Pit Stop

Pit Stop is a wonderful new film from director Yen Tan. It is the story of two mid-thirtyish gay men, Gabe and Ernesto, living separate but not totally dissimilar low key working class lives in the same Texan small town. Separately each man is yearning for love and emotional fulfillment while respectively struggling with his daily life and relationships. The focus is on Gabe and Ernesto but everyone in the film is a real person with a story to tell. All are portrayed in a thoughtful and empathetic way with no one casually discarded for the sake of storytelling expediency. This is a true character study of people finding their way in life and love and one cares about what will happen to them.

Gabe is divorced but trying to sustain his family for the sake of his young daughter. He has recently been rejected by a male lover who is married and now moved away. Ernesto is trying to end a two year relationship that has fallen apart and has no future. At the same time he is dutifully visiting a previous lover who lies comatose in a convalescent home following a car accident. Both men want more but their personal situations and the small town environment constrain them from being who they are and achieving the love and intimacy they long for and deserve. Both men still want to be wanted.

The film is beautifully made and the ensemble cast, led by Bill Heck as Gabe and Marcus DeAnda as Ernesto, is top notch. Pit Stop is a moving film that deserves a wide audience. Fans of Tan's earlier film, Ciao, will particularly like Pit Stop.

Odd review history here. First there are nothing but wonderful reviews followed by nothing but terrible reviews. Don't know what that means, but it seems peculiar. This is an intelligent, very slow moving film concentrating on the lives of two gay men, though one is obviously bi-sexual, that you know are going to come together for a love story, but it takes one hour for these two to meet in a one hour and twenty minute film. However, what saves it is that their individual stories are interesting and bit unusually similar. Both are nice guys still connected with their ex's. One with his ex-wife who still care and need each other as they were best friends prior to trying marriage and remain that way, along with together raising a young daughter. And the other with his ex-boyfriend who wants to get out of a small town in Texas, which I would think understandable, but the other doesn't. For a film with so many nice people, not many seem very happy with their lives. The acting is good by the four principles (I particularly liked Bill Heck & Bailey Bass) and it's a decent film, but you have to like film as even at this short a length there are many scenes in which nothing of significance occurs.

This film is an excellent example of great storytelling. It's a simple film that relies on subtly to tell a deeply human tale, instead of gratuitous sex, massive explosions or over the top violence. In short, if you enjoy films that explore real life, then this film is for you.

Pit Stop succeeds in delivering a very authentic depiction of a part of American life that doesn't get a lot of unbiased coverage. Another aspect of this film which is refreshing when compared with other LGBT films is that it has what I would consider to be an overall positive message. That does not mean it is devoid of angst and conflict; however, this film does a better than average job of balancing the very real challenges many gay men face with a thread of hope and an emphasis on personal fulfillment.

Speaking as a straight woman, I also found this film to be one which has value that extends beyond the LGBT community. Put another way, it really is a film for everyone. It does not depict gay people as living in a bubble, nor does it use straight people as mere props. The straight characters have depth and are portrayed sympathetically, which are things I find many LGBT themed films lack. I highly recommend Pit Stop to anyone who enjoys movies about everyday people and think it would be an especially worthwhile movie to watch for anyone with a gay family member or friend.

This movie is slow-paced and not very eventful, I believe it's value comes from the emotion of the performances and unabashed realism of the story. Probably not for everyone but I love this movie. Made me feel seen.

I suppose, the perspective about homosexual relations represents the main virtue of this real interesting film. It is not a demonstration, a manifesto, a melodrama or the heartbreaking self definition of gay life in terrible society.

It is easy to see it as a gallery of portraits of ordinary people and their lives, options, relations. It is a film about romance and family and dilemmas. But its good point is the honesty of vision of every day realities .

Maybe not impressive, obvious not memorable. But in its way, courageous. In short, in Texas, few men and their lives , stories and their romances . And , sure, their answers to life .