justahunch-70549

If you are looking for excitement, don't look here. This well made apocalyptic film is very slow moving as life probably would be if you were the last person alive on Earth and that is what this film is about. I truly expected this to be a piece of junk, but it is more than that, though there are quite a few issues. Through near constant narration we learn we are told that first there was a pandemic that killed billions followed by a war that killed the rest. Later we hear about what sounds like an alien invasion. Perhaps that is who the war was with?! It is never made clear. The narration itself could also be a bit better, but cinematography is quite good and the acting by the lead, Natalia Reyes, is very strong much of the time. It's a hard role to pull off being the only person on screen, though later joined by a German Shepard. It's about a solitary life among the ruins leaving us with just her and the dog. There is an enormous question hanging over this that is never answered. Why only her? What makes her so special? I did really like the last scene which implies that this is the beginning of a new world.

Okay tale of cops and criminals going at each other as the latter wants to get their hands on a witness to one of their crimes. Catch is the witness is deaf and the bigger catch is that the cop who finds her first is also deaf, or going deaf. They are trapped in a shutting down old apartment building trying through all means to evade the criminals. There are many floors and many apartments for both sides to to check on or escape in. As a lover of confined settings, I thought I'd appreciate it more, but while not bad, it's nothing at all special Joel Kinnaman Is the good cop with the bad ears and he is good as is an actress I don't believe I've seen before, Sandra Mae Frank who is deaf in real life. The talented Mekhi Phifer is pretty authentic as the main heavy and Mark Strong is in a poor and very predictable role. Not bad, but minor.

I thought I was going to love this and while I didn't, that is not to say that I disliked it. It's well made and well performed, but perhaps I'm a tad too old for this. McCarthy, Cohn, the Lavender Scare, the mistreatment and discrimination of gays, etc. Are simply subject matters that I have been seeing, hearing and reading about for many decades. It would seem to me that the prime audience for this would be younger people who are unfamiliar with all of this, but looking at some of the reviews here, I seem to be incorrect. Beginning at an important and tragic time in American history, this series offers nothing new outside of the personal story of the two gay men that this is primarily about. We meet and greet them through this awful period, then witness them coming back and forth to each other through Vietnam, then AIDS, but all of those tragedies take second place to their love affair. Matt Bomer is always good, but is really good in the latter segments, but the role is odd. He's not particularly all that likeable in some ways, though that changes, predictably, as he ages. Jonathan Bailey is a bit of a chameleon. He's different in everything I've seen him in, which admittedly is not a lot, but they make a good pair and the sex scenes are well done, though probably a bit too intimate for some, but they don't have to watch. Allison Williams as Bomer's oh so patient wife is also quite good, but it's a strong cast in big and small roles. It means well and much of it is fine. If you are a young gay person unfamiliar with this time in history, it's a must.