It's no coincidence that an early scene in Gregg Araki's no-budget drama is set beneath a conspicuous, neon-lit lottery billboard. The fledgling writer director redefined the concept of independent filmmaking by finishing his debut feature at a total cost of only $5,000. The title is almost comically precise: each of Araki's three characters is bored, restless, lonely, and more than a little confused, and the grittiness of the underlit photography (filmed entirely after-hours) lends a claustrophobic pall to the already self-absorbed gloominess of the scenario, a relatively conventional coming-out drama with a difference. The tension of attraction between Mark (who is gay) and Craig (who isn't) is complicated by the affection both share with Alicia. Araki handles each relationship with surprising care, although his script leans hard on existential art school angst, making the characters sound too whiny and petulant at times. It doesn't take long to become acclimated to the poor (post-dubbed) sound and natural (dark) lighting, but the effort needs to be put into perspective: for the average cost in 1987 of a typical Hollywood blockbuster, Araki could have made...yes: 10,000 feature-length films!
2 Reviews
The most fully realized ménage-à-trois I've ever seen
Havan_IronOak22 February 2004
This is the tale of two best friends, Alicia a video artist, and David, an audio artist, who really do love each other, but she is straight and he is gay.
Alicia has a live in boyfriend, Craig, who loves her a lot but isn't sexually fulfilled by her. Craig is a bit intrigued by David and David is quickly becoming intrigued with Craig. Both boys are terrified of pursuing the attraction though because both care for Alicia and don't want to hurt her. David even has to put up with listening to Alicia complain that Craig makes her TOO happy. That's a problem because she's unable to concentrate enough on her art.
All three of them are unhappy in their current lives, Craig because he feels he's being taken for granted by Alicia, and Alicia and David because they are into their "world weary, misunderstood artist' personas.
When David finally breaks down and tells Alicia he's falling for her boyfriend (it's gone no further than a chaste kiss, initiated by Craig) Alicia IS hurt, and reacts as you'd expect.
Will they work it out? Will any of them find happiness? Watch it and see. That is IF you can find one of the rare copies of this title AND if you can put up with the low quality, black and white, scratchy sound, Chinese subtitled, VHS copies available.
Personally I thought it was worth it and felt that in many ways this was superior to Splendor (1999), Araki's much bigger budget film, dealing with many of the same themes. Splendor had to be homogenized a bit for the mass market, (the boys definite attraction for one another expunged) This one is still the gritty original.
Alicia has a live in boyfriend, Craig, who loves her a lot but isn't sexually fulfilled by her. Craig is a bit intrigued by David and David is quickly becoming intrigued with Craig. Both boys are terrified of pursuing the attraction though because both care for Alicia and don't want to hurt her. David even has to put up with listening to Alicia complain that Craig makes her TOO happy. That's a problem because she's unable to concentrate enough on her art.
All three of them are unhappy in their current lives, Craig because he feels he's being taken for granted by Alicia, and Alicia and David because they are into their "world weary, misunderstood artist' personas.
When David finally breaks down and tells Alicia he's falling for her boyfriend (it's gone no further than a chaste kiss, initiated by Craig) Alicia IS hurt, and reacts as you'd expect.
Will they work it out? Will any of them find happiness? Watch it and see. That is IF you can find one of the rare copies of this title AND if you can put up with the low quality, black and white, scratchy sound, Chinese subtitled, VHS copies available.
Personally I thought it was worth it and felt that in many ways this was superior to Splendor (1999), Araki's much bigger budget film, dealing with many of the same themes. Splendor had to be homogenized a bit for the mass market, (the boys definite attraction for one another expunged) This one is still the gritty original.
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