German director and producer Jochen Hick creates a compelling portrait of successful male escort entrepreneur Tom Weise in The Good American. Through-out Europe and the United States, we follow Tom’s dreams and travails in the world of male prostitution over the course of several months.

The man who gave us HustlaBall and rent-boy.com is many things, including a highly ambivalent gay male living in New York via London from Germany. His fast-talking, perfectly accented English is nearly New York; and he incessantly controls his lover, his parties, his HIV treatment, the business and his exasperations with true German tenacity. He’s also optimistic about life and love, and, at times, tempestuous and difficult to please.

Hick approaches his documentary on gay male life organically, allowing unscripted moments to elicit the genuine human foibles and triumphs of his subjects. Over the course of the film, we experience Tom in all his splendor and insecurity as he navigates several major life choices: whether to return to Germany after living 15 years in the US, whether to pursue interferon therapy, and whether the escort business and the gorgeously garish sex positive parties are his true calling. But the one thing Tom is never unsure of is his resolute love for his life partner Keith.