ROCK BOTTOM: Gay Men and Meth

Directed by Jay Corcoran
Playing at Quad Cinema (34 West 13^th St.)
Showtimes: 1:00 2:40 4:20 6:00 7:40 9:50

The most striking thing about this doc on gay New Yorkers who’ve fallen victim to the mind-numbing forces of “crystal sex”, isn’t what it says about its subjects. But what it says about its audience. The film serves as stark reminder of the gap of consciousness between gays and straights. While tales of meth binges have become commonplace in gay circles (“Meth is the new weed”), they will sound as anything but banal to heterosexual eyes.

Which brings about the metaphysical question of whether or not real life never seems actually real unless it is witnessed by the heterosexual/hegemonic gaze. Gays may be doomed to self-flagellation as long as they cave in their own sexual eremite caves of self-sufficiency (high speed Internet connection, a room of one’s own and some party favors), away from heterosexual reality to serve as moral compass.

The problem is that adding drugs to an already confusing sense of self proves to be recipe for an existential bomb. A bit like allowing two different kinds of parasites into one’s body that get acquainted, fall in love, learn to co-exist and never let the other go.

While “Rock Bottom” is, structurally, pretty mediocre, the issues it sheds light to couldn’t be more urgent. A public service announcement of sorts to a generation of gays grown uncannily accustomed to emotional masochism and borderline bestial satisfaction.

It is also a more intimate experience for New Yorkers to watch the film, as we recognize local spots and familiar faces: such as the self-delusional Meth-addict-in-training J. – an ubiquitous New York nightlife gogo-dancing figure.

The film is preceded by the horridly campy short “Karen Black Like Me”, by David Briggs, about a sexually repressed geek who gets attacked by an oversized dildo and an overbearing mother from Long Island.