August

What do we have here? An attractive cast, gorgeous photography, a story older than water, non-existent direction and a screenplay that should send the writer into medieval torture chamber of unemployable, talentless graphomaniacs.

The movie does not raise any questions, does not upset nor observe. It is in fact a wooden dud which by definition fails to detonate due to its poor design. As a consequence the sex is not sexy and the drama is not dramatic.

Ladies... even the music is not musical. I give it a 2 because it is nice to look at when Raul is on - he is about the most sexy, dramatic and musical thing in this tripe of a movie.

Now and then along comes a film that is far more adventuresome than the PR suggests and such is the case of the very well constructed AUGUST. Written and directed by Eldar Rapaport (with Brian Sloan) this is a hard look at love relationships and how the test of time influences the success or failure of commitment. The choice of title reflects the generated heat of contentious relationships and just happens to be set in the time of the infamous Station Fire in Southern California in 2009, the largest and deadliest of the multiple wildfires, burning 160,577 acres (or 251 square miles), destroying countless homes, and killing two firefighters - a time when the Los Angeles basin was without electricity, full of smoke and ashes, and all nerves were on edge regarding the carnage.

Jonathan (Daniel Dugan) and Raul (Adrian Gonzalez) are a contented couple: though they live separately (Raul has married Jonathan's best friend Nina - Hilary Banks - for immigration purposes so they must maintain separate homes) they are devoted to each other and Raul is in the process of planning Jonathan's 30th birthday party. As an unexpected development Troy (Murray Bartlett), Jonathan's ex-boyfriend who has been living in Spain for several years after a painful breakup, arrives in Los Angeles at the height of the heat wave and moves in with his married brother Sean (Bernhard Forcher) and family. Troy calls Jonathan, arranges a meeting for coffee but is sure that Raul will enter the coffee shop to demonstrate the Jonathan is in a committed relationship. But old flames simmer and soon Troy is convincing the not unwilling Jonathan to rekindle their old passion, a liaison that becomes apparent to Raul. At Jonathan's 30th birthday party Nina and her chef boyfriend Nick (Mike Vaughn) invite Troy and Troy's good friend Devon (Brad Standley), and by the end of the evening the group hits the bars to smoke pot and drink. Raul then invites Troy to their home to join Jonathan and him in a physical liaison that results in Troy's 'wakeup call' about commitment as he sees the degree of passion between Raul and Jonathan: Troy as an outsider steps away and eventually returns to Spain - but we never know what will occur next.

AUGUST is blessed with a very fine cast of excellent actors who are able to pull off the intimacy of the story with decorum. There are some problems with the film: the director loses the audience with what feels like inadvertent non-linear storyline that disrupts the flow of the story, and the editor of the film David Au has cut and spliced the film in a disturbing and distracting manner. The musical score by Yuval Ron is heated Middle Eastern in flavor and at times covers the dialogue. But the story works in large part because of the exceptional acting and appeal of Murray Bartlett, Daniel Dugan, and Adrian Gonzalez. As the PR states, ' It is an irresistible gay romantic drama!

Grady Harp

I hate to disagree with the previous reviewers but I feel this story is all about Troy thinking he is going to find is lost youth by going back to L.A. and seeking out Jonathan!

What Troy fails to realize is that Jonathan went on with his life and found a like soul in Raul ... until Troy comes back on the scene. Jonathan is captivated by Troy and their memories and is willing to give him what he wants while not realizing Raul is incensed by this behavior.

This is a complex story as Raul has two things to possibly loose, Jonathan is crossing over into his 30th years and needs to grow up and Troy will never know what he wants in his life.

The story is expertly told with sudden short flash backs of what happened just before the scene we are watching. It's a movie that one must watch attentively - an expert job of editing and writing. It will leave you wondering just what will happen with Raul & Jonathan!

I was a nice portrait of lost love The hurt The missing The Lust The Affection The crazy person who you can never get over with, I mean never. Movie started of with lost lover troy coming back to L.A cause he misses his old life, and for love of his life Jonathan. And Jonathan is living with his lover Raul, who's is an immigrant. And he's married to one of Jonathan BFF Nina. Movies takes is turns and kinda of slowly in the middle, but I enjoy the end feeling of the movie. And movies gives you a feeling that love never die that easy, and its never easy to let go for the person who you long for, the person who hurt you so much still does matter. And all you left is hurt, its a feeling that we never wanna let go.

Mostly good story about love, lust, indecision, trust. The time jumps were a little confusing. Forward back, forward back. Troy's hair is long, then short. Then long, then short again. Did you recognize murray bartlett from season one of white lotus ? He was the hotel manager. In "august", all three characters have flaws. Troy tries to get between his ex jonathan, (who HE dumped!) and the exotic new boyfriend. Jonathan strings along the ex, who has returned, and the new boyfriend. Raul is very patient, waiting for jonathan to make up his mind, but has his communication issues. And he's trying to get his papers to stay in the country, which may be adding elements to the story. Long pauses. Lots of dirty looks from raul to jonathan, when he probably should have been saying what's on his mind. The ending makes sense, but kind of just trails off... almost like there's going to be a sequel. A little confusing. Well done. It was good to see a film that just dealt with everyday issues, and nothing too deep. Directed by eldar rapaport.