This Friday's movie is Big Eden, ranked #10 on AfterElton.com and #25 by MoHos. From IMDb:
Big Eden is a tiny fictional town in northwestern Montana, as Preston Sturges or Frank Capra might have envisioned it. Timber and Cowboy country. This is the story of Henry Hart, a successful New York Artist, who returns to the town of his childhood to care for the ailing grandfather who raised him. Back in Big Eden, Henry must come to terms with his relationship to Dean Stewart, his best friend from high School, as well as the object of his unrequited love. All these years Henry has been pining for a dream image of Dean from back then. This is also the story of Pike Dexter, the shy, unassuming Native American owner of the town's general store, who is as surprised as anyone to find himself falling in love with Henry. The people of Big Eden conspire and attempt to bring Henry and Pike together.I enjoyed the movie, although it did not deliver on my high hopes. I thought I might find a lot in common with the storyline of someone with a high-powered career going from the big city back to his small town where he comes out to his family. Alas, it was not to be. Although that is the storyline, his small hometown is nothing like the Red State hometown I come from. I wonder why he ever felt the need to be closeted, as his entire hometown is very supportive of homosexuals and there are several high profile homosexual relationships in the town. The one aspect I did relate to was the main character's relationship with his straight friend from high school (who is reasonably cute). Their relationship in the movie reminded me of my relationship with one of my mission companions. I was definitely attracted to him and have wondered since discovering my homosexuality if he might have been attracted to me to. While this is just a movie, I think it shows how a gay man and a straight man might develop a relationship where the gay man sees it as a romantic relationship and the straight man sees it as a platonic friendship.
I got this from Netflix awhile ago and it gets a "meh" rating from me. The movie actually had decent production values, but I didn't feel like there was any chemistry between Pike and Henry. Their romance made no sense to me. Also, I made it through the entire movie without realizing that Dean was straight. For some reason I had him more in the bisexual category.
ReplyDeleteI think the support & love found in Henry's hometown was a statement about what America should be like. Can you imagine what it would be like to have communities like this all across the United States and the world? Someday we will get there.
@El Genio - agreed, there was no onscreen chemistry, it was almost like they were falling in love because they were the only two gay guys in the whole town. I was convinced Dean was non-heterosexual as well, until the scene where Dean confesses that he can't be everything Henry needs (which is where I drew the inference that Dean is straight).
ReplyDeleteI agree that America would be a better place if our community were more like Henry's hometown, it would be awesome indeed.