Being gay and black in Hollywood can’t have been easy for Lee Daniels. Still, he’s managed to overcome any prejudices he may have encountered to produce the Oscar-winning Monster’s Ball, starring Halle Berry in a mixed race relationship with Billy Bob Thornton. He also produced The Woodsman, a non-judgmental portrayal of a paedophile trying to reform himself, played by Kevin Bacon.

In fact, reformation may be Daniels favourite subject because in his directorial debut Shadowboxer Helen Mirren and Cuba Gooding Jr. play assassins who become trigger shy and make amends for their sins.

Trumping Brad and Angelina in Mr. & Mrs. Smith for creative licence, Rose (Mirren) and Mikey (Gooding Jr.) have a stronger bond than most because they’re lovers as well as stepmother and stepson. Oh yes, and Rose is dying of cancer.

Cartoon gangster Clayton (Stephen Dorff) buys zebras with his ill-gotten gains and is hell-bent on revenge for his wife’s infidelity. He’s already sodomised her lover to death with a snooker cue and now he wants his pregnant missus Vickie (Vanessa Ferlito) out of the picture.

Enter assassins Rose and Mickey. Sensitivity isn’t their strong point by definition, but Rose is overwhelmed with compassion when confronted with murdering a woman whose waters have just broken. After delivering the baby Rose has an eye on redemption before she meets with her maker and the couple abscond with their new family to set up home together.

Shadowboxer revels in its excessive content, bordering on the ludicrous on occasion, but never scrimping on style.

Daniels obviously likes to play with fire and Shadowboxer ticks just about every taboo box there is. The only taboo he doesn’t break is casting an openly gay character, which is nearly made up for by allowing Gooding to get dressed up as a transsexual prostitute during one of his hits.

However, Daniels does describe the film as ‘gay’.

"It has a black gay voice, which is much needed," he told Keith Boykin. When asked how it has a black gay voice Daniels said, "Because I'm a black gay director." When pushed further by the interviewer who said the film was not a story about a black gay man, Daniels replied, "But it has many elements that I think gay black men will completely understand and connect with."

There’s inter-racial sex, skinny man and fat woman sex, tricky age-gap sex, cunnilingus and anal sex. Dorff even gets to swing his well-endowed penis around when he’s interrupted during an anal sex session – with a girl.

Daniels’ eclectic choice of casting also includes Joseph Gordon-Levitt as a medical student who patches up injured mobsters and their mates; his girlfriend and assistant played by Mo’Nique and a doped up turn from Macy Gray.

The director describes this enjoyable nonsense as Valley of the Dolls meets Scarface. I’d say that’s about right.

Shadowboxer [2005]
Studio: Metrodome
Released: 7 May 2007
ASIN: B000OIOKGI

Buy the DVD of Shadowboxer online now! Get it online and save yourself some money to put other queer movies like Hard Pill, Garçon Stupide, Loggerheads, Parallel Sons, Hellbent, Slutty Summer, Happy Endings, A Year Without Love, Latter Days, Eating Out, Regular Guys and Cowboys & Angels.