2by4

Johnnie is an emotionally detached Irish immigrant turned construction foreman. Working for his uncle and often going unpaid, Johnnie is haunted by nightmares and is emotionally and physically scarred by something in his past. His girlfriend Maria is worried about his nightmares and also by her suspicion that Johnnie sleeps with men as well as with women.

As Johnnie's world slowly crumbles, he reconstructs previously repressed memories and we see more and more why Johnnie is the way that he is.

That said, the movie had a great story poorly told. The flashbacks/fantasies were at times more confusing than enlightening and the action was at times unbelievable. Apparently this was the director's first movie as a director and, as so often happens when one writes, directs, and stars in a film, large parts of the film's vision is unclear to those that are not as close to it as the film maker.

Unlike many first time films though, there were moments here that were well worth viewing and it was certainly better than much of the drek that is released each year by much larger creative teams.

Overall, I'd give it a 6 of 10

I had a little bit of a hard time watching this film because of the storyline. It's realistic and brutal in some aspects, but not too violent or seedy as I know other films are. What I ended up feeling is pity, sadness, and hope for the main character, Johnnie, an Irish immigrant to the US living in New York City. Although which part of the city he lives in is not clear, the opening credits show the #9 train (now almost defunct I think since this was filmed in 1997/98) so it may be the Bronx.

Anyway, this is a gritty drama revolving around Johnnie. He works in the construction business for an Uncle who tends to be the catalyst for a majority of the problems and issues in the story. It becomes evident to the viewer early on that Johnnie has slight sexuality issues which, in drunken states, he sometimes has delved into being with men as well as women, oh, and he has a girlfriend who we meet right away.

During one of these drunken, drug fueled nights, and there are quite a few of them, Johnnie meets the one person who, for me, represents the only bit of salvation for him in the film. The character of Christian, a young hustler, comes along and shows Johnnie some much needed compassion and care and the experience is likewise reciprocated later on in the story. As we watch Johnnie's continual descent into the bitter realities of a life of booze and drugs, and his struggle to find himself, we hope that somehow he and Christian will save each other from their individual hells.

This is the first film directed/written/starring the lead fellow Jimmy Smallhorne, and I think it is a very good first time venture. I've seen tons of films by first time directors and this one was rather well done for the budget considered. Granted, Mr. Smallhorne is not a model type to look at, he has his moments, that being his rough demeanor and appearance, and I truly believed him as an actor. There is a particular scene on the floor of a club that made me look away from the screen and wish I could have been there to help him. The story, also written by Smallhorne is very straightforward and the seemingly 'confusing' bits of flashback do have a denouement at the end of the film. The other pity is that Smallhorne only has this film to his writing/directing credit, but it is a strong one, in my opinion.

If the viewer doesn't expect senseless pap or eye candy of a film placed usually in the gay section, but is willing to invest into a realistic drama with an edge, you will be hopefully pleased. In the end, it conveys situations that do happen. It's the story of a man's battle with his inner demons, which lead him to find that sometime's the people we become in life are in part influenced by someone else, welcomed or forced upon us.

1st watched 3/19/2006 - 7 out of 10(Dir-Jimmy Smallhorne): Hardcore expose of Irish man dealing with life in New York City and dealing with his own personal issues that have haunted him since childhood. Jimmy Smallhorne directs, co-wrote the screenplay and stars in this independent film that takes a slice of life look at a group of Irish immigrants and their lives together. The main character, Johnny, is a foreman who builds buildings(Aka. 2by4), karaoke's at night in drag, and dabbles in homosexuality but has a girlfriend who isn't aware of this initially. His nightmares reveal something that happened when he was a child but they're never quite clear enough to the audience or to Johnny for him to understand them. Things get worse as the movie continues… Johnny loses his girlfriend, his Uncle(who is the owner of the company he works for) is spending money from the job on tricks for himself and not paying his employees. As things go downhill, Johnny goes further down thru drinking and drugs until it's revealed to him what happened when he was a child. At this point it was unclear to me what that really was, but I was able to piece it together and others should be able to as well and that's the movie!! Overall, a well-drawn out drama that takes us places where we're normally not able to go and therefore makes for a good story and entertainment.