Boystown

For most, Spanish cinema is Pedro Almodóvar, and while this sprightly comedy has clearly been drinking his gazpacho, it’s thankfully unspiked. The brilliantly monikered Juan Flahn has crafted a racy, raucous farce all his own, despite wearing his influences (Ealing and Alex de la Iglesia spring to mind) like the kind of good suit so beloved of its villain. That villain is Victor (Pablo Puyol), a suave estate agent who murders anyone not in keeping with his vision of an exclusively gay paradise. Not up to his Tom of Finland standards are Leo (Pepón Nieto) and Rey (Carlos Fuentes), an X-Men obsessed couple, and the latter’s overbearing mother. What follows is contrived but endearingly silly fun, which loses much in the translation (references to Spanish pop culture are plentiful) but never loses sight of its plot (something John Waters has a habit of). A mainstream gay comedy with a bath-house stalker finale: of all those films, it’s definitely in the top five. [Michael Gillespie]