Le choix de Joe

I hate being negative about films that are to some extent autobiographical - but this film is not good. Tim Swain is "Joe" who arrives at the world renowned Rhode Island School of Design and swiftly develops a pretty unfathomable relationship with a local gay hustler "Ramon" (Gil Bar-Sela) as well as a close collegiate relationship with "Jenny" (Julia Frey) with whom he tackles the variety of wacky art assignments assigned by the school. The snags are plentiful; principally, though, how did he meet the hustler and why, despite very little by way of encouragement, does he fall for him - indeed, at times he is positively cruel to the poor sod? He lives in world of drugs and booze yet seems to need anonymous casual sex in order to be "himself" - artistically, at any rate. It's not that the film is rubbish - it isn't; but with a minimal budget and characters that you really couldn't care less about, it is hard to engage on any level.

I rarely write reviews but had to add my 2 cents. This movie lacks character development. There is so much going on but it's hard to sympathize or empathize because you don't get an idea of who the characters are. It's hard to relate. Just seem to be dropped in situations and it's like "How'd they get there? Who are they? What are they doing? What's the point?" Even the interaction between the characters is hard to follow. The acting was OK considering it wasn't a major production so I'm sure direction was lacking. Would I watch this again or recommend it...probably not. Although I have seen far worse in my day for sure. For the 1 hour 45 minutes it lasted I'm sure a lot more could've been done.