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vampirepirate
Reviews
Eating Out (2004)
Brings fresh meaning to the word "dire"
I became 100% convinced that I would hate this film the second some supposedly "British" guy opens his mouth and starts talking with an accent reminiscent of Dick van Dyke's performance in Mary Poppins. Others have said it better than me, so I'll just summarise: the idea that the best way into a girl's pants is pretend you're a gay man never, ever made sense. How anyone, gay, straight or vegetable, could find the foul-mouthed, insecure, nasty-minded "leading lady" attractive is something that I will spend the next 15 seconds wondering. The writer could have done something interesting with the idea, and said something vaguely interesting about fluid, non-polarised sexuality, but nah; instead he chose to ram the film so full of stock clichés about queers that it undergoes gravitational collapse. Oh, and, just maybe, having one of the main characters summarise the plot of the entire film only twenty minutes in probably isn't that great an idea.
The Island (2005)
Unbelievable and farcical cliché
The Island is a fun action romp with an interesting subject and some fine talent behind it. Unfortunately, it's completely unbelievable and incredibly predictable. The sci-fi hocus-pocus behind the main premise is riddled with inconsistencies and has practically no basis in fact; the action sequences inflicted on the main characters put them through situations they could not possibly be expected to survive yet has them emerging with a few minor cuts and scratches; the evil scientist is a cut and paste megalomaniac lifted directly from a thousand other films; plot anvils thump into your lap with all the subtlety of a Schwarzenegger script. It's worth watching, but don't expect to be enlightened or educated.
Red Dirt (2000)
A story of love outside of the gay-straight linear mindset
Red Dirt is a story with two main themes: claustro- and agoraphobia, literal in the case of our protagonists' dotty Aunt Summer, and more abstract in the portrayal of cousins Griffith (desperate to escape town) and Emily (resigned to sharing her female relatives' fate of never leaving); and the difficulty and pain of expressing love, and changes in love. When a stranger, Lee, comes to stay at their farm, he acts as a catalyst that eventually brings all their secrets out of the woodwork, and it hurts as much as it sets everyone free.
In today's world of determinist sexuality and identity politics, it's clear why this film goes down like a ton of bricks with some people - many won't find it satisfying to watch a story of people falling in (and out) of love with no neat labels that can be attached to their desires. Even more disturbing to some will be the hint that love and sex are not the same thing. Yet this is exactly what I found so moving about this film, and such a welcome change from the teenager-coming-out stock of gay films that, despite being of some value to those that need them, have become tedious to those that no longer do. Fond as I am of man-on-man action, and not being much of a romantic, I was therefore very surprised to be so moved by a film simply about love, and not to have to suffer through another truckload of big-city gay clichés.
The acting, cinematography and photography are all superb - I could have done with a little less of the weepy soundtrack but really that's a tiny quibble.
Denied (2004)
Affecting
It's a shame the production is somewhat student-y and that some of the dialogue is muffled and inaudible, because this is a film that rings true. Two straight-acting friends, a hunk and a dropout, move in together, and we slowly start to piece together just what kind of relationship they have - which is appropriate, since they don't appear to know either. This is what I liked best about this film - no neat resolutions, no flashes of insight, just a realistic and sometimes painful muddle of emotions and situations that have to be dealt with as best as can be, which usually isn't very well at all. That's certainly been my experience of dealing with sexuality, outside of the commercial gay ghetto anyway - real-life grappling with queer issues isn't neatly resolved in three acts and buying a Pride T-shirt doesn't make it all better. So this is definitely worth seeing, if you're not expecting Dolby stereo and answers to all your questions.
Evolution (2001)
This is a comedy?
Absolutely dreadful and almost completely devoid of anything I recognised as humour. Only noteworthy for taking the American male obsession with the anal region to new heights of desperation, seasoned of course with enough thinly-veiled homophobia to make it acceptable. This, when combined with what may be a genuinely careful attempt to include an interesting sci-fi premise, makes for a film that manages to be bizarre and dire in roughly equal proportions. It may have been my imagination but you can actually see the growing awareness of the actors' plight dawning on them as the movie progresses, as their faces become ever more strained and their delivery becomes increasingly leaden. A blemish on the careers of all those who participated in it.