The Toilers and the Wayfarers
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DVD Cover Information
Actor: Christine Ayers, Daniel Ayers, Douglas Blacks, Mischy Ayers, Scott BukowskiDVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Original Language); German (Original Language)
Format: Black & White, Color, DVD-Video, NTSC
Running Time: 76 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2002-01-08
Audience Rating: Unrated
Studio: Picture This
Movie Reviews of The Toilers and the Wayfarers
Movie Review: Coming of Age in Minnesota
Summary: 4 Stars
The Toilers and the Wayfarers"
Coming of Age in Minnesota
Amos Lassen
Last night I rewatched "The Toilers and the Wayfarers". It had been awhile since I watched it and I was in the mood for something that I had remembered enjoying. I thoroughly enjoyed it again. It is different and has qualities that newer films have not been able to capture.
We follow three young gay teenagers as they come of age in a small Minnesota town. Dieter, Phillip and Udo become friends in a very unusual way and the boys are all very different. One is a young alcoholic who is also a lay about serves as the catalyst for the self-realization that the other two are gay. Another guy moves to the city and becomes a hustler and the other follows, ending up selling his body as well. Having been rejected by their parents, the boys who are both young and without skills, have nothing and no one to turn to.
Keith Froelich, the director, manages to successfully captures growing up gay beautifully. Minneapolis represents to the boys a chance to be who they are and a haven. Filmed in black and white, the movie emits a feeling of loneliness and despair, the same feelings the boys were having when they realized that going to a large city was the only way they could deal with themselves. It is very difficult to be gay in a small town, especially since the boys were double minorities---gay and of German heritage. When they went to the city they had the change to really be who they felt they were. Dieter, who had been somewhat homophobia (denying his own sexuality to himself), turns out to be a hustler and finds peace. His spiraling downward morality induces us to think about his situation.
The movie is sincere and earnest even if it is a bit uneven. There are moments of comedy but by and large this is a depressing look at the way boys must deal with their sexuality. This movie is definitely worth a watch. However, it was made in 1995 at a time when gay cinema was beginning to come into its own. It is nowhere near a slick production but it is an interesting look at coming of age.
Summary of The Toilers and the Wayfarers
Coming-of-age drama about two teenage boys who run away from their small, conservative Midwestern town to become street hustlers in Minneapolis.A modest knockoff of My Own Private Idaho, The Toilers and the Wayfarers rests heavily on the well-sculpted shoulders (and more) of its young hero, Dieter (Matt Klemp). Dieter and his friend Phillip (Andrew Woodhouse) are outcasts in the German-American town of New Ulm, Minnesota. Phillip, who knows that he's gay, runs away to Minneapolis. Dieter starts to hang out more with Udo (Ralf Schirg), a recent immigrant from Germany who's a bit of a boozer and a loose cannon. The two of them also flee New Ulm for the big city, where Dieter discovers that Phillip has become a street hustler. But Dieter has also discovered his own sexuality, and the two friends become lovers. Grainy black-and-white cinematography gives The Toilers and the Wayfarers a striking look. The script meanders a bit but has a forthright charm, much like its star. --Bret Fetzer
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