Boystown

2007
6.1| 1h41m| en
Details

Victor works in a real estate agency in the well-known Chueca neighborhood of Madrid. He hides a terrible secret: he makes apartments available for sale by murdering the old ladies owners that live in them. Then, refurbishes and decorates the apartments to sell them to gay couples with high purchasing power. His ultimate objective is to transform Chueca into a kind of London Soho area.

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Reviews

ChicDragon It's a mild crowd pleaser for people who are exhausted by blockbusters.
SeeQuant Blending excellent reporting and strong storytelling, this is a disturbing film truly stranger than fiction
Tyreece Hulme One of the best movies of the year! Incredible from the beginning to the end.
Zandra The movie turns out to be a little better than the average. Starting from a romantic formula often seen in the cinema, it ends in the most predictable (and somewhat bland) way.
StrontiumAE This is my first review, so be patient. What Boystown has in originality, it lacks in creativity. This light hearted black comedy about a psychotic real estate agent killing off the neighborhood's elderly ladies in order to sell their apartments to rich gay couples had a lot of potential, that was unfortunately lost. The movie presents itself as a light and cheerful comedy, when the subject matter is anything but. This ultimately works against it and makes the scenes which were meant to be unsettling or tense, just fall flat. A rewrite (or two) of the final draft and the hands of a more competent and creative director could have turned Boystown into a darker, horror tinged thriller, while still maintaining all of the comedy elements present in the story. Furthermore the third act was a complete mess,with a couple of small plot holes and one huge plot hole the size of a football stadium ruining any potential this film had left. However this movie still has its strengths, even though they are woefully out numbered by its weaknesses. The performances were excellent, especially by all of the leading ladies. The dialog was very sharp and witty and provided some laugh out loud moments, plus all of the main characters (bar the serial killer) actually had some development and depth...particularly the male lead and what could best be described as his 'mother in law' ;-). Also, the three different story strands did not clash with each other and gelled surprisingly well.Overall the film still only manages a 6 out of 10 from me. It could have been a lot better if its was darker and not so infantile.
Steven Capsuto When I first saw this promoted on Spanish television, I thought it looked too stupid to bother with. But then I saw that the cast included Rosa María Sardà, Concha Velasco, Joan Crosas and Edu Soto, all of whom are tremendously talented. So I decided to give it a shot.It's a broadly played comedy/suspense piece involving the hunt for a serial killer: a snobby gay real estate developer who's bumping off old ladies and working-class people so he can gentrify Chueca, Madrid's somewhat run-down gay neighborhood. The central characters are a young, working-class gay couple who don't fit his image of the new Chueca. The film is loosely adapted from a Spanish comic book of the same title.There's strong acting all around, including a charming performance by Carlos Fuentes, who had previously appeared in "Km0." Sardà and Velasco are their usual wonderful selves (the former playing a neurotic police inspector, and the latter playing the mother-in-law from hell).I was particularly curious to see Soto in a film role, since I mostly know him as his television alter-ego (the manic club kid known as "el Neng," whom he played for years on late-night television). Here he gives a wonderfully goofy performance as a police detective.Don't look for subtlety or profound meaning in this film, but it's a fun way to pass an hour or two.At the festival screening I saw in Philadelphia, the English subtitles were basically good but problematic at spots. The translator missed all the references to American pop culture, misunderstood one or two bits of the dialog, and there were typos and spelling errors. Hopefully this will be fixed before it's released on DVD here.
Garfy I must admit to wondering if one of the reviewers here watched the same film as I have just watched.Chuecatown is a light-hearted film about the relationship of two guys interrupted by an overzealous mother and a murdering Estate Agent.With touches of early Almodovar, the dialogue was colourful with clever references to the gay lifestyle.The film shows the love that can exist between two men and how that can be affected by third parties, especially those closest to one side of the relationship.A side plot shows the relationship between a mother (Police Inspector) who is a hypochondriac and her policeman son who gradually comes out through the storyline.Yes, lots of clichés are used through the film, but with great humour and fitting perfectly in place.I sense from one of the other reviews, that some political messages were contained in the film. While these might be a bit of a spoiler for the Madrid market, it is so subtle as to have no effect on other viewers. The irony that a homophobic counsellor was played by a drag queen was well placed.I would encourage people to see this film for themselves and don't let comments put you off. Be your own judge !
nitrox11 Just went to see this at the London lesbian & gay film festival with 6 friends. We went because the preview clip we had seen at a screening a few weeks ago made us laugh. We all enjoyed the movie and found it funny, as did the rest of the sell-out crowd in the cinema, with laugh out loud moments and applause from the audience at some of the scenes throughout the film.Yes, there are some so-easy-to-spot-they-might-as-well-carry-a-red-flag set ups and some tired old clichés, but it didn't seem to be a film trying to make too much of a statement. It's just a light hearted picture poking fun at some gay nonsense - or at least that's the way it played tonight with the crowd. The lead women are fantastic, if a bit OTT, but the whole movie is so OTT any other characters would seem stupid. For my money Carlos Fuentes as Rey, was worth the price of the admission alone! If you like a fast moving story that has a few twists, plenty of bearish camp nonsense and a lot of laughs then you'll probably enjoy it. If you are looking for a film with a deep message, then avoid it. Any movie that has a pensioner mother slagging off her son's boyfriend by saying he has an arse 'like a Japanese flag' is never going to deliver much in the way of earnest discussion of the themes afterwards....