Review of Arthur J. Bressan Jr.’s film Juice, which follows a gay photographer who must find new models for a magazine. Light and sexy.

With this feature film, Arthur J. Bressan Jr. delivers a lighter, more modest work, immersing us in the daily life of Jim, an adult gay magazine photographer (Michael Christopher, very well endowed by nature). Jim is challenged by the editor of Juice magazine (Eric Ryan), who expects photos that push him out of his comfort zone, featuring new, never-before-seen models. Accustomed to working with the same models he knows well, Jim must go looking for boys in the street, in gay venues, or through his personal address book of hookups. And he has only one weekend to do it.

A Hunt for Models Between Desire and Private Life

This mission allows the photographer to broaden his horizons and enliven his private life more than ever. He casts his net over a charming gamer (Robert Vega), a mischievous young deliveryman (Emilio Leone), and a sexy open couple (the handsome moustachioed Jeff Stone and Butch La Cross)… But beyond these interludes of pleasure, a jogger he encounters in a park (Vincent Thomas) seems to obsess Jim, who fantasizes about him non-stop.

Vintage, Pop New York in Bressan’s Gay Cinema

The plot is simple, taking us along with its cool main character on a hunt for handsome boys in vintage New York. It may be one of Bressan’s most pop films, if only for its highly offbeat opening credits, which cheerfully promote Juice magazine. By day and by night, Jim wanders in search of models and thrills, through parks, adult cinemas, and apartments. Although it does not seek to provoke emotion, unlike other films by its director, this more modest feature has great charm and captures something of its era, with consistently careful direction, beautiful cinematography, and lovely music.

A Gay Bachelor in 1980s New York

The charm lies in the details, such as the couple who refuse a photo shoot so they can have fun at home to opera music, the nighttime atmosphere of a bar where a handsome moustachioed man plays Pac-Man, or a memorable sequence in which Bressan does justice to the title of his film by superimposing all the characters on their way to the climax.

We gladly follow Jim’s sensual wanderings, perhaps, who knows, to the beginning of a lovely little story. A fine snapshot of a gay bachelor in early-1980s New York.

Film produced in 1984 and available on the Pinklabel platform

Other Light Pink Films

• 501
• A night at the adonis
• Adam & Yves