★ 6 / 10
This is one of those rare films that
CinemaSerf
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…
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.
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★ 6 / 10
That Is All
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…
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.
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★ 5 / 10
An infuritaing exploration of male sexuality
manuelasaez
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…
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.
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80%
AUDIENCE
5.8/10
507
