The Last Straight Man

"The Last Straight Man"

A 12 Year Long One Night Stand

Amos Lassen

"The Last Straight Man" is going to be one of the movies of the year, I predict. Director Mark Bessenger ("Bite Marks") sent me at advance copy and I watched it last night. It has been on my mind ever since. Evidently I am not alone in praising the film because this morning 8/10/14 it won the Alternative Spirit Award Grand Prize at the Rhode Island International Film Festival! This the first year they've split the features away from the shorts, into separate categories.

Now this is going to be a bit difficult to describe the film without giving something away but I will say that this is a movie filled with surprises. It is all about a one-night stand that lasts for 12 years. I must admit that after the first few minutes of the film I thought I had it all figured out but to my chagrin it took a totally different direction than what I expected. The film opens at Cooper's bachelor party and we see some exotic dancing from a hired female stripper but we also notice that one of the party guests does not get involved. Moving a bit forward we are in Lewis's (Mark Cirillo) hotel suite and with Lewis (the one who did not get involved with the lap dancing) and Cooper (Scott Sell). They are talking about life will be different once Coop gets married and he talks Lewis into having a couple of tequila shots and playing the game, "Three Questions" which is important because we will see it recur later.

In the course of the evening Lewis comes out as bisexual and he does so in the answer to one of the three questions. One thing leads to another and adding alcohol, the new men exchange oral sex. According to Cooper this will never happen again yet it does every year on the same date for the next eleven years. Over the course of twelve years, we see four additional nights that depict how the two men grow and how their friendship changes as they mature and age—Coop becomes a father, Lewis remains a loner and so on. There are certain rules to their meetings—booze, cigars, condoms and lube and eventually Lewis moves from bottom to top Cooper who never admits to being gay. He is a married man but we hear very little about the wife and I had the feeling that the reason that Coop married her was because of societal expectations.

We see a total of five nights (including the first) that the two men spend together and how their relationship changes. Sexuality is a complex subject and in this film you see how much that is true. It is also of the few films in which the leads begin as bisexuals yet we only see them act on their gay desires. In fact, when we first meet Lewis and Coop they are both closeted—Lewis has at least acted on his desire but Coop will act the first time with his best friend.

The two men decide to meet secretly in the same hotel and on the same night with the pretext of catching up with their lives but they actually further explore their sexual desires. We see the changes in friendship and relationship over the passage of twelve years.

I really believe that this will be one of the films of this year if not THE film. Everything about it is wonderful from the actors to the situations and if any of you have lusted after someone you will find yourself here. Bessenger has made yet another film of which he can be proud and we can be entertained and left with something to think about. I rarely rave about a film but this one is really one to rave about.

A very involving film from filmmaker Mark Bessenger, "The Last Man" standing is a therapeutic treat for anyone who's been involved in truncated relationships. From the outset, both leading men are aware of their feelings for one another. Lewis (Mark Cirillo) is a closeted man throwing a bachelor party for his straight best friend and secret crush, Cooper (Scott Sell). However, they also realize their relationship is doomed due to to the marital circumstance surrounding Cooper. Emotions run high as both men agree to schedule a yearly one night stand reprieve from the grind of life. During this interlude they are both allowed to ask three intimate questions to be answered as truthfully and as authentically as possible. That opportunity allows both lead characters to exchange confessions on their true feelings in addition to giving each other the needed updates they crave just to see where their relationship stands. You would think that Lewis is unilaterally suffering through the bulk of heartache this unrequited love situation is generating. However, much suffering is to be had by Cooper who is torn between his family and his real belated love found for Lewis. This is the type of love that has grown so out of bounds, Cooper does not know how to deal with his emotions.

The beauty of this film lies in what is not said. Both Lewis and Cooper are deeply in love and their non verbal exchange speaks volumes. Their jokes fall flat whenever they come close to addressing their real feelings forcing one or both to change the subject.

"May your hair never fall, your dick always rise and your kids never call your brother-in-law daddy" is only one of the many witty dialogue shared by both Cooper and Lewis in what may seem at times to be funny banter translate into the men trying their hardest to convey their deepest sentiments. Their language, muddled by the restrictive code of silence men as a species have been known to observe in order to preserved the stereotypical macho front, is made to cover any an all possible honest feelings that may withdraw true emotion leading to a defensiveness that would expose and possibly lead to the outpouring of one's authentic self.

In the form of a visual collage, the film skips to several progressive life events as both men evolve with the passage of time. As the men age w life experience, so does their love, affection and understanding of each other, which only seems to grow stronger with time, until Lewis realizes that at some point he has to be the better man and do the right thing for the benefit of Cooper's family. Such selflessness is what makes Lewis a likable character. He's always the reasonable one, where Cooper just wants to take their opportunity to let loose, and be who he really is. During their exchange of emotion in the bedroom, you can't help but to feel the plight and internal struggle they both face, but it is Lewis, who most of the times seems to be relegated to make the difficult choices.

Production values are satisfactory for this digital production. However, at times misplaced music becomes distracting in some very key moments that demand full attention for the words being exchanged between the two leads. Performances are courageous and engaging as both actors flawlessly perform with due diligence even during scenes of pervasive nudity and very explicit sexual situations. Kudos to Mark Cirillo & Scott Sell who create admirable performances, and also for their bravery in choosing to stay true to the story with some very demanding and at times difficult moments both leading men share as they emote during their intimacy.

"The Last Straight Man" is a delight of a film, with an involved story that will leave you pondering on many underlying themes dealing with the way men express themselves and treat each other, and how not knowing to express true feelings can have long term and irreversible consequences on a life that should have been with the one.

It reminded me of a gay version of the old hetero play, "Same Time Next Year," and I liked that part about the story the most. I always wondered what a gay version of that play might be like...with obvious differences because both lovers are men. And I think it worked. It was honest and it showed the dilemma that so many gay men face.

By reading the summary, it soon became clear that this would be a room movie contained in a few sets. Once the first scene was completed featuring several characters in the bachelor party and we get to the actual motion of the film, I started to hope that the chemistry between the 2 leads would be enough to entice since basically, a hotel room becomes the center of the action and that can become quickly tedious.

But to my surprise, the rapport is quite fair between Mark Cirillo as Lewis the gay one who has a crush on heterosexual yet confused Cooper played by Scott Sell. There are several nude scenes which took me by surprise and even though I felt they were not necessary, it doesn't detract from the story. Obviously, this is a low budget production so a montage of pictures is all we see to illustrate the time both characters spend in between their yearly meeting.

That part of the story bothered me a bit since I can't see how meeting only once a year for sex is realistic even if the 2 men are great friends and we don't really hear about their friendship outside of the confine of their trysts over the years. Still, I was caught up in their emotional interplay and felt like the connection between the two men was genuine which helped soothe some of the awkward acting moments that made me cringe in certain places.

Yet, even though this is not a strong story and it made me feel like some more scenes outside of the hotel room would have helped create a better understanding of what made these men tick without them having to talk about it, I still enjoyed it enough to give it a rather strong and fair rating of 7 stars.

The ending felt rather truncated and I would have hoped to get a bit more substance added to the denouement but it still felt satisfying enough to recommend potential viewers interested in this subject matter to give it a fair chance.

The Last Straight Man concerns a pair of friends who after a bachelor party for one of them, the groom and the gay best friend kick back and start confessing some frank sexual stories. Turns out Scott Sell has always wanted to experiment with the other side and Mark Cirillo looks forward to being experimented with.

This story is a kind of urban Brokeback Mountain where the two cowboys who are married after one summer of passion agree once a year to return to the Wyoming wilderness for what they tell the spouses and the world are hunting and fishing trips.

These two agree that on the same night once a year they would go back for a night of the same passion. For Sell it's to satisfy that gay side of his nature and for Cirillo who is a writer of romance novels it's to have an otherwise unattainable romance.

Four of these encounters are shown over a dozen years and we see the changes in the dynamic of the relationship.

This is a great two character gay study and Cirillo and Sell have some great chemistry between them.

Does it work out better for them than for Jake Gyllenhaal and Heath Ledger? You won't regret checking into The Last Straight Man to find out.