oddity94

The first episode starts with some promise - the first twenty minutes or so give a variety of perspectives, fun performances, some quippy dialogue, interesting shots, an idea of whats to come. But then the episode slowly goes ... nowhere.

You can sense that the show is trying, in some sense, to be topical. To be of the moment and to reflect current pop culture, money, sex, power, etc. But, ultimately, I don't think it has a coherent thought to follow or even an interesting/unique perspective to offer.

Jocelyn seems a bit vacant. Her motivations are unclear, her character lacking. The full episode doesn't give much insight as to who she is, how she got there, where she wants to go, what drives her, or even why she wants to be a pop star. This all could be purposeful, to make her seem vulnerable and directionless. But I can't say that it's compelling as of yet. And Tedros is even less compelling.

It's not encouraging that I'm more intrigued by the side characters than by the leads. But I'm willing to watch another episode to see if the storytelling gains some kind of narrative/thematic focus.

Overall, quite a pleasant movie and refreshing for the subject matter it covers, to a fault almost. It's nice to see a movie about HIV that isn't all doom and gloom - at the same time, the film feels weirdly low-stakes as it tends to undercut any narrative tension by always trying to downplay the seriousness. The film's central theme - waiting - isn't a very dynamic action, and so the movie just kind of plods along, from scene to scene. Some supporting characters feel underdeveloped, and so some of the dramatic moments later in the film feel unearned. As a comedy, however, it works well - no particularly outrageous scenes, just a steady stream of chuckles. The central love story is lovely, with some nice chemistry between Caleb and Estha.

Troye Sivan shines in the comedic moments of the film and seems very comfortable on screen, although he struggles just a bit with some of the story's more serious scenes. He really makes the character his own - it helps that he's pretty. All supporting performances are serviceable, Brianna Tju and Viveik Kalra play their roles well. A delightful debut by writer/director Jared Frieder!

I recommend watching it - it's nice, simple, touching, amusing, heartfelt, and we get so few queer films like it.