Sugar rush

Beware the crash

There is brilliance and danger in the local feature Sugar, based on stories by Bruce LaBruce from the 1980s punk zine JD’s.

On his 18th birthday, a boyish young man heads downtown and hooks up with a gang of heavy substance-using hustlers and falls in love.

The less you know about the ensuing events the better because worrying about where danger might erupt is key to the film’s palpable evocation of adolescent anxiety and insistent curiosity.

The film has some bad missteps – and audiences will argue about what those are. But wondering where the film may careen off the tracks adds to the excitement. The LaBruce connection may hold marketing potential because of his reputed fascination with hidden worlds and challenging sex, but what director John Palmer and cowriters Jai Laplante and Todd Klinck have done is to tease out something very shocking in LaBruce’s stories – sweetness. There’s real heart here.

And much of that sweetness stems from Andre Noble’s break-out performance as the irrepressible Cliff. A film that can open with a painfully tender moment between a mother and son and, three scenes later, believably propel that boy into a hot back-alley sex scene, is worth seeing.

Brendan Fehr (of Roswell fame) gives a smouldering performance as the troubled hustler-boyfriend – all the acting is wonderful. Watch Nina Arsenault duke it out with Sarah Polley for best supporting performance, or Maury Chaykin throwing himself into a particular kink or Haylee Wanstall as the hyperactive 12-year-old oracle or Marnie McPhail as the world-wise-weary mother.

Scene after scene gets you hooked on Sugar.

* Sugar plays at Inside Out at 9:30pm on Sat, May 22 and opens theatrically late June.

The contributor photo for Gordon Bowness

Gordon Bowness (he/him) is the former executive editor of Xtra. With a 30-year career covering the LGBTQ2S+ community, Gordon is also the founding editor of Go Big magazine and In Toronto (now In Magazine). He is an English speaker and lives in Toronto.

Read More About:
Culture, Music, TV & Film, Arts, Toronto

Keep Reading

Google marching in the Toronto Pride parade in 2024. A crowd holds rainbow umbrellas and fans, a Google banner and a placard with a Google logo

Trump’s attack on DEI isn’t Pride Toronto’s only major problem

ANALYSIS: One of Canada’s largest Prides has scrambled to cover sponsor losses, and some wonder if that was inevitable
Black & white photos of JoJo Siwa and Fletcher on a two-toned pink background

Where did Fletcher and JoJo Siwa go wrong?

The Sapphic stars “came out” as dating men—and rebranded accordingly
Shea Coulee

Shea Couleé’s superhero moment

Since winning “Drag Race,” Chicago’s brightest export has been on an historic run. With her starring role on Marvel’s  “Ironheart,” she’s going home—and bringing the world with her

Is Labubu a gay icon?

The Pop Mart blind box doll fits into a long history of the gay obsession