Dorian Blues

The film captures some of the experiences that can be part of people's coming out: arrival at the point where you just don't care what other people think of you anymore; falling for the first mature gay person you meet who treats you as a human being (his therapist); temporarily going back into the closet, only to change your mind; the internalized homophobia of going out of your way to appear straight; sleeping with someone you're not terribly attracted to just because they're the only person you know of who's available and gay; the interactive relationship between the honesty that impels you to come out as gay and the honesty in other compartments of your life; family members not wanting to listen to you or to take your sexual orientation seriously (his dad); family members wanting you to hide and deny your sexual orientation (his brother); family members initially freaking out but gradually changing their attitude (his brother); family members wanting to have a relationship with you but trying to avoid the gay part of your life (his brother); the fact that coming out is a long process that keeps coming back to you, not a confession that lasts as long as it takes you to tell people you're gay.

The 3-dimensional characters were Dorian, his brother, his first boyfriend, his dad (though exaggerated in the service of satire), and his oblivious and out-of-the-loop mom (who shatters this characterization at the end, revealing her wisdom). Dorian is not sexually objectified or portrayed as innocent. Rather, his character is developed as that of a smart-assed but courageous, realistically awkward adolescent boy.

Another theme was the overlap between being different and being gay. Looking at the film summary and user comments (most of which I agree with), some people seem to have misinterpreted, in my opinion, what this film says about being gay. It is one boy's coming out story, not every gay man's coming out story. Not all gay people were always different. Likewise, not all high school students who deviate from normality are gay. Another phenomenon in the user comments was the idea that just because this was a good film, the actors and director are going to rise to fame. News flash: there are many, many talented and hard-working actors and directors who never get a big break.

Straight people (99% of whom I've observed to be ignorant of the myriad issues LGBT people go through in coming out and the fact that these issues are caused by our heterosexist, homophobic culture) should see this movie.

Dorian Blues doesn't stray from Hollywood's typical portrayal of a gay coming out story of a white, middle class boy who likes dancing and isn't good at sports (not to mention that one of its two black characters is absurdly dehumanized for a cheap plot advancement), nor does it overcome Hollywood's aversion to three-dimensional female roles, but it doesn't pretend to be anything it isn't.

Furthermore, its portrayal of the preciousness of sibling relationships despite gaps in understanding motivated me to write a letter to my brother.

More than anything, its message is of the harmfulness of our rules for how men should be. We often think of women as being the ones who are short-shifted by gender roles, but this film shows how they hurt all of us.

The Spanish-subtitled version is called "El Secreto de Dorian."

I saw Dorian Blues at the 2004 Jacksonville Film Festival with a packed audience. The poignant, yet funny story of a teenager discovering his sexual orientation and his conservative family's reaction, was unpredictable and left me wanting to see Dorian Blues 2. The writing, directing and performances were world-class. Look for star Michael McMillian in big Hollywood productions soon. This movie came close to winning the Audience Award at the 2004 Jacksonville Film Festival and is getting invited to festivals all over the world. It won the Audience Award and the Emerging Maverick Filmmaker Award at Cinequest Film Festival 2004. This will be one of those indie breakout films when it gets distribution.

"Dorian Blues" is indeed worth seeing. The acting is considerable. "The story" has been told many times, but this movie has an air of freshness to it, perhaps mostly because of the overall quality of the film.

Without losing it's low-voltage current of kindly nature and good humor, this movie came close to showing some deeper levels of inner-struggles of those around a person coming out. Yet the self-absorption of the gay character was allowed to overshadow the likely introspection of the overly macho dad, the gay-friendly quarterback and the not-so-clueless mother.

By necessity so many of today's (and yesterday's) independent art films are shot on low budgets and rather poorly produced, but this film appears to have had a big budget and top-quality production. The low-rent "statement films" are getting more difficult to endure (especially @ $9.50 a ticket), yet I understand the need for them.

Thanks and Kudos to the producers of "Dorian Blues!"

I saw this film in South Africa, where it was appallingly marketed and I probably wouldn't have seen it had I not seen IMDb write-up.

This is a low budget film, with some unknown actors, but is nonetheless funny, warm, realistic (in places)and pertinent. The story is simple: Dorian is gay. How do he and his family cope with this? There are some hilarious moments: Leslie Elliard (who plays Dorian's therapist) is good.

The film focuses on the family dynamics. Lea Coco (the straight brother, Nicky) and Michael McMillian (the gay brother, Dorian) generate such an easy brotherly chemistry- the film's strength lies in its depiction of this dyad, in particular.

As the father(for whom Dorian has ambivalent feelings) Charles Fletcher is good, portraying an older generation with values and ideas that dare never be questioned. The film looks at Dorian's relationships within his family (a mother, played well by Mo Qigley)... but strings are too neatly tied up at the end; the fault is in the script, not the acting.

A warm, sensitive film that deserves a wide(r) viewing. Kudos all!

When the film was introduced as another coming out story, I was less than enthused, since although coming out is an important and (unfortunately) enduring subject to cover, it's been done often (both well and less-than-wonderfully) before. I was amazed, though, at how well this film dealt with the topic, but more importantly, what a thoroughly enjoyable film it was - the acting, story line, situations, characters and most of the all the humor - often conveyed thru the dialogue and really funny film techniques - was all first rate. Add to all this the fact that this was the straight director's first feature length film, and it is truly an amazing achievement. One of the most enjoyable screenings at this years Frameline SF Lesbian and Gay Film Festival.