Two sexy new DVDs remind us that in the world of Canadian provocateur Bruce LaBruce, the revolution will not be PG-13

By Michael Wilde

From The Advocate, November 23, 2004

The Raspberry Reich • Written and directed by Bruce LaBruce • Starring Susanne Sachsse, Daniel Bätscher, Andreas Rupprecht • Strand Releasing Home Video

Sugar • Written by Todd Klinck and John Palmer; based on stories by Bruce LaBruce • Directed by John Palmer • Starring Brendan Fehr, Andre Noble • ThinkFilm/TLA Video

In an era where gay movies are being sanitized for mass consumption, punk auteur Bruce LaBruce reminds us of the bite queer films can have. LaBruce has always brought us tales that push boundaries, from Hustler White’s male amputee hookers plying their trade to The Raspberry Reich’s revolutionaries screaming, “Heterosexuality is the opiate of the masses.”

In Reich, LaBruce’s latest offering, plans run afoul for a group of wannabe terrorists when they find that their kidnapping victim has been disowned by his wealthy father for his homosexuality. In the name of personal revolution, the members of the Raspberry Reich have sex with each other and their captive to liberate themselves from “the shackles of heterosexual monogamy.” But they’re only doing it, of course, to prove their dedication to the cause.

While graphic sex is liberally spread throughout the film, dismissing Raspberry Reich as mere porn is an oversimplification. The pornographic images don’t linger long enough to be more than titillating. Instead, the sexual images are overlaid with revolutionary texts and catchphrases, selling them like a product in a beer commercial or music video. LaBruce isn’t marketing revolution so much as commenting on the capitalist assimilation of radicalism. (The modern left’s tendency to romanticize radicalism is one of LaBruce’s targets as well.) Reich is ultimately humorous and fun, more so if you have been keeping up on your radical leftist reading.

LaBruce’s writing was the inspiration for veteran Canadian director John Palmer’s Sugar, loosely based on short stories written by LaBruce back during his Super 8 days when he was the cocreator of the seminal queer punk zine JD’s. The stories have been taken out of their original punk-skinhead context and moved into the less innocent age of crack culture, based on coscreenwriter Todd Klinck’s own experiences as an escort.

Suburban kid Cliff (Andre Noble) heads downtown on his 18th birthday—at his little sister’s urging—in search of sex. He meets a beautiful street hustler named Butch, played by Brendan Fehr of TV’s Roswell. The toothache-sweet Cliff instantly develops an unrequited crush on the roguish Butch and through him is introduced to the world of drugs, prostitution, and after-hours clubs.

Both Fehr and Noble do excellent work. (Soon after the film’s release, the 25-year-old Noble died tragically of accidental poisoning on a camping trip.) The supporting cast, including indie darling Sarah Polley, provides plenty of humor with their eccentric performances. As tasty as Sugar is, it tortures us exquisitely with the pains of first love and of losing someone to addiction. Like Cliff, we are left with a sense of longing like the lingering of a first kiss.

Wilde has also written for Tablet and Q San Francisco.