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bruno_lambess
Reviews
Redwoods (2009)
Story overpowered by Redwoods
Once again I feel somewhat cheated by a story with so much potential - like a baby in saddling clothes this team of actors with the complicity of the director slowly drowned whatever genuine motivation and progression in the story on a number of fronts: dialogue, camera shots, pregnant moments of stillness turned in to thundering lead weights that smothered. There was a belief stated by Montgomery that his partner in the story had immediate chemistry - I would suggest that this was perhaps misplaced - and in fact there was a little but they were such good actors they managed to act it out of every scene. Everyone in the film seemed to be 'straight acting'- even the father and brother...they all seemed to be closeted in their roles - I would suggest that the two brothers had the best chemistry and one of them was miscast - they both would have done a better job as the two lovers. Montgomery is an appalling shallow actor of limited ability - unable to display emotion or sensuality - and when he does it has a sleazy whiff about it. Brendan Bradley has a great camera presence and if given stronger direction would produce great work - sadly the potential he shows is patchy and uneven - further thrown into horrible relief by the other supporting 'actors' - the most notable of all was the son - who I thought might be the best of a bad bunch. All in all I am sad to see the American Gay Film tradition is being flooded by this type of low level production, poor scripting and equally incompetent directing - it denigrates our stories and apes historical cinema graphic archetypes too Closely - whilst our stories have common threads and motivations of 'The others' there is a dire need to ensure that they are performed and directed by skilled technicians who know when they are not up to par and all the main actors making a real effort to fill in the space with real depth of charaterisation that sits around and beyond the words on the paper rather than just 'acting'and sleep walking through their parts. There was a real story here - when did they make the decision not to give it a real voice? It all seemed rather rushed, unrehearsed and worst: cheap - do better next time. When I see another effort by this director I hope I can be bothered to watch.
Big Eden (2000)
Nice but no cigar
Well, interesting premise - if only the lead was cast a little better - at times he seemed a little wooden and at others shrill. I just didn't get the attraction between the two leads - bit of an 'odd'couple - perhaps this could have been justified with a little more background development...and the school football hero romance...well...I think flashbacks would have helped...maybe. The Art Gallery woman...oh, god, can we talk about how bad she was...a walking talking FAG-HAG...she was being smothered (thank goodness) by the paper bag she was trying to act her way out of. All in all great story potential, really nice setting sadly let down by poor casting and a weak script. Worth watching it for all the missed opportunities. :)
Schlafes Bruder (1995)
Stunning premise...a weak ending though...:(
All in all a stunningly filmed piece of work - if somewhat cheesy at the end - liked the first organ recital the lead gave - primo - the last one was gas too. The gay theme was cool - if a little strange - I mean you'd have thought the main man wud have cottoned-on to Peter's intense feelings for him...o...well...ya get that in the 'real' world of film! All in all a great watch with some stunning cinemagraphic tableauxs..somewhat spoilt by a script with a weak ending.