Leaving Metropolis
by Brad Fraser
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DVD Cover Information
Actor: Cherilee Taylor, Lynda Boyd, Thom Allison, Troy Ruptash, Vince CorazzaDirector: Brad Fraser
Brand: Wolfe
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Original Language), Unknown
Format: Closed-captioned, Color, Digital Sound, Dolby, DVD, Letterboxed, NTSC, Widescreen
Running Time: 88 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2004-04-06
Audience Rating: Unrated
Studio: Wolfe Video
Movie Reviews of Leaving Metropolis
Movie Review: As Fine A Film As You'd Expect From Brad Fraser!
Summary: 5 Stars
Brad Fraser is an excellent writer and has elected to move his successful play "Poor Super Man" (1994) onto the screen with great success. Fraser is also a writer and co-producer for the enormously popular "Queer as Folk" television series and he knows his subjects well. He has the ability to write about the gay world without making a 'gay movie' primarily because he shows such comfort with the variations in gender identities that he can explore all facets. The result is a film that is more about people than about stereotypes, and a fine job he does in writing scenes for characters who, in other director's hands, might seem contrived at best and silly at worst. The story revolves around a gifted young painter David (Troy Ruptash) who lives with a transsexual friend who is awaiting gender-altering surgery while coping with the cold fact of being HIV positive (Shannon - played by a very fine actor whose name passed by too fast on the screen to acknowledge). David also has an alcoholic over-the-hill blonde reporter Kryka (again, played to perfection by an actress whose name flew by in the credits). David has painter's block and to escape that state he seeks anonymous employment as a waiter to observe life, seeking visual input for his canvases. The Main Street Diner is run by a newly married couple - Matt (Vincent Corazza) and Violet (Cherilee Taylor). David eyes the apparent 'straight guy' Matt and is surprised to find his gaze returned. The closeted Matt has a fling with David which produces a successful break for David's painter's block (he paints beautiful nude images of Matt without Matt's knowing it) and an unsuccessful dissolution of Matt's marriage. The active foil in all of this is Kryka and she is the undoing of the affairs. Meanwhile Shannon faces her imminent demise from AIDS and it is this peak of verismo that shakes all the superficiality down and results in some important changes in the characters.
On the surface the story may sound a bit on the soap opera side, but in Fraser's hands and with the accomplished acting of this physically beautiful cast, it all works. The cinematography is beautiful, the art designing is excellent (the paintings David paints are the creations of a fine artist), and the musical score is sensitive, witty, and well edited. Brad Fraser is a force to contend with and if there is anyone able to incorporate the 'gay world' into mainstream moviemaking, he surely is on top of the list. Despite some fine steamy scenes (Matt in bed with both Violet and then with David), this film is for general audiences who are open to understanding the meaning of extended family. A first-class film.
Summary of Leaving Metropolis
Leaving Metropolis is the film version of Brad Fraser?s hit play Poor Super Man, which Time Magazine called one of the top ten plays of 1994. Fraser also wrote Love and Human Remains. He currently is writer and coproducer for Showtime?s Queer as Folk. David?s a successful artist in need of a muse. Looking for inspiration, he applies for a job as a waiter. Owners Matt and Violet don?t know quite what to make of David ? he seems unconcerned with money, and overqualified for the job ? but they love his energy and ideas. When David eventually reveals he?s a gay artist, Matt ? who dreams of being a cartoonist ? asks to see his paintings. But when he finds he has become David?s secret subject, unexpected feelings overwhelm Matt, and he?s drawn into a risky relationship that will change all their lives.Torrid sex and tortured emotions fill the screen in Leaving Metropolis. David (Troy Ruptash), a successful painter, has lost his inspiration. To find stimulation, he gets a job at a small, out-of-the-way diner, run by married couple Violet (Cherilee Taylor) and Matt (Vincent Corazza, Owning Mahoney). When sparks fly with Matt, David gets stimulation and inspiration--but the portraits he paints of Matt may break the couple apart. The machinations of a bitter friend bring the situation to a boil. Though filled with lots and lots of sex (both gay and straight), Leaving Metropolis pays as much attention to the character's minds as to their flesh (well, almost as much--the sex scenes are quite extensive and the bodies are all beautiful). Some of the script's metaphors are a little clumsy, but the psychology is convincing. Adapted by award-winning writer Brad Fraser from his play Poor Super Man. --Bret Fetzer
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