Feature Review | Circuit
Now playing at an Art House Theatre near you...
Written by: Kage Alan

Life in a small town just isn't what it could be, especially for John
(Jonathan Wade-Drahos), a gay police officer serving in the place where he
grew up.  The problem is that even though he's very good at his job, nobody
on the force wants to work with him because of his orientation.  His captain
won't fire him, mostly because he's a good cop and also because he knows the
department doesn't have any legal ground to stand on, so he suggests John
transfer or move to another area more accommodating and understanding of his kind.  Goodbye little city and hello LA!

John immediately catches up with his best friend Gill (Brian Lane Green, "All
My Children"), who helps him find a trailer to settle down in, and is taken
by a documentary his (Gill's) ex has been filming for the last two years. 
Tad (Daniel Kucan) has been working on a piece about the Circuit parties and
all the people who participate in the sex, drugs and music that tend to go
hand in hand.  Well, it isn't long before John is introduced into the LA gay
community where he meets Hector (Andre Khabbazi, "The Young and the
Restless"), a hustler with some serious issues about his age and looks. 
Despite their differences, the two strike up a friendship and begin to hit
the Circuit parties together.

The pressure to fit in finally begins to wear John down and he starts delving
into the drugs and easy sex that he sees constantly going on around him at
the parties.  Mild curiosity turns to dependency and even his ex-girlfriend
from college, Nina (Kiersten Warren, "Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya
Sisterhood") can't get him to see reason.  Somewhere in all of this mayhem,
we're also introduced to the man responsible for the Circuit parties, Gino
(William Katt, "House"), and his wife Louise (Nancy Allen, "Robocop").  It's
an odd thing that Gino donates money to the AIDS foundations and appears to
fully support them, yet supplies the drugs used at the parties that clouds
judgment and promotes unsafe sex.

Yet another character who turns out to be one of the focuses of Tad's
documentary is Bobby (Paul Lekakis, a singer/songwriter/model you should
remember from the 80's who scored big with the dance hit "Boom Boom (Let's Go Back To My Room)"), the king of the Circuit.  Bobby is a "performer" who is known mostly for his endowment, which is indeed made out to be extremely impressive.  He's HIV positive, but has recently been given a new lease on life, which doesn't go over very well with Gino.  All of the characters in "Circuit" end up interacting at some point during the film and go through life changing experiences that I can't begin to describe for you here. 
Suffice to say that when some of them sit down to view Tad's finished film
during the final minutes, we're looking at true survivors.

It's too easy to dismiss "Circuit" as just a piece of soft-core pornography. 
Each character has a strength and weakness that is taken to the maximum here
and while the dialogue isn't nearly as strong as it could be in key scenes,
the performances make up for it, especially by Kiersten Warren.  You almost
won't recognize William Katt and Nancy Allen either, but they really add a
unique dimension to the film with one of them not caring about anything but
money and the other not able to live with the duplicity of what they do. 
Paul Lekakis also gives an outstanding debut performance as the media star
who comes across as naturally shallow, but who we later realize really does
know his place in the world.  In a truly unusual moment, Hector's obsession
with his age and looks goes full circle when he basically makes love to
himself in a mirror.  It's imagery like that combined with the huge number of
buff bodies (many of them achieved through steroids) that represent the
inherent dangers of what path the parties and their temptations can lead one
down.

"Circuit" absolutely isn't for everybody and I won't fool you into thinking
that it is or that it's perfect.  It does have flaws, but it's those flaws
that actually make it richer and the story more engaging.  Director Dirk
Shafer managed to snag some fine actors here who obviously believed enough in his abilities as well as the material to take a chance.  We ought to give him
the benefit of the doubt too.

Grade: B