film loves to profile, making this a deeply haunting, even troubling film at times, especially in the latter half, as we see Quinn's emotions escalate dramatically.At only a little over an hour, the film is a quick-watch, but not one that's easy to digest or to be soon forgotten. For relatively new directors, Impey and Radford employ quiet touches of stylistic charm by the way they choose to shoot the film from certain angles or playing with the filters and the exposure to replicate some type of mood. It's the kind of rare one/two-man project where a great deal of potential is brought forth and a lot of it lives up accordingly, without being too self-satisfying or too empty. Given how short Twink is, it's almost asking to be forgotten after it's watched, but its content and its depiction begs otherwise.Starring: Wade Radford. Directed by: Jason Impey and Wade Radford.
Alex Squire
Ultra low budget and pretty much ab-libbed all the way through. I needed to watch 3 times to take everything in. A very simple effective premise that works 100%. Wade Radford delivers what is surely a dark, gloomy, sickening and yet utterly engrossing performance. A young British talent that will surely take the independent film sector by storm. It takes something to keep the viewer gripped and the single actor performance is a testament to Wades skill and ability Saying anything more could give something away. Sit back and strap yourself in, but prepare to have your head messed with as you try to process the dark an murky mind set of the film.
parrys2
Twink, is a fly-on-the-wall documentary, loosely styled on ITV's 7 Up series, where you have the voice of the interviewer, the object of your attention, the interviewee (Kaden / Quinn) and you the viewer, the eyes of the camera. The opening sequence, shows the squalor that Quinn is currently living in, with lots of evidence of drink and drug abuse, which is confirmed later on in the film.Kaden Daydream (the porn industry name of Quinn), shows a strong front that he has got his "shit together" as the interviewer starts to probe with questions exploring how he got into the Porn Industry and especially why he left. But even though Quinn, shows that he is strong, you can see the emotional pain in his eyes and face which hints at the abuse that he has suffered during this time.One of Quinn's defence mechanisms is to shock the person who he sees as a threat. Particularly when he perceives them getting close to a truth that he is neither willing to face nor able to deal with. Particularly when you as the viewer can clearly see that abuse has taken place. You, as the viewer also find yourself wishing Quinn to open up and talk about it, just to start the healing process and it becomes almost painful to watch every time he brings the shutters down on you.Quinn's description of how he was at the bottom of the food chain and everybody else was making money of the back of his "works" was hard and uncomfortable to listen to, as it shadowed a number of professions in life that do exactly the same thing, not just the sex industry.Quinn's convincing and damning narrative on how poor the "actors" really are, as the "glamorous" lifestyle that they are provided for, which is paid for by "others" was the only real payment and the moment that you start to lose your "Twink" looks, is the moment that nobody wants to touch you. Quinn clearly feels hard done by, as everybody above him has made so much money off the back of his labours, whilst he has been left in the gutter.It is at this point that you start to see another character appear, the character that is Kaden Daydream. Here, you start to feel that this heart-breaking young man actually has some deep-seated psychological problems. You see "Kaden" constantly trying to turn the tables on the interviewer, as the film starts to approach the root cause of his pain.Again, you see "Kaden" reverting to type, doing his utmost to shock and manoeuvre the interviewer into a position so he can end the interview and therefore the self-revelations. You also see the true conflict as control of Quinn passes back and forth, just like an emotional tug of war and most shockingly of all to me as a viewer, was the total self-loathing that Kaden/Quinn has for himself.The big reveal as to what happened to Quinn is when filming returns and they are sitting outside, next to a camp-fire and Quinn reads some poetry. The story that is being relayed in the poetry is clearly what has happened to Quinn. The "Twinky Long Legs" poem is upsetting to listen to, but of anything that Quinn says during this film, he is speaking from the heart when he reads that poem. Although, to me, it was shocking when he burned the pages afterwards.The interviewer picks up on things that have happened during Quinn's childhood and when he starts to question him you see Kaden make an appearance again and you also see that Quinn's fall from grace in "that" industry has left him associating company / companionship with sex.It is deeply upsetting to see the Kaden's character make a dominant return at the end, particularly when the body dimorphism facet of his personality appears and the resultant conflict between what he feels he should look like and what he actually looks like (bloody good looking and normal, in my opinion), result in so much blood.(SPOILER ALERT) It is as this point that I, as a viewer have to state that the film was spoilt for me. Any real documentary maker would not stand there, keep filming and allow the person to effectively kill himself, particularly with a homo-erotic gush of blood. I feel it would have been far more believable if the camera was left with Kaden/Quinn to do his lead out, to film that sequence for himself or if it was a drug & alcohol fuelled fantasy, that Kaden imagines, but later is seen asleep in his bed. But this is only my opinion, others will probably be happy with the ending.Overall though, we all deep down know that there is a dark and seedy element in the porn industry where people are used and abused, making other people rich, but when they have reached the end of their very short lived careers, they are abandoned as everyone has got what they want. Wade Radford's acting is very, very realistic in this film and very scary in parts. I feel that this is Wade's most important film to date and carries an important social message and commentary.
