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Ciao: The Best Gay Movie of the Year?When we finally meet Mark for ourselves, in an extended video sequence toward the end of the movie, the effect is devastating. We don’t know Mark, but we’ve seen the incredible impact he’s had, and will continue to have, on these two men — the one he loved and the one who loved him.
In addition to being visually inspired, the movie is infused with well-constructed scenes and bits of clever dialogue. At one point, Jeff and Andrea and Jeff’s Chinese-American sister try to teach each other phrases of the foreign languages they know. When Jeff confesses that he speaks no foreign languages, he is forced to quote bits of Texan vernacular — as foreign a language to most as is Italian or Chinese to those who don’t speak them. It’s charming and hilarious.
The two leads are terrific. Alessandro Calza (who co-wrote the movie along with director Yen Tan) gives the film, and his character, an easy grace; it’s easy to see how Mark could have been so taken with the handsome European. But I was most struck by Adam Neal Smith, whose understated performance as a man who does not cry at the death of his best friend is pitch-perfect. (He ain’t bad on the eyes either.)
Ciao is a fantastic movie, masterfully written, directed, and acted. It’s the best “gay” movie I’ve seen this year. Watch the trailer for Ciao
Submitted by on Wed, 2008-07-09 21:56. |
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News, Reviews & Commentary on Gay and Bisexual Men in Entertainment and the Media
It looks really good
Thanks Brent/Dennis. This looks like a winner!
Guillermo's Media Guillotine: Entertainment, journalism, politics, and popular culture.
http://springintoaction.typepad.com
Wonderful Film
Sadly, Adam Neal Smith is STRAIGHT
Good movie
I saw this movie at the LA Fest and thought it was very good and touching.
Btw, Alessandro Calza is a hottie. Wow!!!
I saw a trailer of this
I saw a trailer of this movie a long time ago. I was inmediatly interested, it looks very good. Cant wait to the DVD release.
BTW. You think Alessandro is hot? Explore this site: www.ahunter.org. Youll be rewarded in more ways than one.
Definition of term
When one is 'rewarded in more ways than one," does that involve a three-way and a position called the Rotisserie Chicken?
Please clarify where the reward is on the ahunter site. There are a ton of links to photos and videos, and the home page has a big ominous gun (that was not a euphemism).
Rotisserie Chicken for everyone at the blog!
Je je je
That is Alessandros site. He is apparently a man of many talents. Some of his photography and produccions are there, but mostly photographs of him by others.
I was referring to some artistic and candid shots of this italian hottie. The site is set up as an experience, so have to wait for the everything to unfold as he sees it. The man is not shy, ill tell you that.
I've been waiting for this
I've been waiting for this film to come out for a while now, and even though I'm afraid that it might hit a little too close to home, I'll probably watch it the minute I can get my hands on it.
I just hope that all of the people involved have done this story justice. From the little things I have seen so far it seems they have.
"The doctors promised that the [electroshock] treatment would fry the fairy clean out of him. All it did was make him go bonkers every time he heard the electric guitar."
It's OK, but --
a far better film on the same subject is Two Drifters (aka . Odette )
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0450470/
Saw this at the Portland Gay Film Fest 2 Sundays ago
Future epitaph: "It seemed like a good idea at the time."
Definitely a bit of a "Brokeback" thing going on here, in that you once again have an Asian director doing a gay story set in the American West (Texas, this time). It also has a quality that was (unfairly, I thought) leveled at "Brokeback" by some: it's a very, very measured film, and a little emotionally distant. Presumably the actors and director were trying to capture that unique emotional state of grief and shutdown that people experience after the death of a loved one, but it makes the film a little hard to get into. The film is beautifully shot and scored (it was probably made on the serious cheap, but you wouldn't know it), and the acting is exqusite and the writing intelligent. However, one occasionally may yearn for something a little grittier, a little more passionate. (The bed scene mentioned, while tender, doesn't have the emotional punch and physical sense of release that these characters might feel.) There's also only about 1 minute of chuckles in the whole film. The ending hints that some sort of deeper connection between the characters might be in the making, but then backs away from it again into something more muffled. It's a film you really admire, but I think some may find it challenging to love. (Then again, it also seems like the sort of film around which cults are built.)
Out on DVD?