Bugcrush

Bugcrush was released in 2006 and was on the Official Selection of various film festivals (winning one prize) for obvious reasons. Although it is only roughly 40(ish) minutes long, director Carter Smith covers an array of social discourses in full force. Smith began his career in fashion photography and had his breakthrough with a series of gritty, documentary-style portraits of teen like in the Midwest. His artistic sense plays out within Bugcrush from the actors, to the scenery, to the lighting and so on. All in all it is very stylistically pleasing.

Basically, the film is based on "the story of Ben, a small-town loner, whose fascination with Grant, a dangerously seductive new kid, leads him into something much more sinister than he could ever have imagined." I do not want to give anything away, but Carter tackles the issues of homosexuality, drugs, rape, social pressures and hypermasculinity within the film to such an extent that you are left dumbfounded.