Sugar (2004)

Sugar: Directed by John Palmer. With Andre Noble, Marnie McPhail, Haylee Wanstall, Dorothy Gordon. Troubled suburban teen Cliff hooks up with a hustler from the streets of Toronto’s gay ghetto.

“Based on short stories by Bruce La Bruce, this is NOT your typical teen romance. u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eCliff is just turned 18 and is aching to spread his gay wings a bit. Heu0026#39;s never been with another boy but he knows he wants to. His single mom is cool and accepting and though she tries to shelter both of her children sheu0026#39;s got her hands full with Cookie, Cliffu0026#39;s precocious u0026quot;hyper-even-on-Ritalinu0026quot; sister. Just one example of the kid sisu0026#39;s pluck… for Cliffu0026#39;s birthday she gives big brother Cliff a mini bottle of Vodka, a joint and instructions to go get laid. u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eCliff follows his little sisteru0026#39;s instructions and heads downtown where he meets Butch, a crack addicted street hustler with heart of gold and sexy eyes. u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eCliff thinks that heu0026#39;s game for anything and disregards Butchu0026#39;s protestations that heu0026#39;s trouble. Cliff and Butch quickly become an item and Cliff tries a smörgåsbord of drugs, gets a tattoo that matches Butchu0026#39;s and even accompanies Butch on a trick. u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eObviously this isnu0026#39;t gonna turn out well, but unlike many other movies of this ilk, Cliff realizes it and pulls back. Heu0026#39;s been changed forever by his experiences and while heu0026#39;s better for what heu0026#39;s lived through, heu0026#39;s unable to help Butch and he sees him drifting away knowing heu0026#39;s powerless to change someone else.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eWhat makes this different from other films of this type are the realizations that are presented to us. For example, just how much Cliff has changed is really brought home in one scene where another kid from his high school tries to ask Cliff to the prom. Cliff realizes that heu0026#39;s got almost nothing in common with this young man that could have easily been him had he NOT met Butch. u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eAnother example is a trick that Butch has with an extremely obese woman. While Butch protests that he did it for the money, Cliff and the audience know that Butch did it as an act of compassion. u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eCliff is played by Andre Noble an adorable young man with great puppy-dog eyes. Butch is played by Brendan Fehr who played Michael in the WB series Roswell.”