AmosL
08-11-2006, 08:15 AM
"Hard Pill" , "True Love", and "Regarding Billy"
Three New DVDs
by
Amos Lassen
Three new interesting DVDs came my way this past week and they are both powerful although very different.
"Hard Pill" is daring and captivating: an exercise in "what if" which succeeds because it is based on personal experience. Tim, a gay man, has plenty friends but not much of a love life. He is a bit over the gay culture and is one of those guys who looks for personality rather than beauty, brain rather than brawn. In doing so he has become deeply depressed. He wonders if he might be happier as a straight man. Women seem to flirt with him, men seem to overlook him.
He signs up for an experimental drug that will surpress homosexual tendencies and make him straight, For a while he is happy; he has a girlfriend, he has dumped the excess baggage that tied him to the gay world, Yet as we might have guessed this happiness is short lived.
The characters and the focus on them is what makes this movie work. All are real people with real problems and by this we learn that if there were a pill that could change someone, it would not only affect those who take the pill but everyone else around him. The moral seems to deal with self acceptance and living with choices made. Granted a movie of this kind sounds dry and heavy but the opposite is true. Laughs are plentiful and even though the subject is serious. a dry wit permeates the entire movie.
One of the questions I asked myself was if this pill was a miracle cure or an attack on the gay lifestyle. I wondered what else would change in a person's life if he or she would suddenly stop being gay. Honestly I felt that when I read the plot synopsis of the film I halfway expected to have to face a story about a fictional cure for homosexuality and to brainwashed with didactic political shtick. Nothing could be further from the truth. It is an intuitive view of how people really live and a good one at that.
"True Love" is a group of seven short films that explore the nature of gay love. It starts with a young kid trying to get his parents' attention by wearing his sister's clothes and moves on to the discovery of homosexuality in a beautiful short, "Going Gay". There is a short about the taboos of incest and molestation in "History" which is beautifully handled and heart wrenching. "Sunday" shows the relationship of middle aged lovers celebrating their anniversary. "He Was Perfect" deals with relationships, betrayal and lust while "Staying Together" explores the effect of AIDS and cheating on a relationship. Finally "A Little Drama" is a beautiful pantomime of the Romeo and Juliet story. It is a wonderful compilation of short films and although others who have seen the DVD do not always agree with me, I enjoyed the experience.
"Regarding Billy" is by far the best of the three. It is the moving story of requited love and beautifully and tenderly filmed and acted. Billy sudenly finds himself in charge of his mentally retatrded brother when his parents are killed in an automobile accident. He returns to his hometown to become a guardian and best friend to Johnny who is slow. His best friend, Dean, who has been away in the service. suddenly returns as well and Billy finds his feelings for him resurfacing. The emotionality of the film cannot be explained but leaves the viewer with that warm feeling of all encompassing love. Simply made and acted with incredible feeling, this is a movie that you can watch again and again. It makes you believe that there is love in the world.
Three New DVDs
by
Amos Lassen
Three new interesting DVDs came my way this past week and they are both powerful although very different.
"Hard Pill" is daring and captivating: an exercise in "what if" which succeeds because it is based on personal experience. Tim, a gay man, has plenty friends but not much of a love life. He is a bit over the gay culture and is one of those guys who looks for personality rather than beauty, brain rather than brawn. In doing so he has become deeply depressed. He wonders if he might be happier as a straight man. Women seem to flirt with him, men seem to overlook him.
He signs up for an experimental drug that will surpress homosexual tendencies and make him straight, For a while he is happy; he has a girlfriend, he has dumped the excess baggage that tied him to the gay world, Yet as we might have guessed this happiness is short lived.
The characters and the focus on them is what makes this movie work. All are real people with real problems and by this we learn that if there were a pill that could change someone, it would not only affect those who take the pill but everyone else around him. The moral seems to deal with self acceptance and living with choices made. Granted a movie of this kind sounds dry and heavy but the opposite is true. Laughs are plentiful and even though the subject is serious. a dry wit permeates the entire movie.
One of the questions I asked myself was if this pill was a miracle cure or an attack on the gay lifestyle. I wondered what else would change in a person's life if he or she would suddenly stop being gay. Honestly I felt that when I read the plot synopsis of the film I halfway expected to have to face a story about a fictional cure for homosexuality and to brainwashed with didactic political shtick. Nothing could be further from the truth. It is an intuitive view of how people really live and a good one at that.
"True Love" is a group of seven short films that explore the nature of gay love. It starts with a young kid trying to get his parents' attention by wearing his sister's clothes and moves on to the discovery of homosexuality in a beautiful short, "Going Gay". There is a short about the taboos of incest and molestation in "History" which is beautifully handled and heart wrenching. "Sunday" shows the relationship of middle aged lovers celebrating their anniversary. "He Was Perfect" deals with relationships, betrayal and lust while "Staying Together" explores the effect of AIDS and cheating on a relationship. Finally "A Little Drama" is a beautiful pantomime of the Romeo and Juliet story. It is a wonderful compilation of short films and although others who have seen the DVD do not always agree with me, I enjoyed the experience.
"Regarding Billy" is by far the best of the three. It is the moving story of requited love and beautifully and tenderly filmed and acted. Billy sudenly finds himself in charge of his mentally retatrded brother when his parents are killed in an automobile accident. He returns to his hometown to become a guardian and best friend to Johnny who is slow. His best friend, Dean, who has been away in the service. suddenly returns as well and Billy finds his feelings for him resurfacing. The emotionality of the film cannot be explained but leaves the viewer with that warm feeling of all encompassing love. Simply made and acted with incredible feeling, this is a movie that you can watch again and again. It makes you believe that there is love in the world.