Innocent

I just watched this movie, and since it's so forgettable, I will only remember that it's bad unless I write a comment right now.

This movie summarizes what's disappointing in most indie gay flicks: Wooden acting, trite dialog, predictability, saccharine treatments, lack of creativity/character development and a movie that lacks rhythm.

Eric treats each scene with the same manner of dialog and acting. Lack of close ups force the script to convey the emotion rather than the expressiveness of the characters. The script and its delivery are sub par.

Since Eric is kind of attractive, it was the only thing that kept me watching to the end. To me this movie is just another pedestrian gay movie that is necessary on the path to much better ones.

This film is about a gay young man from Hong Kong being tricked by his parents and moved to Canada. He is brave enough to follow his heart and act on his sexual desires, but a series of unfortunate events happen one after another.

This film stands out as being very realistic and raw. The acting, the camera and cinematography are all very every day, as if it is a home made video documenting trivial things in a family. I am particularly impressed by the portrayal between the mother and the father, and the family dynamics between the family. Most of the dialog is mildly challenging and to the point, which makes it unpretentious.

There is nothing very dramatic or graphic in the film, and yet as the trivial daily life unfolds, the film gets more interesting. It successfully captivates the viewers and makes them wanting to know more.

This film deserves a lot more attention than it currently is getting!

A sensitive story of a young man immigrating to Toronto and dealing with the conflicts that follow. Timothy Lee as "Eric" demonstrates a subtle intensity, underplaying scenes that lesser actors would turn into melodrama. Director Chung especially handles the various sexual encounters Eric has with taste, yet still captures the erotic tension of a young gay Asian man's journey of self discovery. All this while cinematographer Vinit Borrison's cool colour palette mines the melancholy of the city, accurately reflecting the cold grey of Toronto.

Perhaps the only jarring note in the movie is the appearance of the band "White Van Speaker Scam". The band rocks with an intensity entirely at odds with the gentle yearning tone Director Chang works so hard to achieve. No sooner is the powerhouse Soul/Rock groove machine done disrupting the movies' pacing, then we are further subjected to the hammy, over the top performance of drummer James Scott. Bassist Lee Rogers at least has the best hair in the movie, and as for guitarist Adam Burnett, his footage thankfully hit the editing room floor. Would that this entire sequence had done so as well! But this is a trifle of a complaint in an otherwise perfect "small film".

Writer/director Simon Chung, in his first major motion picture, shows evidence of a solid talent and promise that there are many fine films lurking about in his head. He has produced a story that is pertinent on many levels, addressing the questions of family bonding after transplantation to another country, sexual coming of age of a young lad without support systems, miscegenation of cultures at polar opposites, and how to cope in a strange land without adequate mental preparation.

Eric (Timothy Lee - a very promising, subtle young actor) and his sister, mother and father move from Hong Kong to Toronto, Canada to seek the wealth of their dream. Eric was in with the wrong crowd in Hong Kong and doesn't want to move to Canada, but his parents force the move to aid his education AND to find some success in business that eluded them in Hong Kong. The family moves in with relatives (Eric's very hunky cousin becomes the object of his sexual fantasies despite the fact that the cousin has a girlfriend) and slowly the family works into the atmosphere of Toronto. But Eric's parents show signs of breakup, a fact that actually occurs. Eric finds an older man who supplies his needs sexually and emotionally, but the man has a lover who returns form the Philippines to destroy the possibility of permanence. The mother opens a restaurant forcing Eric to work there, the only positive aspect of the job being Eric's friendship/potential love with one of the busboys who he decides to help make the crossing into New York. On a very brave venture Eric succeeds in getting his current amour into the city only to be deserted by him. The film slows and stops without resolution of Eric's needs.

And it is this ending that makes the impression. Life, Chung seems to be saying, is not a progressive series of culminating events, but is rather a potpourri of isolated incidents from which we learn and move on. The cast is uniformly fine, but the standouts are Eric's very handsome cousin who appears to have a solid career ahead of him, and Timothy Lee who brings compassion and very subtle acting to a difficult role. He is another actor to watch. Though being marketed as a gay film (and indeed it does deal with gay issues), the audience should be much larger, especially as we are constantly dealing with immigration issues today: this is another look and stance for a large problem and one about which we understand too little. Grady Harp