Hard Watch: A Review of 'Blue Film'

Shame is the name of the game in this gut-wrenching two-hander that humanizes a man who still can't quite believe what he's capable of

October 20, 2025

Kieron Moore dominates in Blue Film (Image via Submarine)

When I arrived for the NewFest screening of second-time writer-director Elliot Tuttle’s Blue Film, I wasn’t sure what to expect.

The night before, I’d met a fellow festgoer who’d turned me on to one of the film’s stars, Boots baddie Kieron Moore. On his recommendation, I’d decided to catch Blue Film, which had been described to me as a controversial movie about a dominant fetish cam boy. Sold!

Kieron Moore’s blue period (Image by Matthew Rettenmund)

My first hint that I may not be about to see 90 minutes of spank-bank deposits came when Moore himself, happily posing for photos beforehand, whispered to me, “It’s a very tough film. You’ll see.”

Moore & Reed Birney, the Bogie & Bacall of pedophilia (Images by Matthew Rettenmund)

I found the warning intriguing, more so coming from Moore, a former boxer who looked for all the world like a 1930s leading man — impossibly handsome, ruthlessly coiffed and a fashion plate, he wore a Mithridate jacket as he gossiped with me about his own movie, and had rocked Prada the evening before as an audience member at a screening of Episode 1 of Boots.

Living legend Lois Smith (L) with (L-R) producer Adam Kersh, Reed Birney, Birney’s wife Constance Shulman and their daughter Gus Birney (Image by Matthew Rettenmund)

Boots buddies Miles Heizer & Moore (Image by Matthew Rettenmund)

Tuttle looks so harmless, but beware the auteur with a message and financial backing. (Image by Matthew Rettenmund)

Introducing his work before the screening, Tuttle — who is young enough he may not be as keenly aware as an older filmmaker would be just how miraculous it is that he was allowed to make this picture at all, let alone his way — teased the audience:

“I’m hoping that I see some walkouts, I’m hoping that I see some people crying, I’m hoping that I see everything.”

Blue Film revealed itself to be as provocative as advertised, and then some.