Seu Nome Gravado em Meu Peito

This films has some very good and very competent actors. Unfortunately, the script, directing and editing don't match the caliber of acting. There was never any connection between the main characters and those around them. They just popped in and out of the story. Sure, we know how they're related to each character. But we are never shown any reason for them being in the script. Some expositional dialog only makes it worse.

The story moves way too slowly. Too many moments are built up, only to be let down by an unfulfilled scene climax. For instance (being very general so as not to give anything away) a soldier comes back from boot camp to discover something that should send him way over the top. Instead, the script has him easily dismissing this situation with nothing more than a sigh. What?????

There are too many cross shots that really don't do anything to impact the story. Such as a shot of an abandoned drive-in screen to a shot of a garage door. There's no significance to it. This is just one example. The cross shots seem to be nothing than an exercise you'd do in college while trying to discover your vision and voice as a director.

And lastly, if you're going to have a stand-in for the intimate man-on-man sex scene, at least find somebody who actually looks like your star! That guy had longer hair, long sideburns, a different profile and different body shape! It was glaringly visible that he was a mis-matched stand-in.

I would have rated this film a "1" except that the acting kept me from doing so. The actors were the only reason I watched the entire film ... over 3 nights. There's no way I could have done it at just one sitting. There are some real stand outs in this film.

Because of the DVD cover picture and some reviews I had read, there was an expectation that this little indie would be just another Gay Consciousness Raising Film, that is, another predictable tale where boy meets boy and both fight and then realize they have good sex together and will love each other for eternity no matter what happens. I'm glad to say I was wrong; this film offers a more complex view of human behavior, dealing with individuals who learn about one another by listening, by caring, by questioning, and ultimately, by growing in positive ways from their being tossed together purely by chance. I would recommend sticking with this film past the first ten or fifteen minutes, and you may get wrapped up in director Damion Dietz's exploration of friendship, family, and a search for some kind of meaning in a haphazard world. Its a film with heart about people who need a helping hand and as such does it's job very well.

Dog Tags is the story of two kids who meet like ships in the night at a porn producer's desert home. One's an aimless party twink whose fathered a child in a moment of inebriated weakness, the other is a very hunky marine who comes from a real white trash background and is unsure of his sexuality. The roles are respectively played by Bart Fletcher and Paul Preiss.

Would these two very competent and attractive leads were worthy of the film. Dog Tags is a film sending out a real mixed message. Preiss has himself a real winner of a mother in Candy Clark who's picked out a bride for him, another version of herself from the bar she tends. When he comes home unexpectedly and finds her cheating, Preiss finds out it's been with half the customers there.

As for Fletcher he's also got mother troubles in Amy Lindsay, a woman who insists on being a diva when her diva days have long passed. Preiss also due to Fletcher's influence is thinking real strongly of going AOL. Not a real good idea, that's a decision that will affect the rest of your life gay or straight.

Preiss is on a quest for his dad and for the life of me I never understood why Clark just didn't come right out and tell him who is father was. No big deal when he found out. Just part of a very confused plot. I will say the male sex scenes were handled tastefully.

Some interesting points in Dog Tags, but definitely below average.

But not such an interesting movie.

The story slowly unfolds before you and you discover two guys that come from completely different backgrounds and yet both find in each other something the other needs emotionally and psychologically.

Maybe actors with a better creative range in character development would have helped this film. The story is the star here and each character pales beneath it. By movies end you simply don't care and you sort of suspected the big revelation all along. I don't want to give this movie a completely bad review because it does offer up a different story and doesn't completely fail in telling it. The movie is just slow and frankly the Marine comes across as a bit scary! And the Goth guy is too 'together' to be living the directionless path he as chosen. He comes across as mature and experienced yet living as if he isn't.

An OK movie but I'm afraid the cover is a bit misleading.

This film is a complete surprise. It starts out so slowly but before you know what is happening it keeps building and building until you are totally caught up in the unfolding drama which is quite remarkable in the way it is done. The cast is absolutely perfect, especially the two mothers who galvanize the story to such a degree that it is amazing. Yet there is the "missing" father in the background who in one scene utterly wraps you up in the situation that no one would want to be in yet the male lead finds himself in. The male lead, Paul Preiss, apparently has quit acting and according to his web site he is now directing commercials and short films. I can certainly understand why he would give up acting, after all, it's a no win situation unless you hit it big, yet it's too bad because he really is a natural. But the other male lead is also wonderful and the two of them together are electric. This film really is very touching.