Shelter
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Movie Reviews of Shelter
Movie Review: A Generously Spirited Love Story
Summary: 5 Stars
"Pure being," a friend of mine once said enviously of the surfers riding the waves along the Southern California coast some thirty years ago. Though there was a strict demarcation between the gay section of the beaches and those parts that belonged to the surfers alone, even then a few surfers hung out at night in the Breakers or one of the other gay bars along Highway One, especially in Laguna. There, what seemed so easy a life out in the Pacific, just following the next big waves one after another, became less obvious and more conflicted. Stories about coming out have so dominated many gay films that the theme has developed into an archetype, a genre of its own with endless variations: from dark into light, from secrets into revelation. In Shelter, Zach is a young artist who has turned down a scholarship at CalArts in order to stay home to care for his nephew Cody. Zach has inherited the family gene, from his mother he says. All the concerns and nearly all the love the five year old Cody should find in his mother, Zach's sister Jeanne, he gets from Zach alone. Zach has had a long time girlfriend, but everything about their relationship is tentative, on hold. When he meets his best friend's older brother again after several years, they surf together, just as they used to. But Shaun is an openly gay man who has published a novel which Zach has read. Shaun's sexuality is no secret to Zach, but Zach's is to Shaun--as it may still be to Zach himself, at least in the sense that he has never before been with a man (or in all likelihood a woman; his responses to his girlfriend are mostly tepid, except when his real longings frighten him). What Zach wants more than anything are family and love. After a night during which he and Shaun kiss, Zach is happy but its meaning is still uncertain. He rides the waves, paces the deck of the house he shares with his sister and nephew in what he calls San Pedro's ghetto, then drives back to the family house on the beach where Shaun is staying to recuperate emotionally after a boyfriend has dumped him in L.A. What follows between Zach and Shaun is stunning in its impact upon both men. Their coupling, however, is not filmed as soft core porn, all or nearly all about the physical alone, but as love scenes. What matters most is the feeling shown through their eyes. All the acting in this emotionally profound film is superb, but the love beyond words Zach and Shaun manage to express just with their eyes has almost never before been seen in movies, not even, say, in Brokeback where to some degree it was often having to be hidden by one or the other man. What follows in Shelter is Zach's coming to understand what that love means to him for the rest of his life. Part of this is the usual problem of coming out to his friends and to his sister, though nearly all that effort is accomplished for him; they know before he tells them. But he must also come to see himself better; he must change, too, as he tells Shaun later. Part of that transformation is his discovering more fully who Shaun is. Shaun has been criticized by some viewers for being too patient with Zach. But patience is part of love, one of the virtues that help people abide all the messes we make or almost make out of our lives. When Zach learns that Shaun has mailed his application and portfolio to CalArts, he sees, quietly, the man's generosity. In a way, Shaun has shown that he loves Zach as kindly and patiently as Zach loves Cody. Zach's and Shaun's erotic communion is intense. But this is a love that is also caritas, deep, perhaps abiding. It is his recognition of that possibiity, if not certainty that leads Zach back to Shaun, especially after a talk with his girlfriend in which he says his only regret (about being gay) is that he wanted to make a family with her. In this moment between them, it is her goodness which allows her to encourage Zach to return to Shaun, to the different family he might find now through Shaun and with Cody. At least, she says, he should try. Near the end, after Zach and Shaun drive to the house to pick up Cody from Zach's sister who is moving to Portland with her rough boyfriend, Zach turns to Shaun and takes his hand in his. It is a gesture of love between them as telling as any more passionate embrace. The seemingly unencumbered lives both men had known together surfing when younger--Shaun the master, Zach the pupil in a running joke between them--has grown into a love that is in every sense good. I think this is one of the best movies ever made about gay men, searchingly decent and generously spirited about love without any loss in erotic force. It is also wonderfully realized, except in a few of the songs on the soundtrack, in both the director's eye and the hearts of all the performers, even those in relatively minor roles (Gabe is as perfect a surfer dude as one can imagine, but with more than the usual soul). But Trevor Wright as Zach gives to his character an especially touching complexity. Zach is in some ways still a kid, talking in the lingo of surfers, tagging buildings, riding his skateboard. But he's also emotionally older than everyone else in his life, already committed to a way of living many people never come to. His coming out is more painful to himself than it is to others perhaps because his need for real communion is already so great. Yet he finds it. This is emotionally complex work for so young an actor. But every gesture he makes, everything he expresses is true; no moment ever feels false or contrived. What the movie leaves one with is a sense of both the hopes and ambiguities of moral being, a far more difficult, yet greater life than merely riding the waves of one's youth.Movie Review: An Old Story that Rises Up on Emotional Authenticity
Summary: 5 Stars
I am gay, but I dislike most of the gay movies out there. There are only a few exception: Brokeback Mountain, Borstal Boys and Beautiful Thing. All other gay movies are always victims to one of the followings: being too sensitive, or too chatty, or too corny. This is certainly an exception: no drag queens, no drugs, no gay bars, no AIDS victim, no party boys. And it's thoroughly refreshing.
Enough good thing have been said about this movie, which is now in my very short list of favorite gay movies. A lot of reviews give credit to Trevor Wright for his excellent performance. Credit well deserved. However, I think director Jonah Markowitz deserve the most credit for putting together a movie in which everything feels so natural and real.
The best part of this movie is the dialogue: It's short, precise and yet powerful. For example: the dialogue on the patio after their dinner:
Shawn: "I admire what you are doing for Cody. You don't have to."
Zach: "Yes. I do."
Shawn: "It's a choice, Zach."
Zach: "It's family."
Zach: "The only one left."
Shawn: "You get that from your mom."
Zach: "Yeah, I know."
Zach: "Lucky me."
This is a simply love story. Even though the word "Love" was never said in the movie, there was never one moment of doubt how much they were in love. There are lots of little things in the movie that you will recognize if you were ever in love. When Zach was driving away after his first night with Shawn, a little smile slowly crept up his face, and he just couldn't hold it anymore, and scratched his head for getting a little embarassed on the silly happiness.
Shane Mack also deserves high praises for the songs he wrote for this movie. When Zach couldn't fall asleep, flipping back and forth, the images of him with Shawn were flashing through his head. The moment wouldn't have such an emotional impact without Shane Mack's "More Than This" playing in the background.
The negatives I can think of is that for someone who's never been with a guy, Zach was quite adept in stripping off Shawn's cloths that night. Also, Gabe would have seen Zach's truck outside when he barged in, and he's not the kind of person who wouldn't say anything about it. Sorry, I know I am nitpicking. But if you are like me watching this movie 10 times in the first week, you would be too. :-)
I do have one issue with the cover of the DVD. If I hadn't read its review first to know what the movie is about, I would have easily dismissed it as another soft-core gay porn that's dressed up as a movie. There could be a hundred moments in the movie that would be a better cover than this bed shot. I have to believe that it wasn't picked by the director who has handled everything so tastefully without losing the erotic force. Thanks to AfterElton.com that listed it as the #3 of all time greatest gay movies, I didn't miss now-my-favorite gay movie that's not a tragedy (BBM and Borstal Boys) or a fairy tale (Beautiful Thing).
In my opinion, David Wiegand from SF Chronicle has the best review on this movie: "Sometimes a film that otherwise relies on stock storylines and even skirts the fringes of old-fashioned melodrama can rise up on the strength of other elements. In the case of writer/director Jonah Markowitz's feature film debut, "Shelter" rises very high indeed, thanks to a superb performance by Trevor Wright in the lead role, a strong supporting cast, very good cinematography and, most of all, emotional authenticity."
Movie Review: Why haven't you seen this movie yet?
Summary: 5 Stars
I have been watching this movie incessantly for the last three weeks.
What I enjoy about this movie the most is the lack of big dramatic acting, which invariably is used in modern day cinema by actors cast to play in mildly-unrealistic to completely-incredible roles. Brad Rowe and Trevor Wright are great enough actors to make the story feel like watching a real life situation.
The bulk of the emotion in this movie is told in the actors' facial expressions. Scenes in this movie in which Zach is attempting to deal with the inner turmoil of his newly-revealed sexuality, would have been tainted and unbearable if they had been filled with exaggerated and unnecessary words. Instead you can see/feel the insult and hurt felt when Trevor Wright's he frowns, nose crunched, and in his eyes you can believe the character is thinking something along the lines of "Please God, just give me a hole to crawl into."
In addition because there is so much unspoken passion in this movie it makes it all the more compelling when Zach raises his voice, which happens all of three times. The first time, his sister confronts him about his relationship with Shaun and the potential detriment to her son. Zach's immediate response is defiant, a statement that he is standing up to his sister for the first time. It is an indication that the character is beginning to grow out of submission.
The second time, Gabe confronts him about his relationship with Shaun. Blindsighted and unprepared to deal with this reality, Zach raises his voice to his best friend in defense. You can see that Gabe doesn't exactly know how to comfort his friend either and immediately backs down, without letting him know that he does not wish to lose their friendship over this.
The third time, in the final scene, Jeanne's boyfriend demeans Zach's would-be-son. At this point the audience is clear on the fact that while most of the character's growth has involved his sexuality, most of the character's LIFE has revolved around his nephew. To hear this abrasive, offensive NOTHING attack Cody like this is too much after everything that Zach has been through, and Zach lashes out with a passion that actually brought a tear to my eye. We should all have someone who cares about us so.
The worst example of acting in this movie comes from the character of Billy, who has all of three lines in the darkness by a fire, and is merely there to establish the aspect that Zach's friends' lives continue to move on while his own remains fairly static.
Not a single word, facial expression, or stance is wasted in this movie. And if you're a straight guy who is afraid of GLBT-themed movies out of discomfort at seeing full frontal male nudity, have no fear. 'Shelter' is tasteful, heart-warming, heart-wrenching, and I haven't seen another movie quite like it.
Movie Review: The Trap
Summary: 5 Stars
As always in 'gay themed' movies there is the definite temptation to play the party boy/drug user/AID victim card. It's incredibly refreshing to find a movie that doesn't pander to traditional gay male stereotypes. There have been a lot of things said here about this movie already, some incredibly insightful. Rather than try to struggle for the usual explicatives, I'll just say how & why this movie moved and touched my soul.
There were a lot of plots and subplots going on here; poverty, desperate lives being crushed and yet there was always the glimmer of hope on the horizon, art, angst of coming out and the poignancy of first time/unconditional love. And of course, how utterly exquisite to truly portray how much a sport can mean to a male and how it can anchor us even in the craziest of times. Although my life has been somewhat different, I can relate to so many levels and pieces of this movie that it's scary and uncanny at the same time. All of it...to come out as an adult when formally you've been in hiding with all your friends, to catch that one last run of the day as you chase the sun...to have the freedom (for the first time) to really love somebody of the same sex that you were always meant to love in the first place. I lived this movie through both the main characters because I've been both the main characters as I lived through poverty with hopeless, broken dreams and a unwavering loyalty to 'family', while discovering true love in the midst of chaos and ashes.
And through it all, Zack's mural was his life; his frustration, his intense sadness, his trap, his love of family, the angst of being misunderstood by everyone and finally the sublime happiness of new-found love. It's all there, the life of a man painted on a wall for the world to witness and see.
This isn't a perfect movie by any means; the 'sex scene' was stilted and phony, yet the tender kissing scenes where as good as they can get. Truly, both the main actors are gifted to pull off such a believable gay love story. But this is a movie that you have to take in it's entirety and not something subject to be picked apart scene by scene. There were times when I shouted at the screen and times when I teared up. The relationship with Shaun and Zack's little brother (Cody) was magnificently portrayed. It's not publicized enough how fluid and positive gay men can be around impressionable boys. The homophobic ignorance portrayed is painfully accurate in this movie; with respect to how many parents/adults think that young boys hanging around with a gay role model is 'just not right'.
I've probably seen 150+ gay themed movies in the last three yrs and this one is absolutely in the top tier of my mental queue list. Rent it, buy it and just enjoy it! God, please give us more movies like this one.
Movie Review: The joy of small triumphs
Summary: 5 Stars
This is a simple story about a young man following his heart and finding his dreams. Zach (Trevor Wright) is working class, with a crappy job as a short-order cook, an on again/off again relationship with Tori (Katie Walder), a very sick widowed father, and a feckless, self-centred single mother of a sister (Tina Holmes) whose only redeeming feature is her adorable five-year-old Cody (Jackson Wurth). Zach is Cody's only real male role model, and not surprisingly, Cody looks up to him as a father, not an uncle.
Zach has a lot of responsibilities, and since his hope of going to art school died when his mother did, and his sister got pregnant, his only joys in life are his friends and his surfing. He's aware, much more so than his privileged best friend, Gabe (Ross Thomas), or his sister Jeanne, how much of life is passing him by, and what he's given up for his family, but there seems no way out. Until Gabe's handsome, gay older brother, Shaun (Brad Rowe), returns to Malibu and doors open, along with Zach's heart.
I've seen reviews of this film which call it mediocre and unambitious. Seems to me that misses the point. It's not a story of high drama. It's about small things - ordinary family dysfunctionality, ordinary dreams, ordinary love. The extraordinariness lies in Zach's selflessness and Shaun's willingness to help him out of the hole in which he's drowning. What makes this film work is the beautiful, affectionate tenderness between the two leads (both straight actors turning in gorgeous and credible performances as young gay men in love), and the strength of the acting on all sides. Every character rang true - and when even the kid didn't strike me as stupidly cute, there has to be something working. I especially loved the character of Tori, who could have come off as a heinous bitch, but was instead a rounded and likable friend to her ex-boyfriend.
Tina Holmes as Jeanne has a thankless task in an unpleasant role, but she is pitch perfect as the emotionally manipulative and immature mother and sister. Her scenes with Trevor Wright are painfully honest. But then Wright just shines in this. He and Rowe have such chemistry together, such physical easiness - you see them as friends and as lovers, and they felt completely real to me.
It's a short film at an hour and a half, and though it takes a while to get going, it's well worth the wait, and is a positive, happy affirming portrayal of young gay people that allows them a happy ending. That in itself makes it worth the price of admission/purchase.