Written by: Michael Den Boer on November 12th, 2007
Theatrical Release Date: USA, 2004
Director: Bryan Poyser
Writer: Bryan Poyser
Cast: Cory Criswell, Viviane Vives, Gary Chason, John Erler, Rusty Kelley
DVD released: November 13th, 2007
Approximate running time: 85 minutes
Aspect Ratio: 1.78:1 Anamorphic Widescreen
Rating: NR
Sound: Dolby Digital Stereo English
Subtitles: N/A
DVD Release: Heretic Films
Region Coding: Region 0 NTSC
Retail Price: $19.95
Synopsis: Wes is a seventeen year old virgin who forms a relationship with an older homosexual man named Rusty who writes pornographic stories for the magazine Dear Pillow. Wes has his own aspirations as a writer and he looks to Rusty as a mentor. After many failed attempts at writing a story good enough to publish in Dear Pillow Rusty finally convinces Wes that the only way he will ever be able to finally write a good sex story is for Wes to finally have sex.Lately Hollywood seems content recycling the same cliché bogged down tripe as long as the plot has a lot thing’s to blow up and of course there must be plenty of opportunities to use CGI unnecessarily. Films about sexuality especially anything that borders on pornographic or directly acknowledges pornography as normal and not taboo are unheard of outside of the world of independent cinema.
Dear Pillow on the surface may use pornography as its main plot device which links the films three leads together. Those who dig deeper while viewing this truly unique film are in store for one of the best films in years to explore human sexuality and how it plays an important part in who we are and are our every day lives.
The pairing up of a seventeen year old boy with an older homosexual male who serves as his mentor in sexual discovery is really daring subject matter. I was thoroughly impressed with the way in which director Bryan Poyser handles this relationship which at times appears to be on shaky ground when in the end all characters motives are laid out for all to see. Director Bryan Poyser also does a solid job injecting just enough back-story for all the main characters which helps round them out and makes them multidimensional.
Performance wise everyone does an admirable job with the most interesting character in the film being Dusty the homosexual writer. Dusty spend the whole film trying to get everyone else to open up sexually when it appears that he has his own skeletons in his closet which prevent him moving forward emotionally. Ultimately Dear Pillow is a fascinating film about sexuality.
The DVD:
The audio/video presentation for Dear Pillow is very good as there are no audio defects or print damage to speak of. The transfer looks detailed and the sounds clear and evenly balanced throughout.
For this release Heretic has assemble a wide array of extras with the two audio commentaries and the short film titled “Pleasureland” being the most entertaining and informative of the extras. Other extras include 2 theatrical trailers, audition tapes (Cory Criswell & Viviane Vives), 4 deleted/extended Scenes and the short film “Grammy’s”.
Overall Dear Pillow gets an exceptional DVD release from Heretic films, recommended.