Crushed
3 Out of 5 Stars
Four short films that deal with love in the sense of how it can affect you when there's too much uncertainty involved make up "Crush," Michael J. Saul's rather uneven new movie. I found myself engaged by two of the segments here, bewildered by one and just flat out annoyed by the final episode.
The opening, "Don't Ask," is a musing on the lives of gay soldiers and the 'army wives' they leave behind. Cameron is about to leave on yet another tour of Iraq, and his partner James is struggling with the emotional freight of having to keep that part of their relationship private. While they played a loving couple very well, the story itself was less than compelling. Add a stridently annoying 'friend' who has to be the angry-war-hating loudmouth, and I was left wondering why this was the kick off to the DVD.
The second is a vampires in love segment, and was interesting in it's style, even if I am sick to death of vampires. But the two young actors were very good together and the open-ended final scene made me wonder where the story would lead to next.
The best of the four segments is "Strokes," about a gay art student's meeting/internship with his artist idol. Who just happens to be a caustic, bitter man whom nobody can stand to be with. The artist, Robert Brooks (Marc Sicilani) is note perfect as the disillusioned painter who wastes no time crushing Micheal The Intern (Jorge Diaz), even though all Micheal wants is to discover why his hero is the man he is. They play extremely well off of each other, and this was the one segment I was sorry to see end.
Finally, there is "Breathe." A soppy sponge cake of pre-adolescent desires as seen through a pair of awkward kids and their families as they go camping, it positively dripped syrup, and the narrator's whispery wet voice was as annoying as I could stand. Cloying, gauzy looking and saccharin, I forced myself to watch it all the way through. It's the kind of artsy cute romanticizing of young boys that gives gay movies a bad rep.
So there's the split - about 50/50 for my viewing entertainment. Individual mileage may vary.
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