AmosL
09-24-2006, 07:45 AM
“TWO BROTHERS AND TWO OTHERS’
Small Pleasures
Amos Lassen and Literary Pride
Sometimes low budget films and full of surprises. “Two Brothers and Two Others” (TLA Releasing) is one of those surprises. Made on a shoestring budget, it looks as if it were just thrown together by an amateur movie maker with a hand held video camera. Looking at it more closely there is a wonderful story and some good acting. Actually the DVD is made up of three short films and each of them has redeeming qualities.
The centerpiece is “Two Brothers”, a black and white relationship movie with high drama and low comedy. The action takes place in Vancouver, British Colombia. Richard Bell, the director, writer and cameraman used four characters to explore the relationship between Riley and Chad, two brothers who are as separate as day and night yet who ache to be close. Riley, after delivering the eulogy at his mother’s funeral and settling her estate, drives to see Chad. On his way there he picks up a good looking hitchhiker, Chad, Riley who is gay, listens to stories of Chad’s girlfriend and then accidentally meets him at a gay bar in Vancouver. As Chad submits to Riley’s desires family stories emerge. It seems that when Chad and Riley’s father dies, Chad moved away leaving Riley to tend to the ailing mother. Through a series of twists and turns, the brothers come to love each other and a new level of understanding comes about.
To truly enjoy this film, you must be able to overlook the graininess of the film and the lack of explicit set design. In the commentary of the film we learn that money was so tight that even a pizza for the cast and crew was out of the question. DO NOT discount this movie, it has a lot to say about loving and acceptance and as hard as it is to watch it is a rewarding experience.
I found “Birthday Time” to be a delight. Topher is a few days short of being 18 and as he says “very gay”. He is still a high school student who is desperate to have his first sexual experience before his eighteenth birthday. He is unlucky in love and sex. He comes close in the school bathroom and when that fails, he sneaks into the bathroom of a g ay bar and is thrown out, His mother is summoned to a meeting in Pittsburgh and leaves him in the care of the same man who came close to being his first trick in the bathroom of the bar. This very same man just happens to be the father of one of his classmates. There are some clever shower and seduction scenes and a happy ending and the overall effect of the movie shows the frustration of a youth who accepts himself early on but cannot find a way to consummate his feelings.
Finally there is the prize of the disc, “Cruise Control” is only five minutes long and is not much more than an elaborate joke which takes place in a gay bar. All of us know what it is to be cruised by the wrong guy. How our super macho, super well built gay main character handles this is something you have to see for yourself. This is a clever and witty short but I do not advise any of you to try his technique, especially when you se the consequence. I had a great laugh and admired the quality of the film. The moral was just and fits all those guys who think that they are just way to hot.
Small Pleasures
Amos Lassen and Literary Pride
Sometimes low budget films and full of surprises. “Two Brothers and Two Others” (TLA Releasing) is one of those surprises. Made on a shoestring budget, it looks as if it were just thrown together by an amateur movie maker with a hand held video camera. Looking at it more closely there is a wonderful story and some good acting. Actually the DVD is made up of three short films and each of them has redeeming qualities.
The centerpiece is “Two Brothers”, a black and white relationship movie with high drama and low comedy. The action takes place in Vancouver, British Colombia. Richard Bell, the director, writer and cameraman used four characters to explore the relationship between Riley and Chad, two brothers who are as separate as day and night yet who ache to be close. Riley, after delivering the eulogy at his mother’s funeral and settling her estate, drives to see Chad. On his way there he picks up a good looking hitchhiker, Chad, Riley who is gay, listens to stories of Chad’s girlfriend and then accidentally meets him at a gay bar in Vancouver. As Chad submits to Riley’s desires family stories emerge. It seems that when Chad and Riley’s father dies, Chad moved away leaving Riley to tend to the ailing mother. Through a series of twists and turns, the brothers come to love each other and a new level of understanding comes about.
To truly enjoy this film, you must be able to overlook the graininess of the film and the lack of explicit set design. In the commentary of the film we learn that money was so tight that even a pizza for the cast and crew was out of the question. DO NOT discount this movie, it has a lot to say about loving and acceptance and as hard as it is to watch it is a rewarding experience.
I found “Birthday Time” to be a delight. Topher is a few days short of being 18 and as he says “very gay”. He is still a high school student who is desperate to have his first sexual experience before his eighteenth birthday. He is unlucky in love and sex. He comes close in the school bathroom and when that fails, he sneaks into the bathroom of a g ay bar and is thrown out, His mother is summoned to a meeting in Pittsburgh and leaves him in the care of the same man who came close to being his first trick in the bathroom of the bar. This very same man just happens to be the father of one of his classmates. There are some clever shower and seduction scenes and a happy ending and the overall effect of the movie shows the frustration of a youth who accepts himself early on but cannot find a way to consummate his feelings.
Finally there is the prize of the disc, “Cruise Control” is only five minutes long and is not much more than an elaborate joke which takes place in a gay bar. All of us know what it is to be cruised by the wrong guy. How our super macho, super well built gay main character handles this is something you have to see for yourself. This is a clever and witty short but I do not advise any of you to try his technique, especially when you se the consequence. I had a great laugh and admired the quality of the film. The moral was just and fits all those guys who think that they are just way to hot.