A Very Natural Thing

It's interesting to see how this film has weathered the last 40+ years. I enjoy reading your comments.

This 1973 film tells a story of gay life that is simple and familiar. Boy meets boy. Boy loves boy. Boy gets bored with boy. Etcetera. The straightforward, non-apologetic script is either timeless or old as the hills, depending on your tolerance level. While I was watching I began to wonder if the script could be re-shot today without significant modification. I think it probably could--there isn't much happening that couldn't take place almost word-for-word in any present-day urbanopolis.

Despite the sometimes raging amateurism in acting, photography, and especially sound, this film is well worth seeing. Those who lived through the era will experience an affectionate nostalgia for what I cannot help but call "the good old days." For those born after, say, 1985, you'll get an accurate look at what gay life was like as it was beginning to coalesce post-Stonewall. The production of the film also reflects the times. Some scenes have a cinema verite feel, some are clearly documentary. The last scene's unflinching male "frontal" nudity is another relic of the 70s. Like I said, the good old days.

I would classify this as a "must-see" for any gay cinema buff. To my knowledge it is the first to grapple with the relationship problems unique to post-Stonewall gay life.

"A Very Natural Thing," according to sources I've read, was one of the first films to show gay men candidly as people. The two principle characters could be anyone. They don't fall easily into stereotypes which plague gay-themed films, even today in the late 1990s.

This film definitely has the look and the feel of its times, the mid-70s. It's fascinating to see how people dressed, the way they talked, what cars they drove, even how they cut their hair. It's also interesting to look at gay lifestyles in this period setting. This was before AIDS/HIV, and unprotected sex was the norm. It takes place just at the beginnings of the 70s age of sexual liberation, not only for gays, but people in general as well. (For another view of the period see BOOGIE NIGHTS or the TALES OF THE CITY series.)

But the most important part of the film is the relationship between the two, psychologically different characters who meet in a dance club, fall in love, and live together. It could be two people today. It shows what two average gay men might experience living together.

I cross-referenced some of the people who made this film. Few went on to do anything else in movies. I think only one made it into the '80s in a mainstream film.

The film has low-budget production values from the period. I didn't find that so much distracting as endearing. It made the film all that much more real.

I was genuinely surprised by how good this film is, especially given that it was made only a few years after Stonewall. The portrayal of the relationships the protagonist has was very moving and real, the psychological depth much more complex than most films that are made today, gay or straight. Of all the movies I've seen in my life, I have never seen so many beautiful images of gay male love that are so celebratory and happy. It's like a Walt Whitman love poem brought to vivid life. The movie is worth seeing just for the last five minutes alone.

The film is also an incredible historical archive. Some of my favorite sequences were interviews made with people on the street during the 1973 "Christopher Street Pride Parade," probably among the first Pride festivals ever. Many of the comments made could have been said today. This film shows a slice of life at the beginning of the gay sexual revolution, and at the same time deals with all the complicated issues of falling in love that remain timeless. That it shows life before AIDS also adds a layer of poignancy that the filmmakers could never have planned for.

I was sad to see that the principal figures in the movie, the actors and director, didn't do much more cinema work beyond this film. I hope they know they created a very special film that still can touch one's heart.

Some very fine reviews already posted for this interesting movie, which I found very enjoyable as an intriguing look at gay life and also from a historical point of view. It often has the flavor of a documentary because of the interjection of real newsreel scenes of Stonewall. The cruising episodes on Fire Island and in steam baths have a cinema verite quality. The story involving the up-and-down efforts of ex-priest David to find a man he can settle down with hold the viewer's interested, but the bickering between the two men becomes a drag on the movie. One is relieved when David finally hooks up with the Bo White character, leading to a very beautiful closing episode shot amid the dunes at Truro on Cape Cod. The movie therefore ends on a note of affirmation and one hopes that all went well for all the men involved in this important glimpse at gay life a generation ago.