Shelter

What an amazing movie about love, family, and relationships. It was great to watch a film that used characters that stepped outside of the gay stereotypes seen in most films. It was even better to see a movie that focused on the love (rather than the sex) between the two lead characters.

While there are some scenes that scream "low budget," the end product as a whole was very rewarding. The acting, writing, and directing were all solid.

After so many disappointing gay films, I'm thrilled to have a movie like this come along. If this is a sign of things to come in gay cinema, then I am excited about future films. If you haven't seen "Shelter" yet, go give it watch. You'll be glad you did. Enjoy.

I attended the Outfest screening for this film last night and was mightily and pleasantly surprised. I'd read the descriptive blurb in the Outfest program and thought "Yeah, whatever...a surfer film." But it was at the John Ford Amphitheatre, my favorite festival venue, which, frankly, was my main reason to go last night. Within the first ten minutes, the venue was quite secondary. I was easily drawn into the story and found myself deeply moved soon in. Having grown up in small town America, the story held a profound resonance for me. Yet, even if that is not your particular experience, this film defies you not to be moved. If you are looking for imperfection here, you will find it. If you allow yourself to be engaged in the story, you won't be disappointed. This one will be with me for a while.

When I first watched this film, I was unprepared for and deeply moved by the honest and touching screenplay by director Jonah Markowitz and the superb quality of acting by a fine cast. Trevor Wright can be proud of his convincing and moving portrayal of a young man at a point in his life at which he is confused about and questioning his sexual orientation. Trevor Wright develops his character, Zach, in a completely natural and unforced manner. His control of his body language and facial expression -- particularly his eyes -- has to be seen to be believed in an actor of his age. His dialog flows naturally, giving one the impression that it is all being said for the first time. This last is true of the entire cast attesting to the knowing guidance of their director.

Also brilliant are the performances by Brad Rowe, Tina Holmes, Ross Thomas, Katie Walder and Jackson Wurth. Repeated viewing of the film makes even more clear the depth of characterizations by this very able cast. Most impressive is the emotion expressed by eye contact achieved between Trevor Wright and Brad Rowe -- something very uncommon and unforgettable in a film of this kind.

My only criticism is that a few scenes seem a little rushed. Another 8 to 10 minutes wouldn't have hurt this fine film. One example is the night scene in Zach's (Trevor Wright) backyard, beautifully shot incidentally, with the lights of the Vincent Thomas bridge in the background. A little more time could have been given to Zach's indecision to go to Shaun (Brad Rowe) and allow the scene to flow more naturally; a closeup of Zach's looking out at the bridge and then a shot of the bridge that will take him to Shaun might have been nice.

It is regrettable that this fine movie has not been given wide theatrical distribution.

I'm previewing a disc version for the Brisbane Queer Film Festival where Shelter screens on Saturday 24th May 2008. Even in this low res screener, Shelter shines as a film with huge heart, and one that's been made with equal care by the actors and all of the film-makers.

It's not at all like the angst-ridden abomination of a gay surf flick "Tan Lines". Surfing is simply a fact of life element in "Shelter" - it's not used or abused as a device.

"Shelter" is a beautifully edited, spectacular looking and luscious sounding film which is definitely character driven. Each of the main characters is carefully developed so that we quite soon decide that we really do care about Zach, his young nephew Cody and Zach's love interest, Shaun. We want things to work out for them.

We understand that Zach is in a bind - he's allowed himself to be the physical and emotional anchor for a progressively more dysfunctional family, but we know that he deserves much better life options. The writers and director of Shelter have done a fantastic job - not a look or word is wasted, and yet the whole pace of the film is very relaxed.

"Shelter" deserves every accolade that any individual or Festival might care to bestow.

Straight audiences must find "Shelter" to be equally rewarding. The film's theme is, after all, about love, honour and commitment. What could be more wholesome than that?

Don't get me wrong, I'm a huge fan of Brokeback Mt., but I saw a screening of this film at the SF Gay and Lesbian Film Festival tonight and loved it as much as BBM and in some ways appreciated it more. At the Q & A after the screening the producer mentioned that the production company exec who green-lighted the project said he wanted to make "the anti-Brokeback," and in this I think they have succeeded magnificently. This is a genuine, heartfelt story about gay love minus all the tragedy and shattered lives. Which isn't to say there's no drama... Let's just say that some characters in the story have some problems, but mostly they're not a direct result of the love story at the film's core. For my money the acting (with avowed heterosexuals playing the gay roles, as in BBM) was more convincing, the kissing more natural, the sex scenes extremely sexy and moving; another milestone in the realistic portrayal of gay love and sex. The family setting provided a context that allowed one man's coming out story to be just one among many changes all families go through together while simultaneously putting some evil homophobic stereotypes to bed, you should pardon the expression, rather than dwelling on them as in BBM. Bravo to the filmmakers and excellent cast, and I hope you get a chance to see it soon if you weren't lucky enough to be among the 1400 people at the Castro theater tonight. Oh, and the lead actors are drop dead gorgeous and playing surfers. Enough said.