College boys live

College Boys Live, known as CBL to its voyeuristic members, was and probably still is a gay webcam site set up in Orlando, Florida by Zac Adams, a computer geek with an English-accented voice. In 2003, he either commissioned or approved the embedding of a film crew in his many-bedroomed suburban property with a pool and master computer ("CLAIR").

Six years later, a crew re-visited CBL in order to update its history, the previous material having been edited into a surprisingly engaging "reality" documentary-drama. As on real websites of that ilk, the nudity is minimal (with carefully framed non-genital exposure for the documentary's US movie audiences). The rare moments of sexual "action" are self-conscious pretence; the supposedly true shocks arise from the inhabitants' interactions and memoirs, as in mainstream reality TV shows.

Credit goes mainly to George O'Donnell, a documentary film editor since 1998: CBL was his debut as a producer and director. For the first half-hour, his movie lets the site's inhabitants speak for themselves: Adams and his live-in partner since 1901, Jonathan Greer, and the three young men (between 18 and 21) who have begun their six-month residence in the house as the new guests whom CBL members can watch, chat to and request specific actions from, 24-7.

There are 500 active viewers, affable Adams says, among the 2,000 members. They produce a monthly income for CBL of around US$20,000, enough to pay the mortgage and running expenses of the house and site. The resident "boys" don't get wages, just free bed and board in return for a few hours' chat-time a week and an almost constant lack of privacy from the house's 32 CCTV cameras. Adams also claims that he's enabling drop-out kids to find themselves, learning to live with their gayness while they establish regular lives as workers or students.

After six months, they're supposedly better equipped to fend for themselves in the real world, and the documentary notes in 2009 that 94 of them had stayed in the site since its launch. We are told, very briefly, what happened to the three residents filmed in 2003, but no attempt is made to research the post-CBL experiences of all the 94 young men. How many adjusted to reality? How many merely moved onto porn films or websites? How many found normal jobs or attended a "college"? (None of the showcased three did either while the documentary was being made, indicating why they were observed illicitly seeking funds from members and friends.)

Such idle curiosity is provoked by the movie's overview of what was/is apparently a "good" site in terms of exploitation of needy young gays. Judging by the three chosen in 2003, Adams and Greer (and their site's members) preferred feminine types. "JC" is a hyper, acned young man with mischievous and mean looks; "Chuck", large-toothed and camp; "Tim", possibly the best-looking and also the shyest. Their house-parents are gently avuncular (Adams) and handsomely fraternal (Greer).

Then drama starts, and never ends. The neighbours' owners association decides to force them out (using the nimby no-no of running a business in the residential area, and stirring the plot on local TV news). A new house is found and redecorated, and then proves not to belong to the cooperative woman who rents it to them. Meanwhile, Tim is short-changing a loving member emotionally, Chuck visits his loving sisters to reminisce about their drug-addicted dead mother, and JC reverts to lying, drinking and manic behaviour, visits his family vainly, and assaults his live-in lover (who accepts the site's offer to take JC's place and bedroom).

Inevitably, there are points when a viewer wonders how much is "real", re-enacted, scripted or fictional. The dramatic ironies and melodramatic moments pile up with increasing intensity, and the viewer can only accept the story as one that rings very true, and sad, providing unusual entertainment that's eye-openingly informative. Real or fake, the performers are fascinating.