On the Other Hand, Death

Chad Allen who faced and weathered a scandal about outing a prominent gay actor has once again brought to cinematic life, gay private detective Donald Strachey. In On The Other Hand Death, Allen is working two cases and then realizes just how much they are connected. Not unlike the classic Farewell My Lovely from the hand of Raymond Chandler.

On The Other Hand Death, has Strachey brought in for questioning after it's found out he's been hired to trail an undercover cop working an assignment. At the same time Allen's partner Sebastian Spence's ex Daman Runyon asks that Allen look into some bias related incidents involving a long time lesbian couple, Margot Kidder and Gabrielle Rose.

Kidder and Rose leave way out in the rural part of Albany county and when Kidder who is a school guidance counselor finally came out of the closet, several of the neighbors became pretty hostile. Especially one whose son is experiencing those same sex urges. It would make things more convenient all around if Kidder would sell the family farm which has been in her family for generations.

Maybe a little too convenient as Allen investigates and finds more than just your garden variety homophobia at work here.

On The Other Hand Death will never approach Dashiell Hammett or Raymond Chandler's work in the genre, but why does it have to? If the protagonist was straight this would just be another routine detective story that got a good film made from it. But Allen has done four Strachey stories and may yet do more if the demand is there.

Hopefully the demand will be there.

This film is about Donald Strachey investigating the harassment of a lesbian couple, and he uncovers a lot of dark secrets along the investigation.

"On the Other Hand, Death" maintains the mystery and thrill throughout the film. It has a complicated plot, with a lot of unexpected twists. Though it is refreshing to see such a nicely written mystery, the various parts of the mystery needs a lot of explaining and building up. This makes the first half of the film confusing and seems leading to nowhere. When everything finally falls into place, I am marvelled by the storyline.

The plot's inclusion of confused teens and people with a dark past make the characters more real. In addition, the relationship between Donald and Timothy is loving, not based on sex as other gay films would jump into at once. This is affirmative and encouraging to people who long for lifelong relationships. I enjoyed watching "On the Other Hand, Death", and I look forward to watching more Donald Strachey films.