Benjamin

Phenix Brossard gives power to one of the finest love scenes on film. Like the magic of the love scene in Louis Malle's ' Les Amants ' it happens in a bath. Two people in a bath together and then the moment arrives which made this a perfect film for me. Phenix Brossard says ( to my ears, although the copy I saw with French subtitles translates as ' Bonjour ' ) almost inaudibly ' I love you ' and in that split second I saw a totally new way of expressing those time old words. The whole scene expresses it even if the word ' love ' is not said and it was in my own imagination. Let those who see it decide. In fact his whole performance radiated an inner glow that shows up the lack of depth of the people ( not the actors ) around him. All the hypocrisy of the ' cultured ' and pretentious London media scene with its overnight failures and successes has rarely been so accurately portrayed. The hypocrisy of words insincerely felt, the tantrums, and I got the feeling that Noah played by Brossard sensed it all. The one scene of real talent is when he plays a prelude by Shostakovich and you know for once the applause is justified, and there is nothing London trendy about it. I want to congratulate Simon Amstell for such a perfect gem of a film. Now to get to the core of what I am trying to say. Colin Morgan gives a brilliant performance and he truly deserves all the praise he gets from his acting, but for me the acting that went beyond acting was Brossard and without him in the film it would not have had that special quality rarely achieved in a performance; a real sense of being. And to those who think the film is cliched, then see it again and not through a glass darkly. If there are awkward moments they are negligible, and the entire cast were well chosen. As for the ending Brossard urges Morgan into a very, very powerful affirmation and for a while after the film had finished I saw Paris. There is a lot of pretentiousness in Paris but somehow Noah ( an appropriate name ) will save Benjamin from being out of his depth. A deeply moving love story.

I love this film. Some complain about the cliche storyline. Might be, but the story touched me.

An essential element of the film, I will say is the awkwardness. There are so many scenes make you feel the awkwardness is going out of the screen, but I like it. Whoever haven't met awkward situations like that, especially when you are, somehow social phobia. All those scenes make me feel alive, and real. And I know what's it like feeling incapable of love, you lock yourself in case you hurt others or let anyone hurts you. I'd say I fully understand Ben, feel his pain and happyness, his odd behavior. Thanks Simon for just letting me know I'm not alone. And thanks Colin's excellent performance, what a sweet boy!

Took me a while to get into this but have to say I really enjoyed it. It felt quite raw to watch - here you have an actor acting as an actor depicting his struggle to love, be comfortable with himself to let others in. It's a struggle not often spoken about among gay men and albeit a diversion from a lot other gay movies out there, I think this depicted the matter really well and shone a light on an - in my opinion - untouched topic.

It's also a funny film, cringe in some areas where I found myself saying out loud "ohhh nooo" but I think that added to the charm and cuteness of the film. Definitely worth the watch!

Such a beautiful film. Colin Morgan captures exactly what it is to be human in an extremely vulnerable way.

Outstanding performances particularly from Phenix Brossard as Noah. The second feature film I've seen him in, incredible actor. Everyone does a great job here to be fair though. A nice mix of drama, romance and comedy with some really great comedy scenes in it that are very true to life like the scene about performance art! I'm very surprised that no one seems to have heard of this film. Highly recommend! Solid 8/10