When young Khoi arrives in Saigon looking for a place to rent, he realizes right away that the city is anything but the paradise he dreamed of. In a upscale park, he encounters another young man Dong, whose offer to share the rent for his apartment Khoi readily accepts. While Khoi showers, Dong and his partner, Lam, rob Khoi of his money and documentation, forcing Khoi to seek back-breaking work as a porter in the city. We learn Dong and Lam are both male prostitutes after Dong takes off with the stolen cash, leaving Lam to return to waiting on the street for customers to pick him up on their motorized scooters. Another narrative enters the mix through the eyes of a struggling female sex worker and the ostensibly developmentally disabled man who demonstrates affection for her. In Hotboy, the city is the backdrop for the aftermath of these characters' dark, at times disturbing pasts as we learn especially with Lam, whose heartbreak drives him toward continually more drastic measures that take him deeper into the role he cannot give up. 

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