August, 1997
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'Trevor' Among Boys Life 2 Films in Chicago

by Tim Nasson

Peggy Rajski may be the last person you would expect to have directed the Academy Award-winning live-action-short-film Trevor. Rajski says she is "not gay, at least not yet" and this film is about a 13-year-old boy who is having trouble dealing with the fact that he is gay.

Trevor is featured as one of four short-films in the popular Boy's Life series released by Strand. Since Boy's Life 2 has been making its way slowly around the country since March, Trevor, the last of four segments, has been receiving the most praise and applause.

What else would one expect from a film that deals with the "gay" issue in both such a touching and comedic way? The title character Trevor is seen first dancing to the tunes of Diana Ross and, it seems, goes through all of her albums in less than 20 minutes.

"The emotion of the story in Trevor touched on a lot of things in me. The time of my life when I was young and felt alone and like nobody understood things that were going on in my head," says Rajski.

The film was not written by Rajski, rather was found by her. "Trevor was part of a one-man show that James Lecesne had written. It was entitled Dear Diary. It had me laughing and crying equally as hard. I came out of it feeling as if it was one of the best pieces I had ever seen. My business partner Randy Stone was with me and we decided that we needed to make a movie based on that ten-minute segment."

Rajski did not plan on directing the film - her forte is producing. Having produced many mainstream Hollywood films, including a number with Jodie Foster (Little Man Tate, Home For the Holidays among them), this seemed to be a stretch for her.

"We expanded the story for the screen. It obviously was going to be a little different with a real 13-year-old boy playing the lead role instead of a 33-year-old."

The film, however entertaining it is, also, ironically, should be a film that is used in junior high and high schools throughout the country.

Unfortunately, the educational climate of this country has not yet risen high enough to allow such films as Trevor in schools throughout the land.

"I got a letter from a man in L.A. whose 16-year-old cousin killed himself playing an endless loop of his favorite songs [as Trevor tries to do in the film]. He wrote that he thought if his cousin had seen Trevor he may have changed his mind and realized that he was not alone. That letter broke my heart but at the same time was one of the highest compliments. Now if we could just get the film into every school."

Next up for Rajski is another producing and directing again. An independent film, Carole and Nora Grace about two women who meet in a mental institution.

Rajski has come a long way, from when she was working on after-school specials. If only she could now get her latest and best film a slot secured after school even on PBS.

Boys Life 2 in Chicago
There is both "more" and "less" to the second installment of the successful Boy's Life series produced and released by Strand, a film company that delivers mainly gay-oriented movies on a regular basis, including such recent titles as Hustler White and Wild Reeds.
The "more" is an extra segment. The first Boy's Life told three coming-out and of-age stories, each a half hour in length. The new one has four tales, yet they are each less than 20 minutes long.

First is Must be the Music, directed by Nikolas Perry. It tells the story of the desires of one gay boy who has a crush on another, yet is in competition with yet another. It is set in a Hollywood night club and succeeds with a pulsating climax as the three boys are driving home.

Next up is Nunzio's Second Cousin, directed by Tom DeCerchio (of the ill-fated Celtic Pride fame). Here, butch, Vincent D'Onofrio, and his Black, queeny boyfriend are accosted by a gang of fag-bashing teens. The surprise here is that the tables get turned. Instead of becoming humiliated and tortured by the misfits, D'Onofrio (an off-duty police detective) pulls a gun and teaches the homophobes a lesson in good manners. Eileen Brennan makes a welcomed cameo as D'Onofrio's doting mother.

Akali, Iowa may be the weakest of the four, and is directed by Mark Christopher. In it, a closeted young farmer, living with his mother and grandparents, unearths an artifact buried deep in the soil of his family's farmland to discover a deep dark secret about his missing father. Puts a lot of credence into the "homosexuality is genetic" theory. It also reveals to the rest of the country what it is like to be gay in the heartland of America.

Whether or not one believes that the best is saved for last, it is certainly evident here. In Trevor, "best-friend" of Jodie Foster, Peggy Rajski, makes her directorial debut with a truly spectacular coming-out story. It won the 1994 Academy Award for Best Short Film and deservedly so. Trevor's (Brett Barsky) world comes crashing down on him when his true feelings for his new best friend are discovered. It is a tale that all gay men will appreciate and quite possibly relate to in one way or another.

All in all, Boy's Life 2 is a film that will entertain and captivate any who are seeking a truly uplifting and at the same time hilarious collection of shorts geared toward coming out.

Boys Life 2 opens Friday, Aug. 15 at the Music Box Theatre. Call (773) 871-6604.

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