A Gael Morel film whose theme will be familiar to viewers who have seen "Wild Reeds" or "Come Undone" : young, handsome, sexy, disturbed young Frenchies trapped in the limited prospects offered by the mediocre towns and cities far from Paris. Here we have the three sons of an indifferent French father and a Maghreb mother, recently deceased. Where they live horny young men lack even a town whore for relief and, resignedly, must rely on the local grouchy, bored transvestite. Morel favorite Stephane Rideau is a 20-something, "scared straight" ex con who will trade his youthful wildness for the dull comfort and security of middle class respectability while his two younger brothers grapple, respectively, with intolerable powerlessness and gay love.All the guys are eye candy and Morel and his actors have never suffered from fear of frontal. All of which would mean little were it not for the interesting characters and Morel's unique cinematic style. Rent it. You'll enjoy it. And if it turns out you disagree, hell, it's only 88 minutes including the credits crawl. Jim Smith

WARNING - SPOILERS!!Three Dancing Slaves tells the (incoherent) story of three brothers - one living on the border of crime, the second - an ex con trying to make good after a stint in jail, the third - a gay teenager in love with an Arab into Capoeira dancing.There are a lot of scenes in this that are reminiscent of those perv-y scenes from Baywatch - lots of buff, sexy men splashing around in water in slow-mo - total eye candy galore.Then there are a lot of scenes which are completely confronting and dumbfounding (eg: quasi-incest scene, dog in bath with naked man) - a la Ken Park.But I found that I just couldn't connect with any of these characters. The "plot" is way too strange for the viewer to have a grasp on what's going on (eg: quasi-incest scene, scene with a biker having sex with a transvestite, dog attack scene). The biker brother is just so strange and off-putting as a human being - you just don't have any sympathy for him at the end of the film. The gay couple is fairly underbaked and the viewer is left confused when the Arab boyfriend leaves the gay brother - unexpectedly and for no substantial reason.Also bewildering is the homoeroticism - the movie is made up of 99% male characters - all cavorting in homoerotic behaviour (eg: gym, splashing around, getting shaved) - yet most of them are supposed to be straight. It sort of felt like they were pandering for a high "gay eye candy". It felt like at times you were watching a David DeCoteau film.My verdict - don't bother with this eye-candy heavy film - you are probably better off watching pron or a David DeCoteau film instead (at least David DeCoteau films have better plots!)!

We tend to laud films like American Beauty because they peel away the veneer of idealized American domesticity to reveal lives of quiet desperation. We take comfort in that -- knowing that even seemingly perfect lives are, under the surface, as miserable as we might view our own to be. In Morel's Le Clan (Three Dancing Slaves was the title I saw it under here in the States), we get a truer, less sanitized view of real lives laid bare. The desperation isn't quiet. It's crazed and exposed and all too believable. It's a very masculine film showing how men just do what they do. No apologies and, all too often, no explanations. Yet, somehow, it's relatable and understandable. Yes, it's a slice of pain punctuated with too few moments of what we would call joy. But sprinkled throughout are small glimpses of a more beautiful world. It's not lost on these characters. And it's not lost on the viewer. I found it haunting and heart-wrenching.

Worst cruelty to a dog in cinema history.... One only hopes it was staged. The overall depressing movie not worth the few scenes of male nudity. No women to be found in this french coming of age for 3 very disturbed brothers. If this is the way it is for french youth no wonder they are rioting. The plot is so hidden I couldn't give you a spoiler if I tried to. It is the worst french movie I have ever watched. I saw the advocate say this movie was "sexy", but I saw it as very depressing and I didn't relate or have sympathy for any of the characters except the dog. Gael Morel purposely features the puppy in various playful scenes early in the movie so he can heighten the shock for the movie viewer.... there never is any understanding of why this needed to be in the movie.