Sissy-Boy Slap-Party

Pointless short about a bunch of half naked men slapping and punching each other. That's it. For about 5 minutes we see this. It's shot in black and white with tons of half-naked men running around slapping each other to the tune of dreadful music. It LOOKS interesting but there's no plot and really--the violence inherent in this got disturbing. Also the homo eroticism in this is played up but mixing it with violence was not a good idea. Some people who like avant garde material might like this but I found it incomprehensible, boring, stupid and (ocassionally) disturbing. Really--what is the point in all this? I saw it as part of a festival of gay shorts and the audience sat there in stunned silence. I really wish I could go lower than 1.

This is one funny little short directed by the contemporary Canadian auteur Guy Maddin. I found it on my copy of the DVD for "The Saddest Music in the World", along with a couple of other shorts, also both very funny. There is a joking homoerotic undercurrent in this vignette concerning a bizarre ritual between a group of super-hunky young men. There's not much more to tell, as this doesn't really tell a "story". It's just a sort of joke, meant partially as a promotion for "Saddest Music". If you get a chance to see this, I'd recommend it. Another bizarre in-joke for fans of early cinema, avant-garde films, and stupid humor from Maddin.

My experience was the opposite of the previous reviewer. I also saw Sissy Boy Slap Party as part of a festival of gay short films, and giggled and laughed through the whole thing at the giddy silliness of it. It was well received by the audience. You can't take it too seriously, obviously. But the combination of the music, the silent-film style, and the vision of a bunch of hunky guys naughtily having a slap party (nobody looks like they get hurt) when their mysterious overseer leaves them unsupervised with explicit "no slapping" instructions, is strangely irresistible. If you need something literal or "meaningful," this one's probably not for you. But if you're able to get into the spirit of something creative and goofy, this can be a great laugh tonic.

When the "daddy" goes out to the shop to buy condoms, he warns his gathered young men that he wants no slapping while he is away. Of course, this warning lasts fewer than 10 seconds after he has stepped out of the door and quickly the group are slapping each other all over and loving every minute of it.

Although this short film has no plot and no real meaning, it is worth seeing simply as another example of who Guy Maddin is and how his style can be used in various ways – in this film, acting out gay clichés while also sending up the homo-erotic cinema of past generations. Here we have four minutes of men (very camp men) slapping each other. While it may sound like a closet case's perfect film, it is actually a funny little piece that lampoons the clichés of cinema's presentation of homosexuals and the eroticism that it cannot help but produce at the same time. Many will see just men slapping each other and will wonder what the point was – hysterically one reviewer here has said this film was made as a promotion piece for The Saddest Music In The World, clearly not knowing that it was made about 7 years earlier! Not worth hunting down by itself, this short is still funny enough and interesting enough to se worth seeing if you get the chance, despite the basic "plot". Maddin fans will understand why he is always worth seeing and this short is no exception even if there is really very little to it.

"You all better go back to the gym, you look like you're gaining weight. I gotta go to the store and buy some condoms." A pause. "And remember, NO SLAPPING." says the old man to his dozen or so protégés, handsome and shirtless young sailors in some tropical surroundings, as a dreamy 30s sort of romantic melody plays. As soon as the old man and his bike are out of sight though, a homoerotic Three Stooges slap-party starts, with percussive steel-drum (played by more shirtless guys) and a droning deep string section (unseen). It's the Stooges meet Kenneth Anger on a Hope/Crosby "Road to..." set. For a second, one of the guys in close-up looks just like Curly! Manic, crazy, hilarious.