This 2004 effort by part-time Canadian director, Quentin Lee, centers on the story of a young asian, Ethan Mao (played by Jun Hee Lee), who is kicked out of home for being gay when his step-mother finds a gay porn magazine. He heads into hustling to make ends meat (pardon the pun) and meets up with a Hispanic teenager, Remigio, who takes him in. However, Ethan is keen to return home simply to get his dead mother's necklace. That trip though ends up turning bad when his family returns home unexpectedly and he and Remigio end up taking them all hostage. This is a gay coming of age story a little outside of the box. It is gritty and serious and had some real dramatic moments. The sound mixing (at least on the dvd I got) needs work but all-in-all the acting and production are very good. In fact, I thought the movie got better and better as it progressed. But then, gosh, what was Quentin thinking with the ending? Picture the next to last frame when Ethan and Remigio are about to (spoiler alert) head out to meet the cops. Ethan spouts some corny line that "as I was standing there about to blow my brains out, I closed my eyes and thought of you, and you were the only reason I didn't". OMG, gag me with a spoon.
My rating 6 out of 10.
No comments:
Post a Comment