1985

The cinematography is simple, yet gorgeous. The story is simple, yet affecting. The performances are simple, yet moving.

A little goes a long way.

Edit : the historyline isn't something new. I had trough the entire movie the feeling that I've seen it all before, somehow I felt more connected to the trailer than to the movie itself, but it was beautiful and sensitive

...for performances. For white-and-black image. For a story who reflects the rhytm and atmosphere and expectations of a period. For message. And for the emotions ball after its end. A confession - film . Not original, not great. But useful and beautiful. Bitter and large circles of problems, from motherhood and fatherhood to old close friendship and relation between brothers, from gay life and coming up challenge to shadows from "Death of a Salesman" to the indie love stories. Short, a film for feel it. The job of Jamie Chung and Virginia Madsen defines, in splendid way, this special-special drama.

Wholesome and heartbreaking all at once. One of the most beautiful films I've even seen.

I walked into this sort of blindly. Not sure what I expected, but I was snowed in and needed something to watch. I swore I was done with films dealing with those horrible, dark times in the 1980's when I lived in NYC and everyone was dying, but there I sat viewing a yet another hopeless life for another young man. All that personal stuff aside, this is well made. It is also well acted especially by the lead, Cory Michael Smith. This is the sad story of a young man leaving his adult life in NYC to return to Texas for Christmas for what he believes to be the last time to see his very religious family. There is nothing surprising here, nothing new. It's exactly what one would expect it to be, but the love some of these characters have for each other is moving. Virginia Madsen plays the young man's mother with such delicacy, which is not unusual for this excellent actress. I was also impressed by Jamie Chung as his lifelong friend/love interest and Aidan Langford as his little brother. Michael Chiklis is also good as the father, but it's a hard role to like, though he eventually wins you over ever so slightly. It's interestingly shot in black and white and it's a very good movie if you can deal with the inevitability of the main character's fate. I, for one, have a hard time doing so anymore, but I suppose we should never forget. For some people, it might be a necessity.

This film is quite good. The movie portrays the struggle with being gay and the family dynamics during the AIDS crisis in 1985, but not with a flashy Hollywood style, but from a realistic and personal side.