Dynamixor The performances transcend the film's tropes, grounding it in characters that feel more complete than this subgenre often produces.

Leoni Haney Yes, absolutely, there is fun to be had, as well as many, many things to go boom, all amid an atmospheric urban jungle.

Edwin The storyline feels a little thin and moth-eaten in parts but this sequel is plenty of fun.

Phillipa Strong acting helps the film overcome an uncertain premise and create characters that hold our attention absolutely.

Michael_Elliott That Man: Peter Berlin (2005)*** (out of 4)If you're a fan of model and actor Peter Berlin then you should get a kick out of this documentary, which covers his entire career and features interviews with the man himself as well as some of his closest friends and fans like John Waters.Director Jim Tushinski once again does a very good job at taking a subject that might not appeal to everyone and showing it in a way that is not only educational but a lot of fun. I say educational because I'm sure there are many people that would be put off by the type of films Berlin made but you could make a great argument that he should be much better known than he is.Like the documentary the same director would later do on Wakefield Poole, this here works perfectly well at introducing you to the subject as well as letting you know what type of impact they had on their professional and why calling Berlin (and Poole) ground-breaking is worthy of what they did. This documentary certainly does a very good job at taking a look at various aspects of Berlin's life and best of all is we get his thoughts on all of it.

bkoganbing Peter Berlin and I'll use the name that he invented for himself rather than the German name he was born with made only a very few films but has remained to this day a legend in the gay porn field. He is that to this day because he brought an artistic flair into a highly specialized field of leather fetishism. I well remember still being in the closet and looking at those ads in Greenwich Village for That Boy and thinking this was the ideal man for us all.As the film shows us even as a senior citizen Berlin lives in San Francisco a figure both of awe that even like Garbo (and the comparison is used in the film) people see him, acknowledge him, but give him a wide berth. He's no boy next door, at least not anyone like him ever lived next door to me.I'm not sure of how he would take the comparison, but a recent biography of John Wayne quotes the man as saying he was just a kid named Duke Morrison from Iowa who lucked out and got into the John Wayne business. So it was with this immigrant kid from Germany who got into the Peter Berlin business.Some gay community icons offer comment and perspective on Peter Berlin, none more than the man himself.

Edgar Soberon Torchia Homophobia has always been the first obstacle for many persons to enter the world of "gay icon" Peter Berlin, and now it has the same effect on common viewers to watch -not to mention appreciate- the documentary "That Man: Peter Berlin". Second, the perception of what Polish-born baron Armin von Hoyningen-Huene did to himself in the 1970s (that is, creating a character called Peter Berlin, becoming a fixed figure in the streets of San Francisco and taking himself many erotic photographs, among other things) as the sole effect of narcissism or exhibitionism, can also dissuade many to watch this motion picture. Surprisingly, Berlin emerges as all that and as someone more interesting, a richer personality and a complex character. I belong to a generation after his, but I had the opportunity to live the moment when Peter Berlin became a sensation among homosexuals (mostly in the Occident and in the North hemisphere), a historic moment when the fight for the civil rights of all of us who had sexual orientations different from the "official behavior" became more radical, and helped us to define what fronts of our existences needed strategies of defense. In that context Berlin made himself an object of conceptual art, if you will, a performing artist of the notion of sexual desire as an act of observation rather than interaction in "events" (although he had his share of those activities through his pornographic films, and his encounters through his intense social life). Today he declares that he became a sort of abstemious sensual machine that rarely had sex with anyone, and preferred to have permanent relationships. For someone who was not only extremely handsome when free from the demands of his Berlin character, but also successful, travelled and sought after by Richards, Warhol, Mapplethorpe and other avant-garde artists, it is quite moving to hear him talk about the painful aspects of his life, about his difficult journey, from the loss of his father in II World War to the struggles in post-war Europe, the abuse of substances of all kinds, and the disappearance of many friends, including two partners. Although this may seem a bit frivolous on my part, I need to comment that I found strange and rare that most of the times director Jim Tushinski deliberately abstained from exposing Peter Berlin's bare penis, which was copiously displayed in his photographs and --apart from his brain—was the actor's most prominent "source of inspiration" in his work. Otherwise, "That Man: Peter Berlin" is a fine work, a testament of one exhilarating time in the evolution of sexual mores and of one of its more prominent figures.

haridam0 In his own words this icon, now in his 60s, admits to not having wanting to engage in sex with his admirers.In his salad days during the early '70s, he posed in doorways, in naves of tree trunks, and on the beach, hoping a pass would come his way. But he didn't want the encounter to be physically consummated. He didn't even want to kiss or hug, much less have intercourse.As soon as the potential catch got close, the icon would move elsewhere--a cat-and-mouse game that might last for hours.What's one to make of this? Could it be our icon was, in fact, asexual? He confesses all he ever craved was love-- fine, just express it from a distance.This 80 minute documentary pays homage to a striking (though some might feel stangely nonsexual) mini-star of the past. Ten minutes of viewing his stills, though, might seem long enough for some viewers (who might wish they'd have just skipped the other sixty). Still, there's no doubt that Berlin, with his pageboy bob and skintight jeans, does make a statement. Looking like a cross between a French hustler and German call boy, Berlin's now been duly chronicled for posterity by way of this doc.Maybe that's all he ever really wanted.