Miles from Nowhere

"Miles" (Seth Dunlap) has had some bad news... he has to process that, and in order to do so he heads to a remote cabin where he also entreats two of his, somewhat estranged, friends to join him. What he quickly learns when they arrive is that "Victor" (Cristian Gonzalez) and "Sammy" (Shane Howell) have now hooked up. What we now have to endure are a rather plodding series of character introspectives peppered with way too much dialogue, contrived arguments and some chemo with the stroppy young "Nick" (Andrew Tull). To be honest - much as I initially felt a little sympathy for "Miles" at the start - I could have cheerfully run over him with a lawn mower by the mid point and it's only downhill from here. Points go to "Sammy" for at least trying to keep the melodrama on an even keel, and the photography shows off their rural retreat to good effect - but the story is weak and the acting, well that doesn't really have too much by way of screenplay to work with to make a critique of the skills on offer here especially fair. Far too long, too! Miles off course, perhaps?

The basic option is to write I like it. First, because i do not look for a coherent story - in this case you can appreciate only potential of it, not high acting demonstration but the way to recognize parts of yourself in the small events crafting the story.

A young man, affected by cancer, lives, with his two good budies, a weekend in a cabin in woods. Old tension, nice memories, some fights, dialogues , a night in bar .

He tries hide his state . So, some humor, a lot of talks, some nice scenes and not so surprising - regular, in this case, end. One of films defined by low budget and, including for this, perfect for me because its purpose is only remind familiar things, easy ignored, in honest light and the friendship with the kid affected by leucemia works not so bad, like their dialogues.

So, a simple story , familiar at whole, reasonable acting and presumed clever things for give some credibility to their characters. Just enough, in essence.

Finally, a sad gay film that isn't about someone dying from AIDS. He's a young man dying from cancer! They can't seem to win. This little very, very low budget three character gay film, that is very poorly lighted, has one rather unpleasant young man played by Seth Dunlap, the cancer victim, and another with an enormous chip on his shoulder portrayed by Cristian Gonzalez. The third friend invited for this weekend at a cabin the woods that these three used to do more frequently is the only seemingly not hostile person involved here and he is played by Shane Howell. Past problems keep coming up. Endless petty arguments and old grievances arise. There's a far too long a conversation about urn selection. Heavy dramatics, poor writing and so-so performances all add up to a film that is just not all that good. One of my pet peeves with this was just before the get together, the cancer patient who doesn't want them to know about his health until the end of the weekend, shaves all of his long curly hair off. Strange way to hide it. Still, it's very low budget and they deserve a bit of credit for trying in the first place and it is the first feature film for two of the actors.