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This fascinating study of an unabashedly bisexual Irishman stars director Smallhorne as Johnny Maher, Dubliner-cum-New Yorker who labors by day as foreman for his Uncle Trump's (the late Chris O'Neill) all-Irish immigrant construction company. By day, the wiry and chiseled Johnny looks every bit the tough non-union New York laborer, but by night he is seen hitting first the macho Irish bars and latter, the gay clubs, over indulging in drugs, alcohol and anonymous sex. While attached to his loving American girlfriend, Johnny’s attraction to men leads him on nocturnal sexual trysts including one with Christian, a sweet but needy junkie hustler (Bradley Fitts). Meanwhile, something's definitely wrong. Plagued by uneasy dreams and bearing scars on his back, something from Johnny's past is causing a slow but certain erosion, and only his also-troubled Uncle Trump seems to know the root of his problems.

Gorgeously shot by Leaving Las Vegas's Declan Quinn, this involving film is rich with complexity and dramatic tension. The scads of Irish construction workers often make you forget the setting is Manhattan, which is a perfect metaphor for Johnny's complete disorientation and ambiguity. An original, penetrating look at a troubled, far from stereotypical man haunted by sexual secrets.

Raymond Murray