Lonesome

Powerful movie about the struggles of a young gay guy: survival, migration toward a big, gay city, and learning how to love (oneself and others) without much help along the way.

The two main actors are amazing and convincing, the photography is stunning, and the plot has a picaresque pace.

The movie reminded me of another Australian queer film, Head On (1998), which deals also about identity crisis, migration, and the difficulty to be at peace with oneself.

Lonesome also reminded me of My Own Private Idaho because of many factors: the appeal of the drifting cowboy, the family drama, and the ordeal of alcohol, drugs and chemsex.

There's an interplay between the stark sudden and the slow burn throughout this movie. We begin with an immediate Immersion into the drift of Casey's life and his sexuality which has driven his path this far. He's taken off away from his birthplace after a rejection of him by his married lover, an unexpected tragedy, and his family and community virulence afterwards. And, he works his way along the edges of people in activities out in the public towards the ocean where he tries to finish his part in it and life. He is unsuccessful. Rejected by the sea, Casey then drifts back into Sydney where he quickly finds and joins a small orgy in an unofficial residence. The afterglow of he and its prime mover, Tib, leads to the next in the movie's series of latent simmerings - a number of gig economy small jobs and handyman tasks while also falling for this roommate. The two of them eke out an existence together until Tib faces a deeply personal rejection and responds as he seems he is wont to do. Tib's reaction, in turn, thus feels to Casey as yet another rejection and his self-defense destructive impulses sets him off adrift once again until he finally wakes up that this is not the life he wants for himself or Tib.

You may not appreciate this sort of sloshing meter. You may likewise either be repulsed by Lonesome's edginess which, it seems to me, is part of the current Australian motion picture (and especially its LGBTQ+) storyline landscape. The lonesomeness of this movie, however, is manifested through both, not only of Tib and Casey, but also of those they come in contact with and interact with throughout its storyline.

Josh Lavery as Casey and Daniel Gabriel playing Tib were real stars here. I don't recall either of them putting a foot wrong under the tight direction of Craig Boreham. The supporting cast was uniformly good too.

The sex and the nudity didn't bother me at all. These are integral to the lives of young gay guys. Casual sex and promiscuity are a given in much of the queer community. I've lived this and, to me, the guys portrayed were true to life.

As the film progresses, we learn about the background of the two leads, especially that of Casey. Those back stories explain much of the motivations and behaviour of the two protagonists.

I don't want to leave spoilers, but I've reduced the mark to a seven as I thought the ending could have been handled better or written differently. However, all in all, a good film.

In small-town Australia, young gay man Casey can't get what he wants locally, instead causing a deadly scandal. He hitchhikes to Sydney, "to see the ocean".

Living on the streets and by his wits, he hooks up with guys he meets on his phone's online app. One is Tib, who takes him in, providing him with couch, some work, companionship, and sex. But when Tib's own problems causes him to revert to his s promiscuous ways, , things get difficult between them.

There is lots of male nudity and (likely simulated) sex, which leads me to believe the film is geared to a particular audience. However, Casey does have a back story that is slowly revealed, and part of his journey is to let go of his past, and reconcile his feelings of unworthiness with his streak of independence.

Of course it's not always a compliment when someone calls a movie courageous, but in this case it really is. It shows some darker sides of gay culture with a bluntness that we seldomly see, without any judgement, just observing.

To me it also showed that these 'darker sides' of gay eroticism can have their own function in a persons life.

And there's the courage of the two actors that play the main characters, to take on with such intensity parts that have such explicit gay sex and nudity.

I'm particularly impressed with the very subtle, naturalistically introvert acting of Josh Lavery. In my opinion he would very well function in a scala of roles, from action hero to romantic interest, but apparently up until now he has mainly been in what we call 'gay' movies. He also has a very impressive voice.

In one other review the term gaysplectation is mentioned. I can see why, there's a lot of scarcely dressed or bare naked young man to be admired. But I think the term doesn't do right to the movie, because of the intense acting and the venturous parts of the story.

The music of this film just seems weird every once in a while, as if taken from some low-budget 70ies movie.