FOR MEN ONLY

[CRITIC'S PICK]

Sunday, Oct. 27, 2 p.m.
Lincoln Theatre, $9

At last, a collection of shorts worth almost every moment of your time. In Ian Iqbal Rashid's Stag (), a groom-to-be awakens to find that, on the night before his wedding, he's slept with his hunky best man. The interchange between the two is swift and peppy, and the movie takes a realistic road rather than a gay-idealized one. Target Audience () is an absolute delight about a stoned kid (whose passed-out pal lies at his feet) engrossed by a late-night infomercial aimed at recruiting people into the gay lifestyle (“Gays have more friends, more money, better jobs!” the announcer trumpets. “They're a core group of elite people!”). The film, expertly directed by David Kettredge, concludes with just the right spark.

Target Audience

The Moment After () impresses with its deft shifts of place, time and circumstance, as a birthday boy on a celebratory binge relives the darker instances of his life. And Breakfast () finds the geeky Boris, in it for love, infatuated with his frisky pal Till, in it for a quick sexual fix. It's solidly acted and beautifully filmed, but resolves itself in a rather lackluster way.

The series deteriorates slightly with Space 2 (), a tedious, near-pornographic entry from Spain that is not merely satisfied with being dull, but strives for being the most monstrously dull film of all time, and The Last Blow Job (), an odd quirk of filmmaking that is every bit as moronic as its title suggests.

Redemption arrives at the hands of Into the Night (), an Australian film about a street hustler whose encounter with an older gentleman is compelling, mournful, and subtle. It's as close to perfection as a short film can get.