This is your typical indie coming-of-age tale about a teenager, though it’s clearly working with a very tiny budget. Set within a migrant family living in Southern California’s Coachella Valley, the movie digs into how fragile old-school traditions and expectations can be. We follow a teenage son as he goes through the process of coming out and struggles to find acceptance while dealing with homophobia, domestic abuse, and a messy love triangle that involves his own sister. Goyo is seventeen and just about to graduate from high school. Since he’s been a bit more feminine since he was a little kid, he’s always had to deal with emotional and physical transition from his dad, Ramon, who is obsessed with him being "a man." The only real love he gets is from a lady next door who actually respects him for who he is. The family lives in a Mexican community where everyone works on a grape farm, but things get shaken up when a new guy named Lucio arrives. Lucio basically seduces Goyo ...
This is probably a great movie for teens but for people my age, this was not fun; at all. There were things which just did not make any sense, they did not keep you entertained and finally when everything is being given a closure , a lot of explanations are just not given. I have never attended a summer amp but maybe this is how the camps are. Weird things happen. This camp is different in the sense that this is for misfits, gays and drag queens.
Camp is story of Vlad, a straight boy who likes attention and love; of Michael, who is a wanna drag queen and was bullied in school and denied access to his prom because he was in a dress and a couple of other misfits in the process. But central character is Vlad. Story is simple as to how kids interact during camp, play games with each other, even to hurt others but ultimately everyone here is to find their own identity. Nothing specific in trims of story. Vlad is used by a beautiful girl, she is mean to every other girl, Vlad will do anything to get attention , Michael likes Vlad who makes it clear that he is straight but they become close friends, so close that Vlad might at some point even kiss Michael because thats what he wants. Just usual stuff.
Now, the problem with this film is that it is so focused on the sexy-abbed straight guy Vlad amongst all the gay guys and drama girls that the movie really loses its way. Characters go undeveloped or underutilized. Story lines are undernourished and many of them seem to just be serving to show that these kids were actually at the camp so you aren't surprised later when they show up in one of the numbers. It was absolutely wrong to promote this film as a gay film. There were a few fun moments but thats about it.
If you are a struggling with sexuality teenager or just teenager , you might like it.Others, I am sure there are better films. (3/10)
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