That Man: Peter Berlin (2006)

Peter Berlin and I'll use the name that he invented for himself rather than the German name he was born with made only a very few films but has remained to this day a legend in the gay porn field. He is that to this day because he brought an artistic flair into a highly specialized field of leather fetishism. I well remember still being in the closet and looking at those ads in Greenwich Village for That Boy and thinking this was the ideal man for us all.As the film shows us even as a senior citizen Berlin lives in San Francisco a figure both of awe that even like Garbo (and the comparison is used in the film) people see him, acknowledge him, but give him a wide berth. He's no boy next door, at least not anyone like him ever lived next door to me.I'm not sure of how he would take the comparison, but a recent biography of John Wayne quotes the man as saying he was just a kid named Duke Morrison from Iowa who lucked out and got into the John Wayne business. So it was with this immigrant kid from Germany who got into the Peter Berlin business.Some gay community icons offer comment and perspective on Peter Berlin, none more than the man himself.

In his own words this icon, now in his 60s, admits to not having wanting to engage in sex with his admirers.In his salad days during the early '70s, he posed in doorways, in naves of tree trunks, and on the beach, hoping a pass would come his way. But he didn't want the encounter to be physically consummated. He didn't even want to kiss or hug, much less have intercourse.As soon as the potential catch got close, the icon would move elsewhere--a cat-and-mouse game that might last for hours.What's one to make of this? Could it be our icon was, in fact, asexual? He confesses all he ever craved was love-- fine, just express it from a distance.This 80 minute documentary pays homage to a striking (though some might feel stangely nonsexual) mini-star of the past. Ten minutes of viewing his stills, though, might seem long enough for some viewers (who might wish they'd have just skipped the other sixty). Still, there's no doubt that Berlin, with his pageboy bob and skintight jeans, does make a statement. Looking like a cross between a French hustler and German call boy, Berlin's now been duly chronicled for posterity by way of this doc.Maybe that's all he ever really wanted.

It doesn't matter if you are gay, straight, male, or female, or any combination of the above. You will find the images of the young Peter Berlin arresting, and the story of this in-your-face 70's sexual icon by turns funny, ironic, and mournful. We hear from John Waters, Armistead Maupin and others who knew of Peter in his prime, and from Peter Berlin himself, now in his 60's. What is it like to live your life as an object of desire? The answers are not always what we might expect. The film explores questions of voyeurism - why are we so entranced by the beautiful - narcissism, fame, and age. A visually compelling film that combines social history with personal story, and leaves you with much to think about. Top quality film-making.

Before seeing this movie, you may say to yourself, "Peter Berlin? What's the big deal?" But stay with it, as the story is rewarding. Director Jim Tushinski obviously saw a chance to put the urban gay-lib era of the seventies under a microscope by focusing on one man's story instead of a general documentary--and the man he focused on just happens to be "the" icon of gay sexual life at a certain crossroads. The film's imagery is evocative, the sexuality palpable, and the cameos from Armistead Maupin, Robert W. Richards, and others are witty. But the best moments of this film are during Mr. Berlin's touching recollections about his own life. As Berlin talks candidly about the losses he experienced as the seventies faded into the Reagan years, it's impossible to look away--partly because there are so many men whose experiences are reflected in his story. It's during these revelations that Tushinski knows to keep the camera trained closely on his subject, and these moments are what elevates this film from historical document to riveting cinema.