A Boy Needs A Friend

"The title, A Boy Needs A Friend, is both a pathetic plea and just a fact."

 – Steve Reinke

Steve Reinke ostensibly turns to the subjects of friendship and intimacy in A Boy Needs A Friend, in particular investigating the notion of queer Nietzschean friendship. Using his signature dry voice-over monologue to tie together an eclectic array of disparate images, ranging from found footage collages to digital animation and cell phone video, Reinke sets forth theories about the identity of Stephen King and Joyce Carol Oates, needlepoint doodles, the upsides of owning both U.S and Canadian citizenship, and the ability of corpses to have sex. 

A Boy Needs A Friend is part of The Genital is Superfluous: Final Thoughts, Series Four (2016), a collection of video essays, a stream of ongoing thoughts and provocative engagements. Final Thoughts was begun in 2004 as a life project: it will be complete upon Reinke’s death.