Drift

What starts out as a fairly straightforward tale of the end of a relationship gets, for no apparent reason, complicated about an hour in by repeated scenes from earlier in the film with twists and variations. First minor changes in wording, then wholesale changes in content, scene construction and even characters. I was reminded of the home video release of "Clue," which separated the three theatrical endings with a title card saying something like "That's one way it could have gone, but what about this?" Except the alternate endings and scenes for "Clue" were entertaining and these changes weren't. The twists and turns were attempts to enliven an otherwise pedestrian faux-"quirky" script (oooh, obsessing about serial killers, how avant-garde!) but it didn't work. Proving that gay indie filmmakers can screw up relationship stories just as badly as straight ones. If you like surreal twists, leave this one on the shelf and rent "The Hanging Garden" instead.

Maybe it's because I don't appreciate the joy that drama queens bring to life. Maybe it's because I don't appreciate the angst of living in the life today. Who in the real, work-a-day world speaks like this? If I met such an emotional train-wreck as the lead character, I would sprint at high speed in the other direction. It seemed every time Ryan opened his mouth out spilled a Greek tragedy punctuated by his belabored, self absorbed, oh-woe-is-me breathing. The acting was good, the story line was mediocre. I found myself looking at my watch and checking the box the video came in to see how much longer the pain was to continue. I would have been the guy in the back row of the theater groaning every time one of these poor widdle boys dug himself into a hole and then waxed poetic.

I have this visceral feeling of...oh sorry, it's just indigestion.

Do gay-themed movies get any more self-consciously awful than this garbage?

What the filmmakers didn't realize is that all those trite avant garde movie cliches are bearable only if you have characters that one actually cares about. Otherwise, the constant juxtaposition of old scenes with new ones becomes as obnoxious as the characters and equally hard to love.

As I watched with my friends we tried to amuse ourselves by coming up with more fitting film titles (between snores, of course). I think the one that fits best is "Groundhog Drift."

I gave it a 3 but am wondering if that wasn't too high?

I liked a lot about the movie. It's earnest and well-intentioned. The execution is a bit uneven, and as others have said, some dialog does not ring true.

I was startled when, well into the movie, scenes seemed to repeat. For a moment I wondered if the DVD was stuck. I had no clue previously that I was about to see alternative versions of the storyline. I'm not sure if this was a good thing or a bad thing. Generally, I like to be surprised, but this sudden shift was a little confusing. Again, not entirely a bad thing. I've never read the Dogma manifesto (and this is shot Dogma-style) so I don't know if this movie follows those rules to the letter. However, I think my surprise stemmed from not expecting to see alternate realities depicted realistically (Dogma-ish), if that makes sense.

Overall I think it's worth seeing, if for no other reason than, well, how many gay Dogma movies are there? I think if you approach it as something impressionistic rather than realistic, you'll be more likely to enjoy it.

The dialog is fresh, original, and on a much higher level than most commercial and indie films. Sure, the cinematography is pretty lame, especially on extreme facial close-ups. But the story surprises--Ryan has many illusions and many alternative stories that he lives, and we're not quite certain what's real. This Canadian import survives because of its superior screenplay, as well as some good acting performances. I gave it an 8/10.