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: Thoroughly enjoyable fantasy
Summary: 5 Stars
What I have enjoyed most about this movie is trying to figure out the "back story" that put the characters where they are in this movie. I can't help but think that Big Eden was not what it is now. That as times have changed, so have the people of Big Eden. The movie is predictable, but for me, all the more enjoyable for that.Henry, a successful NY artist (and he's not getting ready for his first opening, just an important one), returns to Big Eden to care for his ailing grandfather. He has spent the last 18 years in NY trying unsuccessfully to get over his highschool crush, Dean. I think probably because he ran away in the first place and never had closure.
Pike, the owner of the local market/coffee house, secretly loves Henry, maybe since highschool. That question, although asked, is never answered. Pike is so shy that he cannot tell Henry how he feels, so he cooks for him.
Dean, Henry's heartthrob, has recently moved back to Big Eden too. Dean desperately wants to be in Henry's life, but he "can't" be in it the way Henry wants him to be.
A lot of the relationship between Dean and Henry, I think, is about coming to terms with how to love each other without being "together." It's not really summed up in the end, but you can imagine that Henry was probably best man at Dean's wedding.
Both Henry and Pike are fairly closed off people, not just in the closet. It's wonderful to see them both come out of their shells. Pike's cooking scenes with his cronies are a hoot.
My only complaint is that I would have loved a longer, more detailed, epilogue.
Movie Review: Simply amazing. Hilarious, charming, pertinent....AMAZING!
Summary: 5 Stars
"Big Eden" is just so wonderfully good. It has won so many Best Feature
and Audience Awards at queer film festival awards, nation-wide, and it's
because it's one of those stories that everyone gets. It's a tale of a
talented gay artist in New York returning home to small-town Montana life,
and finding "home." It's remarkably touching, and overwhelmingly
hilarious.
Henry has it made as an artist in New York. He has a spectacular loft, a
loving and pregnant fag hag best friend, but he's lonely. So when he hears
that his grandfather is dying, he returns to the quintessential and
picturesque town of Big Eden, his northwest Montana home. Looking only to
care for his ailing relative, he finds an over-the-top cast of loving town
folks just aching to reel him in. From his first love (now settled with a
wife and family), to an adorably shy and polite high school friend who
wants more than just friendship, to the absolutely hilarious older woman
of the town who is just filled with connections and gossip, Henry is
reintroduced to more of a "home" than he ever remembered.
We all know the story of returning home after years of change. And of
rediscovering buried love of the past, and opening up to new
possibliities. With some stellar performances, and some not-so-stellar,
the cast comes together beautifully in this adorable love story. One of
the best queer romantic drama/comedies I've ever seen. It's just precious.
Movie Review: Big Eden, Big Surprise
Summary: 5 Stars
I purchased this DVD ages ago, on recommendation from a friend. Never having even heard of it, I didn't know what to expect, and it just sat on my shelf for weeks. Finally, I got around to watching it, and I was very pleasantly surprised.The biggest surprise for me wasn't the ending, which anyone who's ever seen a Hollywood romance could smell a mile away. It was the fact that this movie was so very well done. Having grown up gay in North Dakota (also "timber and cowboy country," better or worse than Montana, I'm not sure), I find some of the fairy tale aspects a little unbelievable, but on the whole the story is incredibly touching and extremely, EXTREMELY well-acted. I didn't immediately recognize many in the cast, but taking a look at what else the actors have done out of curiosity, I began to recognize them from roles in Erin Brokovich, Cruel Intentions, Minority Report, You've Got Mail, Party of Five and many others. This work showcases these actors in extraordinary form. The development of even minor characters is impressive. The director bypasses superficial race issues which could have been beaten to death in another, less sensitive take on this plot. Instead, he focuses on the complex relationships of the characters, transcending the almost irrelevant difference in race. I find it hard to believe this is writer and director Tom Bezucha's first major motion picture, but indeed it is, and it is an amazing debut. I most certainly look forward to his future work.
Movie Review: A Little Treasure with Big Heart
Summary: 5 Stars
I had never heard of "Big Eden" until recently. But a friend prodded me into viewing it. In short, I loved it. In fact, I sent the following e-mail to my posse:Lads, have I got a movie tip for you. "Big Eden." It is the sweetest gay film I have seen in...well...ever...? Just a delight.
Story in a nutshell: Henry Hart, a successful NYC artist with an only-in-the-movies Brooklyn studio/loft, dashes home (Big Eden, Montana) when Grandpa has a stroke. To Henry's chagrin, his teen heart's desire, Dean, also has relocated to Big Eden. Well, that is the seed of the story...but it grows into a lovely, colorful flower.
OK...it is sweet and sentimental...and the town is some kind of Utopia where gay people are Just Like Real People. But the performances are terrific! [All hail Arye Gross and Eric Schweig!]
The story is intelligent, touching, romantic and funny. ["I laughed; I cried; it's better than 'Cats'"!] Indeed, our heroes are...you better sit down for this...average-looking, middle aged men...which came as a shock to me as I thought there was a law banning gay films that didn't feature 25-year-old, full-lipped, gym-buffed boys who drip in equal parts cuteness, testosterone and fabulosity.
Oh, and the Montana scenery is lush and...to this hurried New Yorker...most inviting.
All in all, kids, "Big Eden" is a video/DVD to find and enjoy with the entire family. Dash to Amazon.com now and buy it!
Movie Review: If you have a romantic side...
Summary: 5 Stars
..."Big Eden" can disarm your cynicism and take you to a place you want to believe can exist where love (and conspiracies to enable love) reign supreme. Big Eden is Bali Hai, Shangri-La, and, of course, Eden itself.
Operating on the memory of liking the film when I first saw it some years ago, this Christmas I bought four copies as gifts for four special friends. Their thanks and feedback made me realize that I'd left myself out of something really good so I bought a copy just for me. Watching it anew was intensely joyful. A towel came in handy as I let myself fully experience the little town in Montana, the growth and development of the main characters, and the loving involvement of the tight-knit community of the town in the welfare of its members. How many people, gay or straight, yearn for such a community? I'm lucky in having something very much like it but in a big city rather than the magnificent natural setting of "Big Eden".
This movie speaks to so many of our needs and dreams; romance, family, close community, natural beauty, simplicity. If the protagonists were women, or men and women, "Big Eden", made with such love and positivity, would still be a jewel. I'll watch it from time to time for the rest of my life whenever I need a non-chemical anti-depressant, a tear-duct flush, or just a fine movie to enjoy.