Big Eden
|
List Price: Our Price: $9.99 You Save: $4.96 (33%) Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days Buy Used: from $8.63 (click here) Category: DVD See more DVD releases |
|---|
Canada
Movie Reviews of Big Eden
Movie Review: A Utopea of a Film
Summary: 5 Stars
What a wonderful surprise on all levels: script, director, cast, production value and -last but not least - emotional impact. This is probably the first gay-themed film that truly touched me on a very personal level.
Structured as a modern-day fable, "Big Eden" explores the same issues that peoples of minorities feel and deal with on a daily basis for having committed no other crime than being "different" from the "norm".
Normally, we "freaks of nature" seek a false sense of belonging in ghettos, or seek anonymity in the hustle and bustle of large cities - anywhere, as long as it is far away from our families or close-knit communities of "normal" people. Learning to hate ourselves at a very early age for being different (those of who shout "pride" the loudest are usually the one who harbor the most self-loathing), secretly wishing to fit in and be accepted as opposed to rebelliously boxing our way into a society that prefers evolution to revolution, most "minority peoples" become emotional cripples, incapable of accepting or giving real love - how can we, when we don't even love ourselves?
This is the reality that our hero, Henry Hart, lives in...that is, until he enters "Big Eden": a small, tucked-away community in Montana in which everyone knows everyone, where no one stands alone, where Christian love is more than a goal that makes us feel guilty for not achieving. "Big Eden" is a utopia in which people are judged for their goodness and not their race or sexual proclivities, in which the concept of family extends way past bloodlines.
Those of us who have spent their lives on the outside looking in, or anonymously minding their own business from within, like Henry, will feel awkward at first being surrounded by all of this unconditional acceptance and human kindness. We will want to shun it off as intrusive at best, not to be trusted at worst, like Henry. With luck, we will, however, get sucked into the healing quality of it all before reaching for the remote control to shut it out and label it as a painful fantasy that will never happen. Many will want to run from this "Eden" (as does Henry) before even giving it a real chance.
Those who stay with this allegory for a perfect world in which all people can live along side of each other, will start to understand that this new Eden will only be achievable, when we stop hiding and hating ourselves...when we understand that love and caring can be infectious - they could even cause a pandemic.
Does "Big Eden" really exist? No, not at the moment. Could it ever exist? Yes, it is possible, but probably on a global level highly improbable...after all, we are "only" human. That having been said, it should never cease to be our goal, and who knows, maybe it is possible on a smaller level - like the microcosm represented in "Big Eden", and that microcosm starts within.
Movie Review: A Delightful Fable!
Summary: 5 Stars
This is one of two recent films with "gay" themes which surprised me with their excellence-- the other having been "Latter Days". But how different they are. Latter Days is a film which touches upon the sore points of gay existence-- the disapproval of blood relations (and homophobia in general), dogmatic religion, AIDS, the seductiveness of a superficial lifestyle, coming out, achieving balance in an unapproving wider society; and engages these points directly. Big Eden is a fable, a delightful fairy tale: it takes place in the aptly named small town of Big Eden, Montana: a town where homophobia appears not to exist at all, where gay townsfolk are protected and treasured by their neighbors-- where old widow women and weatherbeaten cowboys actively play matchmaker, and meddle with only the best intentions. Henry, a native of the town, now a successful artist in New York, is called home to care for his grandfather. Also newly back in town is his high school best-friend, Dean, for whom he carried a torch all those years, but who was straight. Dean is married-- a father-- and now divorced, curious, and confused. The local general store is run by Native-American Pike, who also knew Henry as a boy-- and who has secretly harbored love for him. Pike is bighearted and a man of few words... and when his friends realize he is in love with Henry, they are deeply sympathetic, and only worried Pike will get hurt. They also care for Henry. The absence of homophobia, of the omnipresence (elsewhere) of AIDS, allows us to focus on these three men and the human issues they share with all of mankind-- love, fear of rejection, uncertainty of what one truly wants. The townspeople are delightful: Nan Martin, as the delightful Widow Thayer, may be a busybody, but she is one with only the best intentions and without any malice. When Henry returns she throws him a party- with all the eligible young ladies she can rustle up. When the error of her judgment becomes clear, she intrepidly throws him another party-- with all the eligible young MEN she can corral. The actors are uniformly superb-- the performances a delight--- and like all good fables, there is a warm, happy ending. Someday, in public, in front of their whole towns, gay people may be able to dance together, and kiss, as their straight counterparts do without giving it another thought. Not soon-- not here in America, in the present climate of increasing repressiveness, with our president vociferously against gay rights and plebiscites voting to deny gays the right to marriage-- but somewhere, someday. And this sweet fable shows us that such a time, and place, would indeed be a veritable Eden.Movie Review: Leave Your Cynicism Behind on Your Trip to Big Eden
Summary: 5 Stars
I first saw Big Eden at the Cleveland International Film Festival in March of 2001, where it won the Best Film award. The screening was attended by director Thomas Bezucha, who fielded questions from the enthusiastic audience afterward. I saw it again during its general release and for over a year I have eagerly anticipated the DVD. Big Eden grows better with repeat viewing, a sign of rare quality.There is a trick to enjoying this film: abandon your cynicism. There are no political statements here (except the general one that we CAN get along); there are no histrionics; the film is gratefully free of controversy and artsy pretension; and the characters are allowed to be (and look) imperfect. This is a simple story about the many ways love expresses itself, from Henry taking care of his grandfather, to Pike falling in love with Henry, and the entire town caring for one another. This film is suffused with the many kinds of human love which make life worth living. As such, this film is a welcome change from some of the depressing, lurid fare independent film fans are used to having forced upon us. Bezucha directs this film, his first, with calm professionalism and sensitive simplicity. The quality of the production values belies the fact that this film was shot on a shoestring budget.
Is this a realistic value of acceptance in small town America? Not entirely. However, this film was shot in a rural setting not unlike the fictional one of Big Eden--and the fact that the overwhelming majority of citizens supported the production augers well for the real-life Big Edens of the future.
Wolfe Video has provided a strong DVD presentation, with plenty of extras, from the usual director's commentary, to a selection of recipes from the film. The picture quality is excellent, well defined with deep color saturation. The sound is clear and dimensional, although Bezucha's insightful commentary is not always clear over the dialogue. One minor complaint, Wolfe Video has not provided subtitles of closed-captioning. Considering the large number of hearing-impaired gay people, this should be standard.
For those who wish to be shocked, angered or titillated, there are already a plethora gay themed films that accomplish that. Big Eden offers gay film's first old-fashioned, heart warming love story. If you're looking to be uplifted, Big Eden is the film for you.
Movie Review: Simply Great!
Summary: 5 Stars
Most 'Gay Cinema' seems to deal with one of three main themes - being a drag queen; living with HIV/ dying of AIDS related illness; or dealing with an often painful/ traumatic coming out - first love scenario. All very worthy, but getting a bit boring quite honestly.
So how refreshing to see Big Eden. The film concerns a successful (in terms of career, not love) artist, Henry Hart who is asked to return to his small home town in rural Montana - Big Eden - to help with his sick grandfather. He is unwilling to return in part because of his successful career, but in truth he uses this as an excuse not to go back so as to avoid painful memories. Of course he does return and so begins a new awakening for him, though perhaps re-awakening would be a better term to use.
Having returned to Big eden he finds that the focus of his adolescent first, an un-requited love, has also returned to town with his two sons. He also strikes up a re-aquaintance with the painfully shy Pike, a local Native American storekeeper. Henry Hart re-adjusts to the slow and easy-going pace of life in Big Eden where people are just busy being nice and helpful to each other.
The story develops and different aspects of the different characters emerge each with their own concerns and complexities. Henry slowly realises that the concern people have for him is not born out of a need for gossip, but genuine affection. He eventually manages to put the past behind him and finds love in probably the most unexpected quarter.
Ok, so it's probably not like real life because in real life the lovely group of men who hang around Pike's store would be more likely to beat Henry up than embrace him as a member of their community. Perhaps though, that's where the beauty of Big Eden lies, it's a 'might be, should be' place that all of us want at some level - unconditional acceptance of who we are and who we choose to love.
There are some great characters in this. I've already mentioned the chaps who hang around the store and Pike; but the grandfather is great and the Widow Thayer is not to be missed!
Movie Review: Eden on Earth
Summary: 5 Stars
It's been interesting to hear and read comments about this film, from fellow reviewers and friends. Some of them center on "unbelievable, unrealistic, no small town in Montana would ever act that way." But they miss an important point about this film. If our goal someday is to build a society that accepts all people for who they are, then we need to support those positive images on our movie screens as much as possible. Thomas Bezucha's vision provides us a beautiful fable and beautiful images in the film called "Big Eden"."Big Eden" is about Henry Hart, struggling to find the important things in life, realizing those things are in the community that raised him as a child. Traveling back to Big Eden, Montana, to care for his ailing grandfather allows him to confront issues in his life that he spent many years running away from. Landing back home, surrounded by people that devotely love him, becomes emotionally overwhelming for him, and his struggle only intensifies. Throw in his best friend/unrequited love, and new potential love in Eric Schweig's incredible performance as Pike. As Henry falls deeper into Big Eden's web, he finds himself discovering answers, and even more questions.
Give Bezucha credit for a gutsy script. Here is a gay film that breaks many rules of "gay filmmaking": there is no sex, there is no 20 year old cute boy walking around shirtless, no club scene, no drugs, no homophobic country hicks in trucks ready to pounce at first light. He gives us straight and gay characters who believe and act as people first, who are allowed the intimate, complex lives we all should have. He gives us a town that celebrates all the good things in life: companion, love, honesty, compassion, without fear of labels. Mostly, he gives us a story, some incredible characters that we absolutely love, and sets it in some of the most beautiful scenery captured on film in recent years.
Three cheers for Big Eden, it's one step in the right direction.