THEGAYUK

Tag: Four Star Film Review

The latest four-star film review from THEGAYUK.

  • FILM REVIEW | Blackwood

    ★★★★ | Blackwood

    If you had just recovered from a shattering emotional breakdown, it might seem like a good idea to relocate with your wife and son to a lonely old house in the middle of a remote wood. Or so you might think. Wrong. The house, it seems, is harbouring a dark secret and Ben Marshall (Ed Stoppard) is determined to get to the bottom of it.

    Blackwood is a modern ghost story cum psychological thriller in the tradition of period pieces like The Woman in Black. According to director Adam Wimpenny and writer J.S. Hill, the team gleaned inspiration from Nicolas Roeg’s darkly atmospheric Don’t Look Now and Joseph Losey’s bleak character-led drama Accident. I’m not sure this move is on the same level of inspiration as either of those two masterpieces, but it is consistently gripping, gradually building the suspense and keeping you guessing till the end when suddenly, and tragically, everything falls into place. I do abhor those thrillers which leave you somehow hanging in mid-air at the end. This one definitely gives you a finale.

    The film looks good too with great cinematography from Dale McCready, and Adam Wimpenny has got some great performances from his cast. The name best known to most of us will be Russell Tovey, fresh from his performance in HBO drama Looking, though here in a supporting role, convincingly playing against type as the sinisterly troubled war veteran Jack and looking pretty buff too. Ed Stoppard plays a highly strung Ben, a man desperately trying to hang on to control but gradually unravelling as the film progresses. As his wife Rachel, Sophia Myles is warmly feminine, concerned for her husband and fiercely protective of her son Harry (a really nice unaffected performance from young Isaac Andrews). Completing the cast is Greg Wise as Ben’s womanising best friend and colleague Dominic, and Paul Kaye as the enigmatic local priest Father Patrick.

    With a little more depth of character than we often get in thrillers or ghost stories, it is an eminently watchable movie, sure to give you the odd start.

    Blackwood opened in cinemas across the UK on August 1st

  • FILM REVIEW | The Last Match

    ★★★★ | The Last Match

    It’s still very tough and even quite dangerous being gay in some places, none more so than in the oppressive machismo society of Cuba. So when two male teenage best friends acknowledge their attraction to each other, life starts to get very complicated for them, and we have the sense from the outset that it cannot possibly end well at all.

    Yosvani and Rey both play football every day on a scrap of land in the midst of a poor slum neighbourhood in Havana. Yosvani lives with his fiance and her unscrupulous black-marketeer father in a comfortable middle-class apartment. Rey, on the other hand, lives in a cramped shanty-like two room dump with his wife, their baby, and Theresa his shrill and demanding mother-in-law. It is she who actively encourages the young man to prostitute himself with male tourists willing to pay for a quickie or a whole night of passion.

    With no hope of anything approaching a real job on the horizon, he is happy to oblige but draws the line at doing anything he considers is ‘gay’. Which actually seems to be very little when we see him in action enjoying himself giving his all to Juan a handsome visiting Spaniard

    Rey’s few encounters with Juan make him overly confident and he ends up spending more money than he can afford to buy black-market shirts and sneakers from Yosvani’s father-in-law. He perpetually lives more than precariously on the edge and when he is flat broke he pawns Theresa’s few possessions which results in more anger from her until he redeems them again after he has turned another ‘trick’.

    It’s obvious from the word go that Yosvani and Rey much prefer hanging out on the soccer pitch together than spending any time at all with their respective partners. One night after the two of them have been on a drinking binge they lose their inhibitions and hesitatingly kiss each other and somewhat surprise themselves how much they like it. They like having sex together even more, to such an extent that they cannot get enough of each other. However, because of their home situations, they have to keep this budding relationship very much on the down low and they manage to do just this until one-day Yosvani’s father-in-law gets the wind of what is going on.

    It’s at about the same time that Rey suddenly gets a lucky break when a Scout offers him a chance to train to become a professional soccer player. This is another reason not to go public with their love affair but it’s actually too late as they are already at the point of no return. And then just as we had supposed, the inevitable ending is both tragic and sad.

    Directed and co-written by Spanish filmmaker Antonio Hens (‘Clandestinos’) this heartbreaking well-crafted wee drama is completely engaging as if so accurately portrays the price that young men have to pay when they discover their sexuality in such an unaccepting and intolerant culture. The hypocrisy that it is acceptable as a means to an end as long as you don’t enjoy it, makes this sad tale even more poignant.

    Hen’s young inexperienced lead actors did a fine and convincing job, particularly Reinier Díaz who nailed the character of Rey so perfectly. And less this should put you off going to Cuba, I should tell you that it was all filmed in Puerto Rico!

  • FILM REVIEW | Five Dances

    ★★★★ | Five Dances

    Alan Brown’s latest movie has one of the most accurate titles that pulls no punches and is exactly what it promises i.e five dances.

    Held together by the strands of a wisp of a tenuous plot, it is however still a sweet and sensual coming-out-tale thanks to the presence of a charming young dancer who proves he is quite a mean actor too, despite his inexperience.

    Four dancers and a choreographer are in a Manhattan studio learning a new piece of contemporary dance to perform at the opening night of a Festival. Amongst their number is naive 18 year old Chip who is fresh off the bus from Kansas having won a scholarship to study with the Joffry Ballet. The others assume that his parents back in the Midwest must be proud of him, but the reality is that his divorced alcoholic mother is about to be evicted so makes daily menacing phone calls to her only son.

    Chip is homeless so when Cathy one of the other dancers discovers this, she takes pity on him and takes him home and lets him sleep on his couch. Theo another of the quartet takes another type of interest in the newbie and late one night makes a pass at him. A totally confused (and virginal) Chip runs off but not for long as next night he is back and this time encouraging Theo to go all the way.

    That’s essentially it in terms of plot, but this one after all is all about the dancing, and in particular young Chip learning how to really express himself through movement. The choreography by Jonah Bokaer is exhilarating and so beautifully photographed to accentuate every graceful move, and it’s capped by a sensuous soundtrack by singer/songwriter Scott Matthew.

    Brown is quite the master at bringing every sinew of sexuality into stories of young love into his movies as he did so wonderfully well in ‘Private Romeo’. Here when Chip and Theo are making love it mirrors the dancing in terms of its intimacy and is sensuous rather than explicit. The whole cast dance like angels and young Ryan Steele as Chip maintains that purity and innocence when in the very sparse script he so cutely conveys his turmoil coming to terms with both his threatening mother and the fact that he now has his first ever boyfriend.

    You don’t have to be a contemporary dance fan to love this one, but if you are, it does help.

  • FILM REVIEW | Turtle Hill, Brooklyn

    ★★★★ Turtle Hill, Brooklyn | It’s a sunny Sunday morning in Brooklyn and Mateo wakes his boyfriend Will up with a cup of coffee and a cupcake with single candle alight on top.

    (more…)

  • FILM REVIEW | Bright Days Ahead

    ★★★★ | Bright Days Ahead

    64-year-old Caroline has retired earlier from her dental practice than she had expected too after falling out with a colleague and she now finds herself at a loose end with too much spare time on her hands.

    She feels somewhat depressed and disorientated after the death of her best friend from breast cancer just three months prior, and this has made her even more aware of her own mortality. Her two grown up children with their own busy lives, want to encourage her to move on and so buy her a trial membership to a local seniors club that has the innocuous title of ‘Bright Days Ahead.’

    Caroline’s first nervous visit to the centre ends every badly when she feels patronised by the young woman running the drama classes, but when she gets home and neither she or her husband can work out their new wifi set up, she reluctantly agrees to go back and try the computer class instead. This is led by Julian an attractive 41 year old man who confides in her that he has a toothache and after Caroline takes him back to her ex-surgery to fix it for him, he returns the favour by making a pass at her.

    It’s not exactly the main reason why this man, who is the same age as her daughters, wants to bed her as he turns out that he is quite the ladies man with a small stable of regular ‘dates’. But even when she discovers this Caroline is more happy to indulge in some very hot love-making as she and her husband had stopped being physical with each other some time ago.

    The secret affair brings more than colour to Caroline’s cheeks as it makes her extraordinary happy and gives her such a sense of purpose that she throws herself enthusiastically into most of the activities at the Club and becomes friends with all the other women there. When word eventually gets out about her daily dalliances in Julian’s office etc, her classmates are in awe and egg her on. However Phillipe her husband doesn’t take too kindly at being cuckolded especially as in this small coastal town that they live in, news like this travels very fast.

    It seems like as a respected dentist, a loyal wife and a good mother, Caroline has always put the consideration of others first in her priorities, but now she has done a complete U turn and thought of nothing more than her own pleasure and happiness. With such a past track record, it’s obvious that she will end up doing the ‘decent thing’ in the end, but hopefully with the realisation that there is an alternative to the inevitable after all.

    The movie has received criticism that it portrays a very unrealistic view of old-age greatly enhanced by the fact that Caroline is played by the strikingly beautiful and exquisite Fanny Ardant. One would never ever dream of calling this great French actress a senior citizen no matter what her age. It is her very presence that so radiates in every scene on the screen, and so I for one am more than happy for Caroline to indulge in this fantasy, no matter how unrealistic it may be.

    A very light and enjoyable piece with one of THE grande dames of French cinema out from 20th June

  • FILM REVIEW | Mariachi Gringo

    ★★★★ | Mariachi Gringo

    When Edward was a young boy growing up in rural Kansas he dreamed of running away to join a band.

    However, he’s now about to have his 30th birthday and he’s still living at home with his parents, and still taking the mind-numbing drugs his paediatrician had prescribed, and he’s about to lose his dead end job.

    The one small joy in his life is occasionally going out to a small Mexican Restaurant in town which is owned by Alberto a mariachi player and his wife. Alberto takes a shine to Edward when he discovers a mutual love for music and he starts to mentor him with his guitar playing and teaching him how play mariachi style.

    Alberto loves telling stories of his hometown Guadalupe and how he longs to go back there and play once more in the Plaza de los Mariachis. When one day Alberta has a near fatal stroke it’s a wake-up call for Edward who finally realises that life is too short and he needs to follow his dream now before it’s too late.

    So he ups sticks and runs off to Mexico and to Alberto’s hometown but when he hears all the bands playing there he soon realises that he is a very inadequate musician. Luckily by chance, he meets Leila whose family runs a restaurant in the Square and she takes him under her wing, points him in the way of accommodation, gives him a part-time job working in the kitchen, and promises to find him the right people to help to turn him into a true mariachi.

    Leila is a live wire and a total opposite to quiet slow Edward and he soon mistakes all her kindnesses as an invitation to romance. As do we all thinking that we are about to see a boy meets girl and they all live happily every after story. Turns out this girl would prefer to meet another girl, but luckily by then Edward has his music to throw his pent up lust into, and for a white boy he turns out to be a pretty good musician after all.

    This rather charming story is the 2nd feature of director Tom Gustafson (his first was ’Were The World Mine) Has a great cast: Shawn, one half of Ashmore Canadian acting twins, played a very cute Edward, and beautiful Mexican actress Martha Higareda was wonderful as Leila; and Oscar nominee (for Babel) the indomitable Adriana Barraza played her mother. BUT undoubtedly the best thing about this whole movie was the incredible music. Totally uplifting and so hypnotic especially when it was sung so stunningly by Grammy award winner Lila Downs who I now know is a something of a Mariachi legend.

    If I have one niggle it would be that the film started out really slow and awkward with the acting really quite stiff even by stalwarts such as Kate Burton and Tom Wopat, but once we left Kansas it picked up and became an engaging piece. So maybe Dorothy was right after all!

    In Cinemas in the UK from today

  • FILM REVIEW | Fading Gigolo

    ★★★★ | Fading Gigolo

    Murray is about to close down his rare book store in New York that has been in his family for three generations. It will mean that he and his 50-something-year old assistant and life long friend Fiorovante will be unemployed and strapped for cash.

    Murray however tells his pal that his wealthy female dermatologist had mentioned that she and a girl friend of hers had always fantasized about having a menage a trois. Not that she expected Murray, somewhere in his 70’s, to do this but she asked if he knew of a suitable candidate, and so he had suggested Fiorovante for the job. Not that he was particularly handsome or even muscular, but as the ladies were looking for a ‘real man’ Murray thought that he would be the perfect candidate. That, and the fact the doctor had offered a fee of $1000.

    The reluctant Fioravante accepts the challenge as the other part time job he has in a florist shop barely keeps him in orchids. To his surprise he likes the trial run with the doctor, and so with Murray acting as his ‘pimp’, starts hooking up with other older women who are not getting any action from their husbands.

    Meanwhile Murray lives with a much younger black woman and acts as a surrogate step-dad for her four young kids. When one of them contracts lice at school, he drags the kid off to see a head lice expert in Willamsburg. She is the widow of an Hasidic Rabbi and the mother of five young children that she is bringing up on her own. Murray sensing her loneliness and the lack of any adult companionship, suggests to her that he knows a ‘therapist’ who could help. The initial encounters between her and Fiorovante are awkward to say the least, but for some weird reason this very odd and ill-matched pair start to fall in love.

    The Widow also has a fervent admirer in the shape of a neighborhood Hasidic cop who has been waiting for for two years for the right moment to make his move. Now as he notices her leaving the house regularly and going into the city, he follows her to find out what she is up too. Fearing the worse but really not knowing what exactly is going on he and his fellow cops abduct Murray and take him to an Orthodox Court to face charges that he is ruining the widow’s reputation in the hope that all will be revealed and/or she will be saved.

    It is one of the oddest plots for a comedy, which for reasons that I am still not totally clear about, actually works rather well. Even the far fetch concept of offering a young religious widow a roll in the hay was convincing, although the slapstick routine of the Courtroom was an uneasy fit in this otherwise gentle drama. The fact that writer/director/star John Turturro has his old chum Woody Allen playing Murray as Woody Allen is a major contributor to the success of the piece. Allen is perfect as the wisecracking opportunistic peddler who has no morals at all about making a quick buck especially when he doesn’t have to do much work for it at all. And Turturro with his sad soulful eyes and his gentle manner makes Fiorovanti the most perfect reluctant hooker.

    They are joined by Sharon Stone as the very sexy frustrated dermatologist, Sofia Vergara as her friend (and for once there is no trace of her ‘Modern Family’ character Gloria), Liev Schrieber is the sulky cop, and with a beautifully understated performance as the widow by Vanessa Paradis who is really not on our screens nearly enough.

    Turturro makes New York look so inviting and he greatly enhances the visuals with a beautifully scored soundtrack of vintage jazz, maybe a touch of Allen’s influence too.

    A sweet and funny movie.

    Fading Gigolo is released 23rd May

  • FILM REVIEW | Concussion

    This is the story of a mid-life crisis where a marriage between a lawyer and an ex-real estate house flipper turned housewife who live with their two kids in a comfortable affluent NY suburb starts to get stale. ★★★★

    The housewife busy with running the home, taking Pilate classes with her friends, and hanging out with the other soccer kids’ mums doing the daily school runs etc., is bored out of her head. The same head that gets hit very hard one day when her son accidentally manages to throw a ball at it causing some bloody damage.

    It results in not just concussion but some sort of epiphany that she needs to make some changes to her life.

    The edge that this story has over similar tales of marriage woes is that this couple are lesbians which doesn’t alter the reality of marital disharmony but it makes it take on a whole different resonance.

    Abby goes back to work and buys a Loft in the city to refurbish and flip throwing all her energy into the project. It’s a start, but she is still sexually frustrated as her wife Kate, a divorce lawyer, seems to prefer celibacy. So Abby hooks up with hooker, but the woman she picks from a newspaper ad turns out to be dishevelled drug user and the experience is far from happy, something she confides to Justin her contractor/friend who is working on the loft with her. Justin’s girlfriend just happens to run a call-girl service out of her college dorm and so she insures that Abby gets a very hot date for her next encounter.

    It whets her appetite for sex, but at $800 a pop this is more than she can afford on a regular basis so Justin suggests that maybe the answer would be for her to turn tricks herself. Evidently there is a need for a beautiful older woman… Abby is 42… especially to service young wealthy women looking for an experienced lesbian. It takes time to persuade Abby to decide and even then when she accepts she insists on doing it in her own terms i.e. meeting clients in a coffee shop first. And thus ‘Eleanor’, Abby’s new persona, is born.

    At the beginning most of the clients are indeed young but when Eleanor gets one who is even older and sexually more experienced, she really starts to relish her new role. And then to top it all one of her new clients turns out to be Sam, a married ‘straight’ woman friend from her own town who she has always quietly lusted after, the fantasy of her new life becomes very real indeed.

    Abby insists that ‘Eleanor’ only has a few clients a week so that she can maintain all her usual routines at home, and very conveniently now that the loft is finished she even has a place for her assignations. Her wife Kate is so wrapped up in her work and being the ‘other’ mother at home that she is completely unaware that Abby has created this other life just to get some sexual fulfillment, and even when the penny eventually drops, she really doesn’t want to accept when she sees.

    It’s an intriguing drama that is primarily convincingly real because of exceptional and sensitive performance by Robin Weigert as Abby/Eleanor. She insures that we empathise with her from the very beginning, and although it is essentially all about satisfying her needs there is something very laudable about Eleanor as she goes out of her way to insist that the other women get the fulfillment they are craving too.

    It is an impressive writing/directing debut from Stacie Passon, and it was very beautifully filmed so that the sex scenes were never explicit but extremely erotic. The plot started to waffle slightly towards the end as if it was unsure of how to resolve the drama, but that still doesn’t stop it from being an extremely watchable fine piece.

  • FILM REVIEW | My Last Round

    ★★★★ | My Last Round

    Soon after middle-aged Octavio begins his romance with his young lover Hugo life gets complicated for both of them.

    Octavio is told he must give up boxing because he has a medical condition that could cause a brain hemorrhage, and Hugo gets fired from his job as he got the boss’s daughter pregnant. Determined to put this all behind them they take off to Santiago, the nearest big city, to start a new life together.

    Octavio gets a gig cutting hair at a traditional barbers shop but as Hugo fails to find work he ends up at home all day feeling sorry for himself. It puts something of a strain on the men’s relationship as both of them feel unfulfilled and unhappy with their lot. It doesn’t improve when Octavio, missing the excitement of the ring, accepts another boxing match, whilst at the same time Hugo, now finally employed, starts to get entangled with his new boss’s daughter.

    It turns out that both men quickly regret the new choices that they have made as they were done for all the wrong reasons. In trying to retain their own heavily masculine identities and their independence they inevitably put at risk the one thing that in the end was the more important than all the others i.e. their relationship with each other.

    The fact that this story is about two poor working class Chilean men sets it apart from most gay themed movies and the sheer brutality that prize-fighter Octavio puts himself through in the ring, that is shown here in bloodied detail, is not something we expect to see in a movie which is about a very tender and loving relationship between two very different men. There is a finality to their story which writer/director Julio Jorquera Arriagada makes sure we are aware of with the very poignant opening scenes of a funeral, but he very wisely does not attempt to draw any conclusions. It is very much what is and that is both tough and sad.

    Well cast and well acted it’s a tragic love story beautifully told.

  • FILM REVIEW | Chef

    ★★★★ | Chef

    Writer/director/actor Jon Favreau is back to his indie movie roots with this sparkling new comedy that he has just completed for less then $10 mil. which evidently is considered pocket money by Hollywood standards these days.

    However the man who was relatively unknown when he had his breakthrough writing and starring in ‘Swingers’ back in 1996, can now count a lot of ‘A’ list stars amongst his friends and he has peppered them with some perfect cameo roles that make this new movie really so delightful.

    This is the story of Carl Casper, played by Favreau, who is the Executive Chef of a highly successful fancy restaurant in LA Although it is packed every night the food is safe and boring as the Chef once renowned for his innovative and creative style of cooking has lost heart. One day word gets out that the Country’s most important food critic & blogger is due to eat there that night and Carl is determined to cook something audacious and new just like the old days. He has however not taken into consideration that the conservative Restaurant owner won’t hear of any such plan, and after a showdown with him in the kitchen, Carl backs down and serves the critic food from his tired old regular menu.

    The very articulate review he writes is nothing less than damning but if this is not bad enough, news of it spreads like wildfire on Twitter. It takes Carl’s 10 year old tech-savvy son Percy to explain to his father how this, and other social media work, and as beginner Carl tries to grasp the fundamentals of it all he inadvertently sends the critic a rather nasty note that he thought was going as a private message. It was in fact very public and is the start of a vitriolic exchange of tweets between the two men that very quickly attracts thousands of followers.

    It leads to an exasperated Carl publicly taunting the critic to come back and try a new menu, and with all the public attention this spat is getting, the restaurant phone is ringing off the hook and they are having to turn away reservations every minute of the day. Come the ‘re-match’ and the owner forbids Carl to cook the proposed new menu, so he angrily just storms out just minutes before the critic walks in. Faced with having to eat the same food he has already decried, the critic starts to complain via twitter whilst he is still in the restaurant, resulting in an angry Carl hot footing it back and having a screaming fit which seemingly every single diner there catches on their cellphones and puts up on YouTube.

    Carl’s tantrum goes viral. He may no longer be a star chef but on the Internet he is very big news. Unable to get work and rapidly running out of money he reluctantly accepts an invitation by his ex-wife to travel with her and their son back home to Miami to visit the boy’s Cuban grandfather. She also connives for Carl to meet up with his predecessor i.e. her first husband Marvin a real sharp wheeler-dealer who provides the bemused Carl with an old Food Truck.

    The Truck is in a real dilapidated state but after a touch of fairy dust and a hell of a lot of elbow grease, the van is soon shiny just like new. Thanks mainly to the fact his son Percy is there to help, and also his ex-assistant chef Martin, who hearing about the truck, packs in his job in LA and hops on a plane and turns up unannounced in Miami volunteering his services.

    They start a dry run making and selling traditional cubano sandwiches on South Beach, before starting a road-trip adventure driving the truck across the country back home to California. It gives Carl a chance to get back to his roots and cook authentic food but more importantly an opportunity to bond with his son Percy for the first time since he left home. Percy’s role is not just as prep chef but also the social media expert of the group and his regular twitter feeds ensure that there are large crowds awaiting them in Austin Texas, New Orleans and all the other colorful stops they make.

    This very touching tale about rediscovering oneself and having a second chance has a predictable ending but its the journey that it takes that makes it the real delight that it is. With cameos by a barely unrecognisable Scarlett Johansson as a smouldering sexy Maitre’d, Dustin Hoffman as the grumpy restaurant owner, Oliver Platt as the Critic, Bobby Cannavale as an hilarious insecure Sous Chef, Amy Sedaris as a push PR, and an hilarious scene-stealing turn by Robert Downey Jnr as Marvin the ex husband. Inez, Carl’s ex wife was played by Sofía Vergara in a quieter version of her ‘Modern Family’ role that she plays for every part she is in, and John Leguizamo was Martin the other chef. However Mr. Downey Jr wasn’t the only performance that totally charmed the audience, as 11 year old ‘veteran’ actor Emjay Anthony was completely enchanting as young Percy.

    Mr Favreau has lovingly portrayed an authentic view of Miami Beach, but even more important has treated all the cooking scenes with such sheer passion and in great detail that you will literally dash out from the cinema drooling and ready to eat something delicious. It’s a wee gem of a movie.

    Chef is in Theatres from the 9th May 2014 in UK and USA

  • FILM REVIEW | Tom At The Farm

    ★★★★ | Tom At The Farm

    Canadian filmmaker Xavier Dolan may be sick of being constantly described as a wunderkind, but when you are just 24 years old like he is and have already made four head-turning mind-blowing Award winning movies, then the description is more than apt. Not content with writing and directing each of them he usually loves to edit, design the costumes, create the music, and now in his latest one, a taut psychological thriller, he stars in it too.

    Tom is grieving the death of his boyfriend Guy (known to his family as Guillaume) and he travels to a rather bleak part of Northern Quebec to attend the funeral and share his loss with the family he has never even met. He quickly discovers from a very scary encounter with Francis, Guilliame’s older brother, that not only was he ‘not out’ to his mother, but that Francis had actually created an imaginary girlfriend so that she would never suspect. In the first of many threats, Francis menacingly insists that Tom stays and keeps quiet about being gay and also adds some credence to the existence of Guillaume’s ‘girlfriend’ before he then goes from the family farm for good, never to return.

    To avoid doing just this, immediately after the funeral Tom tries to leave to go back to the city but in his panic he forgets his luggage and turns the car around to head back to the Farm to retrieve it. In doing so he confronts Francis and so refuses to go along with the subterfuge, which results in first of the beatings he will get at the hands of this psychotic bully. It also soon becomes obvious that despite all the violence both men are attracted to each other…Tom to Francis despite all the vicious physical abuse… and Francis to Tom even though he is bitterly angry about his own repressed homosexuality.

    Tom settles into some sort of routine and looks almost set to stay at the Farm and when he actually arranges for the fake girlfriend to come visit to appease the mother, he refuses to leave even when it is obvious to her and Tom that he is in real danger if he stays there a moment longer with the mad sociopath brother. He claims that it’s because that Francis could not manage the Farm on the own, but it’s clear that he actually is drawn to Francis’s deranged behaviour.

    It is a superb fist-clenching piece with an atmosphere of real fear that never ever lets up. I am not sure what was worse, knowing what Francis was actually capable of (and there is much more that I haven’t even touched on) or the realisation of what a pliable and willing Tom would accept. In amongst all of this, there is one most glorious scene where the two men tango together in the barn where the intimacy will only give way to violence again. The high pitch tension never ever gives a clue as to how it will develop or end up.

    Mr. Dolan sporting tousled dirty blond hair turns in a convincingly effective performance as Tom, and it is matched by veteran Canadian actress Lise Roy playing the mother with such a defiant tone, and also Pierre Yves- Cardinal as a very intimidating latently gay Francis.

    I am unashamedly a big fan of Mr. Dolan’s work and have never subscribed to the notion sometimes proffered that he is always about style over substance… the reason I am passionate about the work is the fact that he combines both so very well. However with this movie you can sense a more mature quality, and I believe that Mr. Dolan really can quite rightly claim the crown of being an out queer Hitchcock.

    P.S. The only fact I have given this a less than perfect score is there were two strands of the plot that puzzled me. I couldn’t believe that the mother could have been so completely unaware of what was going on in either of her son’s life. And secondly would an urbane copy editor at a city ad agency really take to farming so eagerly as Tom did?

    It did however won the prestigious FIPRESCI Prize at the Venice Film Festival, and is a totally unmissable movie.