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matt_mcl
Reviews
Whole New Thing (2005)
Artless and touching
This is a touching movie about Emerson, the 13-year-old son of hippies in rural Nova Scotia. He's been home-schooled; hoping to interest him more in academics, his mother decides to send him to the local school for the first time. As he becomes the target of bullies, more and more he develops a crush on his English teacher, Mr. Grant, who as it turns out is a closeted gay man who frequents the highway rest stop. His artless advances towards Mr. Grant scare the hell out of him, leaving Emerson hurt and confused. Meanwhile, his parents' marriage is in a crisis that they try unsuccessfully to camouflage from him.
There were a few thin spots (a few threads were left hanging ), but in general it's a sweet, reflective movie that compels us to identify with Emerson and invites us to think about the emotional reactions it raises in us. Another lovely Canadian (and specifically Maritime) queer film in the tradition of The Hanging Garden.
Margaret Cho: Notorious C.H.O. (2002)
These comments are baffling
Okay, it was somewhat less funny than I'm the One that I Want, but that's like being stupider than Einstein. I laughed so hard I felt like I was going to herniate; and her final speech was one of the most inspiring things I've heard. Everything I want in Cho. I can't wait to see her next one.
Carnets d'ado: À cause d'un garçon (2002)
More should have been said, but you can't go wrong with cute gay boys :)
I'll never get tired of cute-gay-boys-coming-out stories, and this is no exception. But it left me a little hollow. The storyline with dealing with his parents is left unfinished, as it is especially with his brother, who rejects him seemingly out of homophobia but whose true issues are revealed, and undealt-with, in his last scene. The subplots with the homophobic teammates, the sympathetic teacher, and the older sex partner were also left as loose ends.
The scene with the creepy Marais was completely gratuitous, with friends of Vincent's sex partner who fling themselves at him in a way that seemed not just slimy but completely unrealistic, as well.
In all, I thought that "Get Real" was a more masterful treatment of a very similar subject, and "Edge of Seventeen" better still. But this one is certainly a feast for the eyes, and if you like the "aawwwwwww! he's cute and gay and 17 and coming out!" factor as much as I do, this won't waste your time.