This one falls into that darker corner of gay cinema. There was real potential buried in here, but the execution feels so flat that at points it plays out more like a filmed stage play than an actual movie. It's a dark psychological drama built around a street hustler confessing to a brutal, confusing murder of his own lover. Black and white flashback sequences do a solid job laying out the details of what happened, but the real focus stays on the dialogue and the writing itself. Right at the start, a young hustler has already killed his male lover Claude. Three days go by before he calls the police to turn himself in for the murder. But instead of just reporting it somewhere ordinary, he actually summons the police and the local press directly into a judge's private chambers. Yves has keys to the place, which tracks given what he does for a living, but having the press waiting right outside makes the whole scene look like some elaborate blackmail scheme against the judge. The ...
Jack is a Brit gay man living in NYC. When his brother unexpectedly dies in a car accident, he starts taking care of his wife who is pregnant. Years have passed and his niece is now 6-7 years old but Jack's life still surrounds his sister-in-law and niece. He works with a photographer with his lesbian best friend Aly. When Jack finds out that his visa renewal application has been rejected, his lawyer suggests that getting married is the only option left with him. He coerces his friend Aly to marry him. Things are going ok until Mano comes in Jack's life. Mano, of Spanish origin is the perfect guy that Jack has been waiting for. The perfect marriage has now has a twist even though Jack and Ali were never in love. Mano and Jack start staying together and Mano soon becomes part of the family. Aly is always scared that immigration would catch her and put her in jail whereas Jack is not as serious. When an unexpected visit from INS happens. it freaks Aly out completely and she wants out of the marriage. Jack gives in but is depressed and now very unsure of what his future will be. Mano offers to marry him but lawyer tells them that gay marriage is not recognized at federal level so there is no point. In the meantime Mano finds out that his father is critically ill and now he would like to move back to Spain. He offers Jack to move with him but Jack doesn't want to leave his niece and refuses. When his sister-in-law puts some sense in his mind, he finally understands that its time he start thinking about himself. He decides to take the plunge and move to Spain to be with the love of his life and with a promise that his niece will visit him every few months.
The film slightly touches upon the DOMA issue but very little. It plays with emotions on very different subjects as there are several unexpected twists and turns throughout. The over-all premise is a sophisticated urbane justification for gay marriage, but it is presented as a family of friends drama with quite legitimate and compelling emotional drive. The film also brings up a few 'what would you do in that situation?' subjects, which promotes conversation with friends and family. In terms of acting Jack did an alright job. He was acting but somehow the emotional connect to his character was missing. I could hardly empathize with his character. Specially when subject is like this, you want audience to connect. Another big failure was Mano. The way his character was shown was a little shady in my opinion. There were times in the film when I got the impression that Mano was a fraud kinda person who was playing with Jack's emotions. Also the way he would look at Aly and give her the look while they were married was odd. Anyway, I might be going into too much details but thats what my observation is. Th little girl in the film was the best part.
All in all, this is still a pretty decent movie and worth a try. For an independent film, it will still satisfy you. (6/10)
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