When I'm With You- REVIEW by Tony Sheppard
Producer/writer/actor Adrienne Lovette delivers a powerful drama in director Daniel Armando's "When I'm With You." Lea (Lovette) lives with her brother Evan (Anthony Pyatt Jr.), a young man with anger issues who's fallen in with the wrong crowd. Meanwhile she's deeply in love with her best friend Logan (Evan Price) – a relationship that's additionally ill- fated given that Logan is gay.
This strained threesome is so well written that at times it's hard to determine quite whose story it is. Is it a tale of Lea's unrequited love, Logan's burgeoning romance during a time of neighborhood attacks, or Evan's struggle with his own unshared inner conflicts.
Using a wandering focus, Armando allows the audience's attention to move around the screen, much as it would in real life, in rooms and spaces where there's more than one conversation or more than one thing to look at. Perhaps a little distracting at first, it quickly becomes an effective delivery style, adding depth to the on screen exchanges and the sense that none of them are limited to a single perspective.
Narratively, Lovette provides rich detail and a seemingly clear conclusion yet still leaves room for interpretation in her screenplay, especially among those who may have seen themselves, or their own stories, in different on screen personalities or experiences. This is a film that benefits from and is likely to generate post-screening conversation.
"When I'm With You" is a strong film with LGBT themes but it would be doing it a disservice to think of it purely as an LGBT film. The underlying drama and tension here could work equally well with different circumstances between the lead characters, and the dynamics are more universal than that. Lovette clearly has an appreciation of LGBT stories but she's also a writer with a keen eye for adult interactions in broader contexts – one-sided relationships, loss, and secrets not being unique to a single demographic. It's a film deserving of attention and appreciation, from a filmmaking team that deserves the same.
Tony Sheppard, Co-Director Sacramento Film & Music Festival, Sacramento Press
