Finding North

I enjoyed this movie, particularly John Benjamin Hickey's work. He is natural, relaxed, and did not force emotions, given the topic of the surviving partner of a gay man who had died of AIDS.

It dealt with the tremendous emotional loss, the lack of social validation of his relationship (not considered a husband/widow) in a poignant way. Hickey's character's attempt at suicide is not far-fetched. At the height of the initial wave of gay men dying from AIDS, their surviving partners/ spouses were often cut-out or barred from funeral services, denied access to homes they co-owned or rented, and had joint bank accounts emptied by hateful family members of the deceased.

While the bank teller character is more caricature, she lends the right humorous twist to this 'road trip/love story'. The various Texas characters are on-the-money, well-cast, and sweet.

I have watched this movie a number of times and enjoyed it very much, each time.

This was such a hokey story and worse yet, badly acted by it's leading lady, Wendy Makkena, who just didn't take no for an answer. She truly got on my nerves with her phony accent and if you can imagine just walking into someone's home, unannounced and uninvited, and then proceeds to poke her nose into his closet and such. Follow this with her trailing after him onto a plane to Texas. She just won't give up. I'd have had the police lock her up. Sorry, to me, she was so obnoxious I just wanted to take the tape off. But John Benjamin Hickey, as Travis, one of my favorite actors ["Love, Valour, Compassion"] did what he could to salvage the trite dialogue. He made most of the moments believable as only a good actor can. Why it took him so long to tell the female intruder he was gay, puzzled me. She would have pushed off had he done this. But, then, I guess there wouldn't have been a film had he done so. Then there's Aunt Bonnie, excellently played by Molly McClure, who also salvaged a bad movie with her simplicity and honesty as an actress [Wendy take note]. I loved her. I loved the scenes with her and Travis. They were quiet and filled with such sensitivity. Of course, Rhonda [Makkena] had to intrude once more. She should have stuck with that beautiful hunk Ben, played with sexy appeal by Jay Michaelson [loved the accent] who was very gentle with her when she turned him down [foolish girl]. Let's see more of this good looking guy. So in summary, Kim Powers' script lacked the necessary depth needed to carry this film and director, Tanya Wexler [why are there so many female gay film directors?] did the best she could with the exception of casting Makkena in the role of Rhonda. You had the feeling she would end up just like her mother, who was a mess. Add the nice acting jobs by Hickey and McClure and the gorgeous looks of Michaelson and it's worth watching for them alone, if you can bear hearing Makkena talk.

these pages are for commenting on movies, not for making broad, erroneous statements about a people. so without further ado...

being a straight and married person; i was moved by the torment that our main character travis furlong was going through. the addition of rhonda portelli into his life was just a reason for us to travel with him on his journey through loss, dispare, and acceptation.

this is a good movie. and if you're straight and renting this, then you were intelligent enough to read the back of the box or the plot page here at imdb and still be interested in the story; therefore, you'll "get" it.

Most heterosexuals won't "get" this movie, because they insist that gay marriages are somehow inferior to theirs. But there is no difference, so they won't understand why the main character in this film is so devastated by loss of his husband (to AIDS) that he wants to end his own life.

This film is a lovely story, nicely done, so it is tragic that it may be 30 years in the future before straight people will finally appreciate the veracity of it.

Beautifully quiet film about loss and love and grief.

The acting is superb in this indy film. The two leads are just so good they make the whole movie shine.

Their friendship grows from a bit of crazy.

The music and soundtrack are special too. A whole different feel, yet a bit old fashioned, but perfect.

All the supporting cast, like Rhonda's girlfriends and parents and all the Texas cast fill their roles with authenticity and panache.

The director and writer worked a kind of flawed perfection to creating Finding North. The story, although about AIDS, that isn't what the film is about. It is sweet and hard at the same time.