Cicada

"Cicada" isn't anything you haven't seen before. A quiet and grounded examination of a complicated LGBTQ relationship. The script could've been a bit stronger, since I guessed a lot of the storyline as it played out. Sometimes I was a bit confused about the genre... the comedic moments felt a bit out of place amongst the plot. Overall, I think this film was a really strong effort! There's loads of potential for the director and cast to springboard off of.

Cicada picks at the affects our trauma and our past have on our current relationships. The story has a ton of depth but the acting and the script not as much.

This movie is not only very well done, but tackles an issue that is often not discussed: the sexual assault of boys/men. I think the writing and acting were successful in the telling of this story and accurately depicted what it is like to live with PTSD.

It has very good potentials but it could've been better. It has a beautiful story with a powerful topic but it fails in portraying it . It's very well shot and acted but the script is weak and the dialogues are uninteresting which makes it flat and boring. What's supposed to be emotional and deep turns out emotionless and dull.

So many gay films are too light for me. Too many films about broken souls finding each other are too heavy. I saw Cicada online through Outfest LA and found a weighty LGBT film that is also a wryly funny and engaging love story about trauma survivors.

I don't want to give too much away, but both the main characters in this film have traumatic secrets and bucket loads of hurt as potential obstacles to companionship and love. One character hides his pain by being the joker (which feels very real to this trauma survivors), while the other tends to want to walk away from painful moments. Will they make it as a couple. Will they even make it on their own? Watch and find out.

I CAN say that the film seems more interested in hearing witness than it does in tidy epiphanies or huge declarations. I can also say that that the actors are sublime and make all of it complex AND real. I found myself alternating between laughing, wanting to yell at the characters, feeling floored by the emotional honesty and crying at the tiny moments of profound hope.