Change Your Image
spbmylove-245-342535
Reviews
Teens Like Phil (2012)
it's always behind, it's always hidden ©
Frankly speaking, to write about the US legalizing gay-marriage in the states one by one while people try suicide being sexually not-traditionally oriented and at the same time living in the Russian Federation of 2015 is kind of strange at least.
Whatever the law says, the non-traditional representatives of anything will always be less numerable, will be a minority, and this very idea is sufficient for oppressing anyway.
The material filmed by the USA gives a wide panorama of bullying at school and suicide among homosexual (and other sub-groups of) teens. There is a wide range of: musicals, docu-drama, mixed with hints of poetry, and mind-blowing art-house sketches. The highest amount is concentrated in toneless short-films, in the flow of plot line of which the tension becomes so high till the denouement frame with the dangling feet in the air. Oozing out sarcasm talking about death is quite a bad idea. The ground problem of those films is that the viewers feel relieved watching the credits: the story is finished, though very tragic, we terribly sorry main character, the world is unfair and yet it is fortune it all happened to someone else. Catharsis of the viewer is counted in directors' ups, but the primary goal of the socially oriented films - the action – is hardly accomplished. Passive sympathizing never inspired anybody on acting more sincere and helps for the closest ones.
The film by Dominik Hukstone stands out many things on the given background. On the one hand, the film shows sufficiently the edge and the intensity of the problem, that is likely to have a solving, but the statistics is worsening only. On the other, we see not the kind of topical social film only, but the sufficient holistic picture, that doesn't lose its artistic merit even when this topic will die down.
Naturally all the aspects and "actors" of the problem showed off in "Teens Like Phil". The experience of first love and attraction; conflict with the agemates; the role of school depicted in the empathic teacher and in the principal having much more important things to do; the example of "unsuccessful" life in the representation of Phill's homosexual uncle; psychological support centers; prevailing prejudice made by Adam's brother, that all homosexual men are femmy and they apply some female trait anyway, which makes Adam to run further and faster, to flip the jumping rope and to hit Phill more violently. We can face two examples of homosexuality acceptance at the end of the film: the boy, who accepts his identity, but doesn't want to pain his parents and the whole world at once (Phil), and the boy, who cannot afford to accept him owing his own reputation among the agemates (Adam). Phil's suicide attempt that failed appeared not so giant price just to live free. Adam has to pay dear for his errors to the grave.
Reverse chronology of the plot line is tickling your nerves from the very first seconds: "Has he died or not?.." This is the ideal state for sensation of beauty of any kind and the director is skillful in applying it. You'll sure remember this film thanks to Egon Schiele and Francis Bacon pieces of art, thanks to really impressive solid off-screen words and Alan Wates' voice, thanks to Adam's perfect body; lips detail shot that were on the edge to kiss; beautiful and unaffected nature or the motion to have a long thinking about the past or the future with roman god Janus. Something is likely to touch your insides. It doesn't matter what it will be: deep psychological thoughts or light sexual excitement. It is stronger than sympathizing anyway. One day you'll be more emphatic and caring. Someone will change his mind to hang his head at the end of the rope one lovely Saturday morning only because of this.
Blindfolded eyes are the semiotics of the whole film. This "blinded" society doesn't see and doesn't want to see (accept) the problem. People are blinded and made cruel by stereotypes. This symbol, at the same time, the idea that till our eyes are closed, till we are young and didn't have the opportunity to face the unfairness of the world around us – we feel much more better, understand everything better and believe in ourselves. Let's face the real world. Let's have a look in each other's eyes. Let us not have a fear to look in our own soul.
Tonight It's Me (2014)
Of everyday things in an unexpected way or Gay themed film about love between a man and a woman
Tonight It's Me managed to leave me restless for quite a while. Perhaps, this is the way it should feel after watching a good movie. My first, and not very favorable, opinion (I thought the plot was the only thing the authors decided to emphasize) was soon replaced by desire to watch it again. As I had questions popping up in my head one after another – and they needed answers. The story told was so full with signs that I had to study perfumery, music and even delve into particulars of real estate market in California. Of course, without all those details meeting of a hustler and a trans woman in the process of transformation does not become less interesting. Nevertheless, decoding those signs is something that gives every viewer this special, and very welcome, feeling of presence – as close to the main characters as possible.
Despite seeming provocativeness, this chamber piece tells a very simple story. A story of how hard it is to be sincere with each other, and a story of love – of love that appears as soon as a wall between you and other person starts crumbling. The issue of sincerity finds its clear reflection in the Russian title of the movie - Tonight I'll be myself. The title is nice, but it's better suited for some other movie, a movie with a clear idea of explicit decision. CJ, on the other hand, is a different person every night, with every client (today, for an instance, he is a guy from Utah). And Ash, on the contrary, has to repeat, over and over again, that she is not a person she seems to be. This is why the heroes have to face sincerity, quite unplanned and unprompted.
For CJ, Ash intended to be just another client, no matter how unusual she was. But the expected way of events gets disrupted – first, by her toast and then by the words said in the bedroom. And while CJ is quite accustomed to the impudent curiosity of aging moneybags, sincere interest of Ash makes him vulnerable. When CJ draws a long dark lock of her hair through his fingers on the terrace, with the lights of a sleeping city on a backdrop, it seems like he is trying to disentangle a thread's end from a tight knotty ball of her soul, doesn't notice his own thread getting loose, and they get interlinked, entangled and start forming a new united ball of thread.
The key scene of the movie is the scene with the "Two truths, one lie" game. The apparently innocent way to change the subject of the conversation makes you understand what kind of life experience both characters had before meeting each other. After watching a movie you can spend hours arguing with your friends about what was false and true. But to know for sure you have to wait for the sequel Today It's You which is already in plans. Or – you can watch the movie once again, but paying more attention. You have to be very strong physically to kill a person with your own hands because it takes a great deal of struggle. And only a person who went through this can point out, with so much impatience and even a bit of mockery, how slender Ash's hands are. It is easy to imagine CJ (because of the specific nature of his job) or Ash (because of her look) trying to protect themselves desperately at some point.
The film has two sex scenes: one motivated by money, and another one for love. There are two shots between them, one game and Ash's evening toilette. When something happens in a woman's life that she can't control, the best decision she can make is to put a red lipstick. It is the only right lipstick color: the color of self- defense that can turn into color of attack in no time. All in all, the bathroom scene is the strongest one in regard to the sensory combination of touch, smell, sight and taste. Wet finish lipstick. Strong cheekbone line and just a little bit of highlighter over the bridge of a nose. Soft brush bristles. Rustling lace and cool silk. A tiny drop of Prada Prada on a wrist... There is a subtle and natural combination of seductiveness and comfort in Ash's image. And there are inseparable feminine vulnerability and strength in her words and actions. No one can accuse her of being vulgar. Her look, her dressing table, her perfumes, intonations, the living room and music, candles that she lights on the terrace... This is why CJ wants to stay (he even asks her). Even though he doesn't completely understand who is before him. So here come the smell of amber and patchouli, the taste of lipstick on the lips, thin line of lace on the angular shoulders, light breeze playing with her freshly laid hair and the offer to stay with no trace of coquetry – it magically touches CJ's body, mind and heart.
Of course, too much wine was drunk at night, and morning comes with a headache, but the new day doesn't come with regret. Ash and CJ don't hurry, but now they need to go different ways to give themselves time to think – even though their thoughts can't influence their feelings or their future.
At last minutes of the movie we see a red trace of Ash's lipstick on CJ's t-shirt, and it accomplishes the message, given in the very beginning. It is some kind of homework, something to think about. You can think a lot about traces that chance encounters leave on our hearts, that sperm and lipstick are not always too different, or that sometimes a cigar is nothing more than a cigar. And in fact, love is the only thing that's really important. Even if it's not going to be an easy one.