Bookends isn't terrible, it's just not interesting. It's also not really a queer film other than one of the main characters is gay. So if you're looking for queer indie films Bookends sort of qualifies, but no more so than any film with one or two gay characters in it.
Bookends feels like one of those films that was largely improvised but if that's the case it's not a detriment. Most of the character interactions are very believable and some of it nails that deep understanding that good friends who have known each for years have of each other. But other than generally realistic dialog and acting there's nothing notable about Bookends.
The "plot" is the same as numerous films about a group of friends gathering together. They drink and talk and drink and talk. Some pot comes out and is passed around. There are also some flashbacks to other times this group was together drinking and talking.
Then, some Chinese food is ordered and things...Pretty much keep going as they had been.
NOTE TO HOPEFUL INDIE FILM MAKERS: You and your friends probably are really interesting...To you and your friends. But it's highly unlikely you're so interesting that you'd be a good basis for a movie...Unless only you and your friends are going to watch that movie. If you do insist on making a film about a group of friends getting together and talking you should watch Bookends (or the nearly identical and just slightly better film Turtle Hill, Brooklyn) and then make a film that is completely different.
Bookends feels like one of those films that was largely improvised but if that's the case it's not a detriment. Most of the character interactions are very believable and some of it nails that deep understanding that good friends who have known each for years have of each other. But other than generally realistic dialog and acting there's nothing notable about Bookends.
The "plot" is the same as numerous films about a group of friends gathering together. They drink and talk and drink and talk. Some pot comes out and is passed around. There are also some flashbacks to other times this group was together drinking and talking.
Then, some Chinese food is ordered and things...Pretty much keep going as they had been.
NOTE TO HOPEFUL INDIE FILM MAKERS: You and your friends probably are really interesting...To you and your friends. But it's highly unlikely you're so interesting that you'd be a good basis for a movie...Unless only you and your friends are going to watch that movie. If you do insist on making a film about a group of friends getting together and talking you should watch Bookends (or the nearly identical and just slightly better film Turtle Hill, Brooklyn) and then make a film that is completely different.