Watercolors

OK so this is not going to grab any Oscars but I thought it nonetheless a very credible view of romance between two young men at high school.

Gay art student Danny is forced to share a room at home with Carter, a hunky swimming major who lodges there during difficulties at his own home. Carter needs help with his literature classes and Danny provides it in exchange for life drawing modeling.

A love develops that is fully realized and expressed by Danny but utterly denied by Carter who cannot even bring himself to be seen at school with his lover. The results are examined with sensitive dialog and quite acceptable acting. The love making scene in the rain is a triumph of art direction that would make many heterosexual movies appear vulgar. Tye Olson is excellent as Danny. Well worth a try.

I haven't seen this movie, but the DVD is due to arrive in the mail tomorrow. I logged onto IMDb to see what other viewers had to say. Don't EVER question why there are very few gay movies made. Every old queen and every too young adventurer always become superior critics. This is a gay movie. It does not star Meryl Streep, Robert DeNiro, or Sean Penn. Gays movies cannot accumulate large budgets and do the best they can with the material and cast they can find to work for free or pennies. I remember the first big studio gay movie, "Making Love" with Harry Hamlin, Michael Ontkean, and Kate Jackson, directed by Arthur Hiller. This movie was blasted bigger than Nagasaki. It all but ended Hamlin's and Ontkean's careers. It took a quarter of a century to get the venomous taste out of the critics mouths before "Brokeback Mountain" was finally accepted. BUT, how many major gay films have been made since? The most popular gay novel in the world, "The Front Runner" has been sitting on some studios shelf for nearly half a century. Everyone is afraid of either making it or starring in it. Hats off to the producer of "Watercolors" for putting forth the effort. It did win two major LBGT film festival awards. BUT as another reviewer stated, the cast was excellent except for the coach. MAN! He's the reason I'm seeing the movie. Greg Louganis, not only an Olympic Champion, but a drama major. Why was his acting singled out? Couldn't that sentence have been omitted? Why must we as gays, destroy our own culture...music, theatre, movies??? Can't we EVER find words of praise to encourage MORE gay entertainment? Remember the old adage, "If you can't find something good to say...". I'm really looking forward to enjoying this movie tomorrow. ______________________________ addendum: I finally saw the movie this afternoon and it's haunted me the rest of the evening. One of the two leads has practically no experience at all, yet he sustained his character as a professional. I really found nothing to criticize...only words of praise and hope that this will be the first of many features by the director. The entire cast was superb. Music was expertly used. I don't watch gay porn, but I do collect gay films with good stories...THIS is one of the best. It ranks high with "Latter Days" and "Shelter". Ten Stars!

Boy, am I glad I was able to see this movie.

The movie is about a young gay artist haunted by a tragedy during high-school. I won't go very deep about the story, but basically he fell in love with another boy during high-school and it didn't go very well. And believe me, not by the most common reasons. The story is really beautiful. Not having many characters, you get to know the 2 main characters very well and on the "crucial" moments it really gets into your heart. Except for Carter's coach, this movie has fabulous, gorgeous, amazing acting. You see the expression of anger in Darrien's face, when's angry, the heart-felt tears, when he cries, and the sensitive smile when his with either his mother, his best-friend and of course, Carter.

Plot: 8/10 - The reason why they met (and why carter lives with Darrien for a few month) isn't very «believable» but a beautiful romance develops as the movie goes on and grows on you.

Acting: 9.5/10 - Excellent actors. Well done.

Flaws: You never get to understand what are Darrien's mother and carter's father to each other. The movie is not very clear in terms of time. It seems as if only a few days have passed during the whole movie, but almost one year passed. (I think)

Personal Desire: I wish they could have developed a little more the relationship between Darrien and his mother. They could have made some touching scenes, since they were both great actors.

I'm glad it's not underrated, but having only 17 votes.... I suppose... not many people have seen it? Well, those people don't know what they're missing.

If you haven't seen this cookie cutter themed film before, do yourself a favor and don't. Two typical Calis- one a seemingly intelligent gay nerd falls for his opposite- the swimming jock who seems to be more confident and full of himself. They become fast friends and have an up and down friendship as they search for some connectivity in their lives. David Olivera wrote and directed this Cali mess whose heart may be in the right place, but whose dialogue is simplistic and cliched. There is nothing original going on here, we've seen it all before in better written scenarios. Oliveras takes no bold chances here, including changing the tired old Southern California venue we've seen way too often. Yawn!! The acting is okay, but regrettably, there's little for them to work with here. My rating: DWYT - Don't Waste Your Time!

The pacing, the storyline. It was an unbelievable journey from start to finish..the parallels to Romeo and Juliet and Shakesperes interpretation of love permeates and carry's through the acting of these two young men. The two main characters portrayed by their respective actors were real. Their approach sensatvie and endearing. I hope you finfd this movie as meaningful as I did.!