A Revry original, Unconventional is a really well-liked queer dramedy that feels totally different from the usual stuff. The heart of the story is about two pretty eccentric queer siblings and their partners trying to build a family that doesn't follow the traditional rules. It takes a super raw and unfiltered look at queer life, diving deep into things like mental health, addiction, and how complicated identity and relationships can get. It’s not afraid to get messy or show people at their most vulnerable, and it really pushes boundaries while showing a lot of different queer experiences. The first season has nine episodes, and each one is about a half-hour long. The story centers on Noah, a grad student who’s been struggling for years to wrap up his PhD. He’s been with his husband, Dan, for nine years, and they’ve recently gotten married and moved to Palm Springs. While they're trying to figure out how to start a family and have a baby, they decide to shake things up by in...
Marius is a corporate lawyer in Vilnius. He is a player who spends time with friends and chasing young lovers for sex. The death of his estranged father shakes him and he finds himself striking up an unexpected relationship with a sex-cam worker, Ali, a Syrian man stuck in the refugee camp in Belgrade. Marius decides to take a trip a trip to Belgrade to meet Ali. The polar-opposite pairing ignites unexpected passion, with Marius using Ali’s unfortunate circumstances to uncover his own sense of purpose. Ali asks for Marius' help in moving to other part of Europe, which he initially refuses saying he is not an immigration lawyer, but eventually decides to help and manages to get him out of Belgrade.
As mentioned above, the story takes forever to come to the point. In between there is this side story of a very popular female artist, with whom Marius makes an unexpected friendship with. None of their scenes add any value whatsoever in the film. Even the scenes between Marius and Ali, they take forever to come to a point. They speak so slow that you feel like fast forwarding it. Its the troubled love story between Ali and Marius. interestingly Serbia doesn't have a special refugee program for LGBT individuals and neither is being gay legal in Lithuania. The film eventually becomes a metaphor for their isolation and marginalization in a time and a place (today’s Serbia) where “being different” is still problematic. This movie itself had lack of consistency and depth, feels like some characters play unnecessary roles. On a positive side, the leads actors really did a commendable job, but besides that I feel the issues of being gay, refugee and being in a country which doesn't support these were very lightly handled.
This film could have been so much better, shorter and very meaningful. Sadly, in my opinion, it misses the opportunity it had on its hands. (4/10)
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