Good Grief

Beautifully filmed in London and Paris. Excellent cinematography and set decoration. And just the right pacing of motion and lighting by first time movie direction from Daniel Levy, who also wrote, produced and stars in his unique story of love, loss, sadness and friendship. Its so refreshing to see a story of queer love without seeing guys just ripping off their shirts for one night stands. Not much happiness is found here, but that's what makes this so true to life. I highly recommend watching this on Netflix and look forward to seeing what's next from Daniel Levy. Don't watch this looking for comparison to Shitts Creek, it's about 180° opposite.

Definitely fits into the underwhelming category based on the well known writing capability of Dan Levy. I liked the concept, but don't think it delivered. The opening segment was anticlimactic and didn't illicit the expected empathy, it was almost like "okay... now what". And the now what, was three self obsessed people pretending to be friends and having mostly meaningless conversations. The characters were all for the most part unlikeable, and therefore it didn't matter to me if they got "happy endings" and dealt with their hangups. Overall, okay, no depth to characters or story. I feel no need to ever watch again.

Good Grief delivers a compelling narrative with Dan Levy's standout performance stealing the spotlight. He knows what he is doing and what he wants to achieve and he does that well, with raw, honest emotions. His portrayal is both captivating and, at times, a tad obnoxious, but if it is part of the storytelling, I accept it.

The storytelling is enriched by a well-curated musical backdrop. I love the music.

However, the subplot involving his female friend feels somewhat disjointed, lacking the depth that could have enhanced the overall experience. It's a little bit too much, for my taste.

While the film offers a love story, it falls short of exploring the characters' personalities and stories in a more profound manner.

For those who cherish Daniel Levy from the humor and escapism Schitt's Creek provides, this is not that... adjust your lens and your expectations. This is a beautiful film that portrays real life in a myriad of ways and the actors do a fantastic job sharing that story. This felt very ready for the stage yet as a film it never gave me the release I tend to crave. No high highs, no drastic lows... just a restrained and even keeled world in which the characters still remain in tact. Not exactly what I hoped it might be, but still has its place and I'm happy it exists, especially to offer greater representation of many underrepresented communities.

The directing is quite good, image and general aesthetic are qualitative, acting decent, the dialogues bring at time some sort of accuracy; I liked the promise behind the synopsis and what the letter brings.

However it doesn't deliver properly, I have not been fully satisfied with any of the aspects of the development, of the characters. Even though it sometimes felt right, the whole thing was a bit tasteless, seen before and didn't drag me into the story.

It's as shame, as many ingredients were there to make a good movie, but it is just average and a bit cringy at times. I liked that the romance was treated as a normal romance rather than gay stereotypes, but I would have enjoyed a better development. The secondary characters aren't especially likable, and some moments or conversations just didn't felt right.

I don't know if it should have been spiced up a bit or just more focused but the result wasn't pleasant enough to want me to watch it again sometimes. I like movies about grief and overcoming it, but they should also uplift and bring some more feel-good to finish it with satisfaction.