Shelter

I am gay, but I dislike most of the gay movies out there. There are only a few exception: Brokeback Mountain, Borstal Boys and Beautiful Thing. All other gay movies are always victims to one of the followings: being too sensitive, or too chatty, or too corny. This is certainly an exception: no drag queens, no drugs, no gay bars, no AIDS victim, no party boys. And it's thoroughly refreshing.

Enough good thing have been said about this movie, which is now in my very short list of favorite gay movies. A lot of reviews give credit to Trevor Wright for his excellent performance. Credit well deserved. However, I think director Jonah Markowitz deserve the most credit for putting together a movie in which everything feels so natural and real.

The best part of this movie is the dialogue: It's short, precise and yet powerful. For example: the dialogue on the patio after their dinner:

Shawn: "I admire what you are doing for Cody. You don't have to."
Zach: "Yes. I do."
Shawn: "It's a choice, Zach."
Zach: "It's family."
Zach: "The only one left."
Shawn: "You get that from your mom."
Zach: "Yeah, I know."
Zach: "Lucky me."

This is a simply love story. Even though the word "Love" was never said in the movie, there was never one moment of doubt how much they were in love. There are lots of little things in the movie that you will recognize if you were ever in love. When Zach was driving away after his first night with Shawn, a little smile slowly crept up his face, and he just couldn't hold it anymore, and scratched his head for getting a little embarassed on the silly happiness.

Shane Mack also deserves high praises for the songs he wrote for this movie. When Zach couldn't fall asleep, flipping back and forth, the images of him with Shawn were flashing through his head. The moment wouldn't have such an emotional impact without Shane Mack's "More Than This" playing in the background.

The negatives I can think of is that for someone who's never been with a guy, Zach was quite adept in stripping off Shawn's cloths that night. Also, Gabe would have seen Zach's truck outside when he barged in, and he's not the kind of person who wouldn't say anything about it. Sorry, I know I am nitpicking. But if you are like me watching this movie 10 times in the first week, you would be too. :-)

I do have one issue with the cover of the DVD. If I hadn't read its review first to know what the movie is about, I would have easily dismissed it as another soft-core gay porn that's dressed up as a movie. There could be a hundred moments in the movie that would be a better cover than this bed shot. I have to believe that it wasn't picked by the director who has handled everything so tastefully without losing the erotic force. Thanks to AfterElton.com that listed it as the #3 of all time greatest gay movies, I didn't miss now-my-favorite gay movie that's not a tragedy (BBM and Borstal Boys) or a fairy tale (Beautiful Thing).

In my opinion, David Wiegand from SF Chronicle has the best review on this movie: "Sometimes a film that otherwise relies on stock storylines and even skirts the fringes of old-fashioned melodrama can rise up on the strength of other elements. In the case of writer/director Jonah Markowitz's feature film debut, "Shelter" rises very high indeed, thanks to a superb performance by Trevor Wright in the lead role, a strong supporting cast, very good cinematography and, most of all, emotional authenticity."

What we have here is denial, doubt, fear, rejection, escapism, familial disfunction,fear and all the rest of real life problems. In the end love, both familial and personal, wins out.

This was a decent movie...characters were believable and the story although predictable was entertaining. I decided to keep this one in my library...

I fell in love with this movie the first time I saw it. It was great to see a movie which wasn't steeped in gay culture, that was about normal people going through hardships and while doing so discovering who they where and where they wanted to go in life. The story follows Zach, a young man who instead of going to college, stayed behind to watch over his sister and her son. His sister is a poor mother, leaving Zach to fill the parental role for his young nephew all the while trying to express himself through his art and surfing. When his best friend's older brother Shaun comes back into town for a month, Zach begins to discover himself and driven by Shaun, starts to go after a better life than the one he had chosen.

I have been watching this movie incessantly for the last three weeks.
What I enjoy about this movie the most is the lack of big dramatic acting, which invariably is used in modern day cinema by actors cast to play in mildly-unrealistic to completely-incredible roles. Brad Rowe and Trevor Wright are great enough actors to make the story feel like watching a real life situation.

The bulk of the emotion in this movie is told in the actors' facial expressions. Scenes in this movie in which Zach is attempting to deal with the inner turmoil of his newly-revealed sexuality, would have been tainted and unbearable if they had been filled with exaggerated and unnecessary words. Instead you can see/feel the insult and hurt felt when Trevor Wright's he frowns, nose crunched, and in his eyes you can believe the character is thinking something along the lines of "Please God, just give me a hole to crawl into."

In addition because there is so much unspoken passion in this movie it makes it all the more compelling when Zach raises his voice, which happens all of three times. The first time, his sister confronts him about his relationship with Shaun and the potential detriment to her son. Zach's immediate response is defiant, a statement that he is standing up to his sister for the first time. It is an indication that the character is beginning to grow out of submission.

The second time, Gabe confronts him about his relationship with Shaun. Blindsighted and unprepared to deal with this reality, Zach raises his voice to his best friend in defense. You can see that Gabe doesn't exactly know how to comfort his friend either and immediately backs down, without letting him know that he does not wish to lose their friendship over this.

The third time, in the final scene, Jeanne's boyfriend demeans Zach's would-be-son. At this point the audience is clear on the fact that while most of the character's growth has involved his sexuality, most of the character's LIFE has revolved around his nephew. To hear this abrasive, offensive NOTHING attack Cody like this is too much after everything that Zach has been through, and Zach lashes out with a passion that actually brought a tear to my eye. We should all have someone who cares about us so.

The worst example of acting in this movie comes from the character of Billy, who has all of three lines in the darkness by a fire, and is merely there to establish the aspect that Zach's friends' lives continue to move on while his own remains fairly static.

Not a single word, facial expression, or stance is wasted in this movie. And if you're a straight guy who is afraid of GLBT-themed movies out of discomfort at seeing full frontal male nudity, have no fear. 'Shelter' is tasteful, heart-warming, heart-wrenching, and I haven't seen another movie quite like it.