Stories of Our Lives is an anthology of five short films with LGBT themes from the East African republic of Kenya. It was made by the Nairobi-based art and activist group The Nest Collective, many of whose members prefer to conceal their identities to avoid possible persecution under Kenya’s notoriously draconian anti-gay laws. The film is still banned in it some country. The five dramas are mostly personal and domestic inspired by true incidents. ASK ME NICELY Kate, a rebellious young high school girl, meets first-love Faith, a fellow student. They begin a secret relationship, until the school principal takes action to separate the two by suspending Kate from the school. Back at home, Kate impulsively has a sexual encounter with a boy in her neighborhood. Two weeks later, Kate and Faith have an awkward reunion leading to their separation. RUN After negotiating a business deal, Patrick stumbles upon a local gay bar with his homophobic best friend, Kama. Patrick later returns to the clu...
The series introduces us to their online platform models, in particular Kaden, Paul, Jimmy, Sergio, its CEO Mark Erickson, house mom Sabrina and COO Shannon. These models comes for an extended weekend to live together run a mansion where relationships, work ethics, house rules and what's expected of their jobs is gonna be scrutinized. The eight-part show dissects the logic behind why these young male models have chosen a profession they wouldn’t actively seek, sexually, in the outside world, from their point of arrival to hanging out and getting wasted, to leaving after their two-week stay is up. The adult performers, aged between 18 and 25, are a likeable bunch that seem to, for the most part, all get along. They each share with the viewer their most personal and intimate workings and detail their troubled beginnings, their volatile relationships and a few of the models even introduce their families into the mix. There are episodes, of a boy fighting with his girlfriend, or another one trying to get a girlfriend who is almost scandalized to hear the truth about his work, some of the boys have broken house rules several times and eventually two supposedly straight boys falling for each other.
As much as this was interestingly informative, I also found myself bored after sometime. The director and COO tell us that porn films are lot more choreographed than you think they are; and that made me wonder how much choreographed and planned was this whole series, because some of the conversations and anger and drama didn't look real. But I guess we all are aware that no reality show is really show. While the show continuously warns the viewer that the up-and-coming footage will feature content of a graphic nature, the show is considerably tame and only provides minimal gratuitous nudity. You think you will get to see something sexy, naughty but what you are given is guys hanging out, getting tested and sharing memories of their beginnings, struggles of the trade and how quickly you can turn a buck if you’re willing to leave your soul at the door. (4/10)
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