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Reviews
Bros (2022)
Pros & Cons of Gay Rom Com
The holiday gave me an opportunity finally to view the movie Bros, and overall, I enjoyed it. During subsequent viewings, I became both more aware of its weaknesses and more impressed at its boldness, its audacity; by which I do not mean either its adult language or sexual content, but its redefining the messages of love and relationships and acceptance. It's no small feat to break ground within a conventional paradigm, especially one that is as commercial and conservative as the Hollywood romantic comedy.
Before proceeding, let me confess that although I enjoy a good rom-com, I have a preference for serious drama, such as the works of playwright and activist Larry Kramer, whom we see early on in a photograph with the main character Bobby Lieber, played by Billy Eichner, or the plays of Terrence McNally, who is referenced in the family dinner. (BTW, the actual title of the play is "Love! Valour! Compassion!)
Like my gay friends who have watched the movie, I was taken aback somewhat by the main character's stridency in the first act, his barreling through his monologues, and some of the audacity went too far for me. I've had no feedback from my straight friends, most of whom will not see the film. One example of what did not work for me was the black grandparents' response to their grandson's throuple. Their reaction simply didn't ring true. Even exaggerated comedy and farce (and so much of entertainment is in-your-face grotesque these days -- but that's another discussion) has to be grounded sufficiently in reality. This scene hit a false note for me, and as such would not have been missed if it had ended up on the cutting room floor.
To my surprise more of my gay friends than expected had not seen the film, and despite Eichner's appearance on Colbert and coverage in the gay press, one New York friend wrote me in explanation: "I think it was unfortunate how the film was marketed, from the (few) print ads and the (misleading, but also rare) trailers, to the fact that the studio professed a push for 'the gay rom-com' but actually dumped it in theaters. I truly don't know more than a couple of gay guys who even saw the movie. It wasn't advertised much in the gay press. No one was aware that it was a film that actually dealt with actual issues. It now reinforces the factoid that gay films don't make money."
A lack of development in secondary characters, is also a weakness of the film; something, for example, that the excellent Netflix Catalonian series Smiley, which covers similar territory and is probably more palatable for straight audiences, does not suffer from. There are other flaws in Bro, but I'd rather emphasize its strengths.
It is dialogue driven and for the most part the dialogue is intelligent and sharp and funny. Like our hero's love interest, Aaron Shepherd, played by Luke MacFarlane, one can grow weary of a boyfriend incessantly being a gadfly provocateur. However, thanks both to Eichner's writing and performance, the aggression, the defensive walls of verbiage that color his legitimate anger and zeal come tumbling down and like his paramour, I soon came to warm to and sympathize with the guy. Lieber/Eichner's confession while sitting in the Adirondack chair on the Provincetown beach spoke eloquently and directly to my own and many, many others' experiences. The climax where he rejects Aaron was also deeply moving and spot on. These moments are not the corny, dare I say cheesy, Jerry McGuire "You complete me," but an authentic, well-articulated, pained expression. The characters earn their love and transformations. That is the highest praise in my book for successful fiction.
Eventually I rose to the occasion of some of the audacity, understanding it wasn't just over-the-top Saturday Night Live exaggeration straining for laughs (or pandering to straight audiences), but at its best an actual expression of the humanity and a new generation's bolder perspective, and I have to commend Mr. Eichner for his bravery. I learned from the movie in this respect.
And what more can you ask of a rom-com than to be moved, to laugh and cry, and also to be changed a little like the very characters in the movie, vicariously to undergo some of the arc of the characters' own transformations. In the end, I can only say thank you, Mr. Eichner, and oh how I wish my lover, my friends, and so, so many colleagues had lived to see the day and share in this experience.
IMHO D. A. Dorwart.
A Stormy Night (2020)
Ships In A Storm
Two strangers meet during a stormy night thanks to a mutual friend. One is a film maker from Spain on is way to a festival in California that is showing his documentary. The other works from home on a dating app, a gay dating app, and hosts the filmmaker on his unscheduled layover in NYC/Brooklyn.
An intimate film, a character study of two strangers whose brief encounter changes both their lives, not in big dramatic terms but sufficiently that one feels both have grown in small but discernible ways thanks to the encounter.
The black and white cinematography feels appropriate and reminds one of character driven European films of the 50s and 60s. There is a graduate student feel to the film (thesis project), some stilted dialogue, and wish there had been more clarity and development in the characters. But given the obvious budget restraints, the sensitivity to the subject, and the charm and ease of David Moragas as actor, I'd say it's an auspicious beginning.
If you don't need car crashes and sex but enjoy the subtle and more lyrical character study, you'll appreciate the work here.
Summerland (2020)
Nostalgia Overshadows Story
A sweet, good-spirited film to be sure but predictable (for the most part). The bookend pro- and epilogue, besides being cliched, add so little to the main story as to be superfluous. Better more time had been spent on developing a more nuanced protagonist, here simplistically drawn with broad strokes. And far better we understand that character because the flashbacks were also more developed as well. Love Ms. M-Raw and developing their love and the deeper issues that tear them apart, would have added much greater resonance to the main story. Not surprised it was an original screenplay and not based on a novel -- which might have given greater depth and reality to the story.
Skoonheid (2011)
Brutal Lessons Not Learned
Be forewarned that the title of this film is ironic and rather should be called "Ugly." It is a harsh indictment of where repression, internalized homophobia, machismo and racism lead. The protagonist Francois is a 40/50-something husband, father and business owner, who leads a secret life that includes periodic gatherings with other white middle-aged males for group sex. He becomes infatuated with Christian, the grown son of a friend, who has always viewed Francois as an uncle. Numbed by his routine life, enraged by betraying his true nature, resentful of the liberation of gays and blacks in modern S. Africa, Francois' infatuation becomes an obsession and his frustration seethes and eventually explodes in graphic violence, seemingly with no remorse or understanding and, most regrettably, from this viewer's point of view, no consequences. Powerful but ugly and in the end leaving Francois unredeemable.
Come Into Your Own (2019)
Each Journey Begins With the First Step
I had no intention of reviewing this movie until I read some of the scathing, even nasty, reviews, and it's always been my feeling reviews should be informative, critical, and constructive. "Come Into Your Own" suffers from most of the pitfalls of first-time indie film making and feels like a film school thesis project with its low budget, rudimentary camera work, script, sometimes amateurish acting, and lose editing. It's modest strength stems from it's love and need to tell its story. It's a very personal film for the writer-director-actor about the bumpy road all of us take toward identity. Indeed the script can be opaque at times (feeling undeveloped and poorly etched) but the confusion and conflict of the lead is engaging, and in today's world that increasingly challenges a simply binary approach to sexuality seems authentic. I did not think the ending a cop-out. We might want as audience members to have the lead choose and be happy, but that's clearly not the point of the film. The film ends in the ambiguity of beginning a more honest and selfaware journey, and coming into your own is messy and complex for the artist and for all of us. We can only demand of ourselves that in each step we grow better both as human beings and better as artists, honing our craft to produce professional quality work.