Greek Pete

Male escort Pete has landed in London and aims to earn enough riches to retire, but juggling work with his new boyfriend (fellow hustler Kai) is proving difficult. An improvised docu-drama tracing the real lives of the capital’s rent boys, debutante director Haigh never hides their problems (some have been assaulted, started too young, do drugs and have no contact with their families), but he also wants to highlight their camaraderie, likeability and professionalism. Pete works hard and alludes to Muhammad Ali’s "best dustman in the world" dictum when expressing his desire to be named International Escort of the Year. The vérité aesthetic is gritty and unglamorous, but also humane and occasionally transcendent (take the beautifully realised Christmas party sequence, or Pete’s intimate on-screen anecdotes). Forget judgmental finger-wagging or voyeuristic adulation: Haigh wants his audience to draw their own conclusions, but regardless of your opinions on the sex industry, you’d be a bastard not to cheer Pete on to victory.