The second outing in the
Boys Life series collects another set of gay-themed shorts.
Must Be the Music follows a group of Los Angeles teens, three gay and one straight, through a night of romantic misadventures at a hip dance club. In
Nunzio's Second Cousin, police Sgt. Tony Randozzy (
Vincent D'Onofrio) turns the tables on a group of homophobes (one of them played by
Seth Green) and forces one of them, Jimmy (Miles Perlich), to have dinner with him and his mother (
Eileen Brennan). Alkali, Iowa uses the backdrop of a Midwestern agricultural community to tell the story of Jack (J.D. Cerna), a gay teen who discovers tantalizing glimpses of his dead father's life buried on the family farm;
Mary Beth Hurt plays the boy's distant, defeated mother. The Academy award-winning
Trevor relates the tale of a chunky, effete youngster (Brett Barsky) whose love of
Diana Ross is matched only by his obsession with Pinky (Jonah Rooney), a handsome classmate. For Boys Life 2's video and DVD release,
The DadShuttle replaced
Trevor, which had received a video release of its own. An almost plotless tale that takes place during a single car ride to the airport,
The DadShuttle focuses on the emotional distance and between a city-dwelling gay man and his suburban father. Alkali, Iowa director Mark Christopher would go on to direct the Hollywood feature
54, while Nickolas Perry, director of
Must Be the Music, would go on to helm the
Gus Van Sant-produced
Speedway Junky. Before directing
Trevor, Peggy Rajski was known primarily as a producer; her credits include the
Jodie Foster directorial efforts
Little Man Tate and
Home for the Holidays. ~ Brian J. Dillard, All Movie Guide