That Is All (2019) User Reviews

An infuritaing exploration of male sexuality

[manuelasaez · 5/10 · 3 February 2024]

I was LIVID when the ending credits started to roll, and I asked myself, 'Did I really just sit through two hours of that?". I mean, I've seen plenty of Gay themed films in the last few years, but none came close to making the proverbial steam escape from my ears like this movie has, so let's dive in as to why this movie just chapped my ass in so many ways.

1. The star of the film, Ryan, is smoldering. He has the face of a Calvin Klein's Obsession model and whoever cast him in this knew exactly what they were doing. Honestly, had they chosen a less attractive lead, I probably would have scored this much lower, and would have more than likely turned it off. Although he is a dreamboat, he is an utter BORE throughout the majority of this film. He spends day after day doing the most banal tasks, and when he finally starts feeling some excitement in both his real life and his love life, he still ends up being a closeted, repressed man that would rather live in misery than ever admit to being happy. Early in the movie a friend asked him, "Would you still be my friend if I voted Conservative?" and with the answer he gave, he sounded like you average Canadian "accepting and tolerant", "I'm an Ally" Liberal. But not so liberal that he would ever or should ever be associated with being gay, or seen being with another man, right? It made me really disconnect with this character almost immediately, and the sympathy I initially had for him quickly turned to apathy.

2. Ryan pursues a female member of his basketball group, and gets her to go on a few dates, sleeps with her, yet treats her with nothing but apathy. The girl is smitten with him, and he treats her like an afterthough.

3. Ryan then decides to have a secret relationship with the boyfriend of one of his good friends. So, he's been friends with this guy for a seemingly long time, and he doesn't think twice when he pursues an affair with his boyfriend. Where are his morals? Where is his loyalty?

4. Ryan then sleeps with a female of his friend group. Everyone knows she fancies him, and his roommate actually told him not to toy with her emotions. Again, no morals or loyalty.

So, we can surmise from my previous points that Ryan is the trouble in our little drama. He is the "It's not you, it's me". He is everyone you've ever dated that you fell head over heels for and for him, you were just some fun to be had. I guess evoking this level of emotion from at least one viewer is an accomplishment, but when you have an almost two hour movie that is mostly clips of people doing 'stuff', it really highlights the problems with everyone involved. And when I say stuff, I literally mean that most of the movie is comprised of people talking, having boring parties, watching old movies, smoking weed (I absolutely despise drugs so that was gross to me), and just sitting around being absolute bores for most of the movie. The only real beauty we saw was when Ryan was being his authentic self, but I guess his story was never meant to have a happy ending.

The more I think about it, the more I find myself not totally hating the film, but wishing that it was so much more. There were so many ways the movie could have ended, and the way it did just seemed like what happens when you live an unfulfilled life, and that in itself is a tragedy I really don't care to see much of, even on a television screen.

Good Story But revolved Scenes!!

[javierubio · 6/10 · 21 April 2022]

I Started to watch this movie and in the next 15 minutes Nothing really was happening except for a story of a straight group of friends having normal activities , but something that started to catch my attention was that time elapsed between scenes were abrupt and rapidly changing to another place and subject of that specific episode!

Regarding the story I can not complain because it is a real story about a gay guy who had an affair with a straight guy along with his current relationship and honestly that line story was the only interesting scene to watch where drama came back to both of them but the end once again was abrupt and living the audience thinking.. what really happened in the last minute of the film?

Falls short

[rklein123 · 5/10 · 9 November 2023]

The theme of the film could be interesting. COULD have been interesting. But the screenplay is pretty tedious. Large swaths of the movie are just plain boring.

The movie revolves around a small group of friends who seem like a bunch of bored losers. Ryan, the main character, clearly doesn't care a wit about his work. He plays video games, smokes weed, and watches movies with his friends. And occasionally signs onto a web sex site.

If you enjoy watching a few 25-30ish year olds watching old movies, and asking each other if they're going to this party, or that house to watch TV (and mostly responding with "I don't care") you'll likely really enjoy this film. I'm not sure if the point was to show just how boring the lives of this little clique of friends was, but it sure made much of the moving boring to watch.

The acting is fine. Not exceptional by any means. The sound mixing is pretty terrible, with scenes where the background music overshadows and obliterates dialog. (Hint: turn on subtitles if you want to know what people are saying throughout the movie.)

I don't think I'm giving anything away by saying that Ryan "grows closer" to a friend's boyfriend, since that's in the description for the film. But until they meet and start to explore their relationship - and each other - the movie is really quite boring.

Ryan's character, and the movie itself only show signs of life when the guys are alone together.

But at some point, Ryan will have to come to terms with who he is, or choose to just continue along his life path of a boring existence.

Just a personal opinion, but I think this story could have been told better. A much tighter screenplay would have made it a lot less tedious.

exploration of boredom

[Kirpianuscus · 13 December 2022]

A fair exploration of boredom and loneliness of a 30 years old man . And a sentimental adventure as presumed cure for this state.

A simple story composed by meetings with friends, reading and a lot of films.

Good acting , especialy seductive work of Joel Ballanger. A a very, precise message.

Difficult to define because it proposes only a sketch. Episodes, conversations, home work job and many walks, mature in aspects of teenagers and a mistake changing entire relational geography of the main character.

Not spectacular but fair realistic. And this fact makes this film just useful. For atmosphere, for cinematography, for the dose of boredom and loneliness, for the empty public phone cabins , for the reaction of Ryan discovering the early presence of Paul, for gentle definition of attraction and sexual identity and for the relations with others.

In short, just interesting to provocative.

That Is All

[CinemaSerf · 6/10 · 22 October 2023]

This is one of those rare films that tries to deal with the re-emergence of your sexual identity later in life. It centres around the increasingly disillusioned "Ryan" (Joel Ballanger) who meets up with a friend of a friend. "Sam" (Al Braatz) is openly gay and living what we feel to be the tail end of a long term relationship in which he is no longer really invested. It comes as quite a shock to his system for "Ryan" to find that his relationship with his new friend not only pushes his boundaries, but pretty much eradicates many of them altogether and his erstwhile straight life gradually changes. It's a slow burn, this - and that doesn't help it, neither do the annoyingly shifting timelines at the start which are a little confusing. That said, though, director Mark Weeden is trying to illustrate here via some admittedly rather weak acting that love isn't black and white nor straightforward, and there is actually very little one can do when the proverbial Cupid's arrow hits you and you have to deal with the consequences. It's fair to say that both men are pretty selfish. They are caught up in their own desires to the exclusion of many more meritorious of their respect if not their love and that, too, rather put me off as the story advanced along predictable lines. It's also far too long, with way too many lingering shots and establishing imagery that takes the pace off the film and leaves us with an all too meandering exercise in too much introspection. Still, it probably rings true for many an early thirty-something coming to terms with something relatively unexpected yet profound in their lives.

A Study of Apathy

[bradbeaulieu · 1/10 · 3 May 2023]

This is a portrayal of the modern disconnect where people walk around in a cloud with no connections to life, everyone talks like they are in a cloud/fog. Wrapped up in a non-crisis, where life is so boring that minor points become the focus in their lives. A portrayal of tedious, Apathetic Canadians living in a big city with lives that won't be missed when their gone. Sad to think that this form of disconnect is becoming a social norm in our society today. Also smoking weed every few minutes of screenplay as a norm portrayal of life in Canada with our weed laws. A bunch of stoners in a weed paralysis state.

Friends & lovers... decisions in Toronto when turning 30

[56westmoor · 8/10 · 23 April 2022]

Enjoyed the film. It's more of a European film than American, in that there are no end of film tidy resolutions.

I can guess where Joel Ballanger's character Ryan is heading in life by the end. It doesn't mean his life will be heading downward, but I see a very sad life. BTW, Joel does a wonderful job as an actor, this cast is incredible.

In the story, Ryan is in a fog of habitual life surrounded by a tight, but emotionally distant set of friends. Ryan is truly only on, when he's spending time with Al Braatz's character Sam.

Sam is in a relationship that will end soon and is eager to start a new life with Ryan. While Ryan is not ready. I'm glad the film takes its time developing the relationship and not rushing anything. Ryan sees who he is by his friends who he thinks are not ready to accept a gay Ryan. This movie ends up watching Ryan making decisions about what he is going to do about this new relationship. He makes the decision that this relationship only works for him on the down-low. That's not enough for Sam, and Ryan just ends it suddenly when he does not see the same concern about what other people think is not mirrored. It sucks being Sam at this point, but he's actually in better shape. Ryan is hunkering down and ends the movie hoping that no one will bring up his decisions we see him making. It's tough growing up, but we're watching someone dealing with his sexuality turning 30.

It's a bit painful to watch Ryan's decisions, but I understand them. There really is no mystery for me in watching this film; I was just left with a feeling of sadness for the whole group in this film.

I liked this film because of incredible acting, professionally created film and a very living real world. BTW, this film uses Toronto a great deal, which helps the story in its own visual way. Dark and depressing, winter is, when lonely as well as spectacular in a cold, gray, multi-layered clothing way. One negative comment is not necessarily negative... this film has a very naturalistic sound. So there are moments you might want to hear the dialog, but you get the din of the party, the noise of the street with the conversation in a coffee shop. I enjoyed it more as the film continued. Initially, I wasn't happy with the scenes.

Lastly, I've read the reviews discussing the morality of the decisions in the movie. So yes: Sam should end his relationship ASAP. Ryan should man up to his feelings and not use the women in his life. I do agree that real love is messy and does not always fit the rules that participants would hope they follow. But you hope in life that people will stand up for the things that are important in life. Not everybody is ready at the appropriate time. And unfortunately, some opportunities are once in a life time. This was a movie about a couple ultimately out of sync.

Love cannot be explained, it can only be felt.

[fbianco-99862 · 8/10 · 18 April 2022]

I disagree with the reviewer who said that you should not fall in love with someone you should never have fallen in love with. When true love happens you can't stop it. The saying "true love only happens but once in a lifetime" may very well be true. And it's not something you could stop when it happens. Talking from experience I can totally relate to this story. And yes it often ends in horrible sadness, complete and total depression. Life does not always have a happy ending. And, this story reflects what more often is the case, an unhappy ending.

Realistic look at falling in love with someone you shouldn't have fallen in love with.

[mistermansfield · 8/10 · 7 November 2021]

Overall, not a bad movie. It kind of meanders along and leaves you with the feeling the writer was trying to alert gay men to the pitfalls and heartaches associated with trying to have any sort of relationship with a man who identifies as straight. Heartache will ensue. If you want lots of sex and action, this film is not for you. If you are interested in exploring the human condition then press play.

nothing is as it seems at first sight

[MauaCZ · 10/10 · 15 November 2023]

I would liken this film to a nut. It offers a surface - a look at a guy in a monotonous stage of life, ok, let's say boredom. But as the story unfolds, the shell cracks enough to give a glimpse into the true nature and desires of the main character - now, its up to you to use your fantasy or just to feel... For it is not certainly boredom that sets the plot and the main character's actions in motion... The cracks in the shell of the story are just big enough to perceive the true nature of the inner conflict between the true desire of the man and his outer need for social stereotype, well, If you want to take a peek! You can only wonder what will prevail... It's a worthwhile film, and I'll definitely return to again.