Drift

Not good. Not the worst thing I've ever seen, either. It's just a dull, amateurish effort, where the writer thought that the most realistic the dialogue, the better. (Not true. Try leaving a tape recorder on for a couple of hours when you're having a heart-to-heart with a friend. Just don't make me listen to the result.) Drift has a couple of fresh points--first, it deals with the pain of breakup, and avoids the horrible cliché of "coming out" stories or overly sunny romantic discovery. It's very realistic, and prefers understatement to emotional shouting.

But that latter point is also its downfall. It is dull. The gambit of three possible endings cannot save it. The main character is a self-pitying neurotic, and as time went on, I lost all interest in him. Save your money.

This little scenario scripted by Quentin Lee plays like a merry-go-round. As lovers love, break up, reunite, have misgivings, rekindle, and entertain more regrets, the viewer begins to wonder just what point Lee is trying to make.

A key may be the tentative nature of the title. It's also set in a town where lots of folk are in a state of flux, not really settling down after making a commitment, and forever looking for the "perfect" partner.

The search, however, is as fickle as the atmosphere of the terrain itself, where the consciousness can be a jumble of mixed emotions. Unanchored attitudes prevail, reacting to the mass of humanity crowded into the region, from mid-state down to the southern border.

It's not an ideal place for anyone who isn't strongly grounded in both their self worth and professional projects. The tragedy of this story is that there are no solid anchors, only driftwood floating and bobbing along uneven tides. One day wanting this, tomorrow that.

Unfortunately, Mr. Lee's script rather meanders as well, and allows itself to even take a "Memento"-type turn midway through--with unprepared for flashbacks that have a strange feel.

There's nothing wrong with the acting, though, and the youthful cast renders subtle and heartfelt performances.

I liked a lot about the movie. It's earnest and well-intentioned. The execution is a bit uneven, and as others have said, some dialog does not ring true.

I was startled when, well into the movie, scenes seemed to repeat. For a moment I wondered if the DVD was stuck. I had no clue previously that I was about to see alternative versions of the storyline. I'm not sure if this was a good thing or a bad thing. Generally, I like to be surprised, but this sudden shift was a little confusing. Again, not entirely a bad thing. I've never read the Dogma manifesto (and this is shot Dogma-style) so I don't know if this movie follows those rules to the letter. However, I think my surprise stemmed from not expecting to see alternate realities depicted realistically (Dogma-ish), if that makes sense.

Overall I think it's worth seeing, if for no other reason than, well, how many gay Dogma movies are there? I think if you approach it as something impressionistic rather than realistic, you'll be more likely to enjoy it.

Just rented the DVD with friends and found it to be a thoughtful, insightful, delightful, and touching film.

Sometimes trite or cliche, perhaps, but Ryan (R. T. Lee) could very well be the current "gay everyman" - happy, but not happy; settled, but unsettled; content, but incontent. (OK, the whole "death is romantic" sub-theme was just a little creepy, but its' purpose was to help you realize that it really *was* hard for Joel to understand Ryan, and that possibly only Leo could; I still would have gone with something a little less "visceral," to use the movie's favorite - and overused - adjective.) And the "what if" scenario of three different possibilities was a great way to flesh out what we all wish we could do - see the reaction to our actions and figure out if it's what we really want or not.

Some wonderful acting in this film - Lee is certainly comfortable in his role (although sometimes I felt the dialogue was a little rushed); Greyson Dayne as his boyfriend, Joel, also had some great scenes (particularly when Leo tries to bed him); Jonathan Roessler seemed a natural as the geeky Leo, and had a very natural flow of dialogue; and big kudos to Kudos to T. Jerram Young as Dane for the *great* pick-up scene in the bar - we all laughed out loud!

I think the reason this film will stay with me is because I did see a lot of myself in Ryan - searching to be understood, leaving a relationship because of it, not really knowing what will make him happy (until, perhaps - at least in one ending - it's too late). I plan on buying the DVD and adding it to my movie library.

Do gay-themed movies get any more self-consciously awful than this garbage?

What the filmmakers didn't realize is that all those trite avant garde movie cliches are bearable only if you have characters that one actually cares about. Otherwise, the constant juxtaposition of old scenes with new ones becomes as obnoxious as the characters and equally hard to love.

As I watched with my friends we tried to amuse ourselves by coming up with more fitting film titles (between snores, of course). I think the one that fits best is "Groundhog Drift."

I gave it a 3 but am wondering if that wasn't too high?