esjara97 Reviews

Like a Brother (2005)

A good movie, but too much "time-swapping" without telling the audience

[4/10 · 11 July 2014]

It was a good movie. I don't really like when a movie flips between past and present and this movie is no different. I would have like it more as a straightforward story, but nonetheless, it was fun and entertaining. I liked the actors and their relationships, especially Sebastian and Romain's. A lot of the time it seemed like Romain was gay, or at least bi, even though he never admitted so.

What I didn't quite understand, though, was the ending. It didn't imply anything so Romain and Sebastian could have gotten together, but I seriously doubt it. Besides, I liked Bruno a lot more. It could have been a longer movie, and I would have liked it if the movie had been longer, not necessarily continuing the story, but merely adding parts in the middle. I would have liked to know more about Bruno and Sebastian's relationship and I like to imagine that when the movie is over they will continue dating.

Sugar (I) (2004)

The ending was good, rest was shite.

[1/10 · 11 July 2014]

This movie was like a horrible documentary about drugs and prostitution. Cliff and Butch's relationship was weird and never fully explained. When I started watching this movie, I expected a gay romance and what I got was a really weird fetish porn film. What I did like about it was the acting, all the actors were believable and just great, especially Haylee. I also liked the ending, it was like it was from a different movie, everything about it was in contrast of the whole movie. I suppose that's why I liked it.

The summary of the movie does in no way tell the audience what will happen, because Cliff and Butch don't really hook up. The summary should be: "A film about the strong feelings that develop between two guys and how one of them drags the other into the world of drugs and prostitution"

Even though I didn't like the movie, I did like the subject. I don't have any experience with prostitution, but I think it shed some real light on it. It isn't glamour or beautiful people having sex. It's weird fetishes and people that no-one else wants to have sex with. I might have liked this movie a lot more if I had been looking for a movie with a real take on prostitution and drugs, I would have liked this movie, no doubt, but unfortunately I was looking for a romance.

The String (2009)

The soundtrack ruined the movie

[3/10 · 10 July 2014]

The film was all right, but the soundtrack was so horrible that it ruined so many scenes. The whole string thing didn't make much sense, they could have skipped it, although it did show the progress that the character made throughout the movie. I thought that Malik's father's appearances were very odd at times, for example when he was talking to Malik's mother about his (Malik's) homosexuality. The ending was also very odd, since Malik and Bilal were together and Siryne and Leila were together, it didn't make much sense that Malik and Siryne got married. It would have made much more sense had they just been parents together, but nothing more. It wasn't like they were hiding their homosexuality, so the marriage didn't have any obvious reason.

The acting was terrific, though. I loved Malik's mother, she was a wonderful character and Claudia Cardinale portrayed her wonderfully. I loved Malik and Bilal's relationship but, again, I don't understand why Malik had to get married. I also loved Siryne and Leila's relationship, it wasn't the most typical relationship, and I liked that. Siryne's father, even though he merely appeared in one small scene, was wonderful and very well portrayed.

Tan Lines (II) (2005)

Australia's bad attempt at Shelter

[2/10 · 9 July 2014]

This film was Australia's bad attempt to make a gay film similar to Shelter. It was okay, at times, but mostly it was just f*cked up. There was no point at all to the talking pictures and they just seemed out of place in the movie and there was no reason as to why they were talking. The whole relationship between Cass and the geography teacher was just about as f*cked up as they come. At least Midget was a sympathetic character, although it was quite mean of him to always have Cass as a second choice to Alice. There wasn't any real progress through the movie, in the end all the characters were stuck in the same place: Cass had run away again, Midget still lived with his mum and Alice stayed with her Aunt, another f*cked up character that didn't belong in the movie whatsoever. The only progress that was made was that Midget had had sex with a guy.

There was one thing though, that I liked very much and that was Midget's mother. I liked how she was portrayed, by always being in bed and that the viewer never gets to see her face.

On another note, I'd like to say that I'm a fan of realistic movies about realistic people, but this was like the director was trying to make the movie realistic but yet somehow, come up with such an unrealistic ending that I just wanted to turn the movie off.