STRUGGLE

Canada, 2010, 94 minutes, Colour.
Jamie Potts, Arthur Vilner, Matt Sims, Peter Buzny, Jason Farro.
Directed by Bruce Locke.

Struggle is an independent Canadian film. It was written, produced, directed and edited by Bruce Stephen Locke. It is the story of young hustlers in Toronto. It is small-budget, sometimes using a hand-held camera, which sometimes gives it a realistic look, but often is just simply a blurred look. The acting is not particularly good, the actors directed in particular scenes and giving some intensity, but the consistency of performance and interpretation is lacking.
The focus of the story is the young man from Hamilton, Darren, alienated from his family, taking drugs from his mid-teens, getting more and more personally involved in drugs, with the consequences for his physical and psychological health. He is gay. Bullied at school, he has one friend, a young woman who shares the drug experience but who, eventually, gets married to a man who is not gay-friendly. With no money, he decides to travel to Toronto.
Go correct to run turn the film has a voiceover from Darren, giving as his story, his experience of drugs, of sex, of loving and of disappointment and betrayal.
In the meantime, the film introduces us to some young hustlers, who happen to see Darren, the centre of the film, in the train. The several of the young men lived together and two of them are in a relationship, Stephen being a loving young man who supports Alex, especially in his traumatic nightmares, which the others tend to mock.
After a few days, Darren is virtually stranded in Toronto, no money, but encountering none of the men who organizes, Pip’s the others. Darren is invited to stay with them.
The sub-plot of Steven and Alex is woven throughout the film. Alex has to hustle his body in order to get drugs and is unable to save money. He is devoted to Stephen, loving him, relying on him. Stephen is much more levelheaded, and might have moved out of this world had he not been involved with Alex and then with Darren. Darren becomes attached to Stephen, falling in love with him, which puts pressure on each of the three and the triangle.
Mark is the pink who makes his money out of the others and is on the lookout for contacts for them. Another character is Jesse, a dealer who exploits the hustlers. Darren finds himself indebted financially to Jesse and has to make a decision about how he will repay his debt. He does so sexually but react violently against Jesse.
The latter part of the film is about the woes of the three young men, their emotional into dependence, their experience of love, the experience of betrayal. Eventually, put-upon Alex dies. This meant a new period for Steven and his choices, for Darren and his future, which, at the very end, he declines to communicate to the audience.
The film is not particularly explicit in sexual scenes or, even, in language. In its semi-documentary style, it serves as a story of young adult men, on the street, the drug-experience, sexual exploitation, as well as their dealing with their own personal lives.