Reviews

I am sorry to dry somebodys well-earned tears but I didn't find this especially touching. I usually like these artsy gayfilms e.g Maurice, Brideshead, Brokeback Mountain etc. but this is not very good on portraying characters. The actors all look like passive onlookers not active partisipants on their own life! This is especially true on character of Oliver. We really don't know anything about him. His past, his hopes, dreams or his imner feelings. What makes him tick? And Elio. He is just a sullen teenager with a boring life. Walks around in his boxers looking for something. Usually at 17 you know If you are homo or hetero or something in between. Besides, in 1983 guys were wearing briefs. And this peach scene... Every man knows that you can not do this to a peach. You only end up with sticky mush. Unless you have a very small penis - the size of a matchstick. And why is Oliver eating the peach? Is this one way of saying I Love Thee Always? There are more subtle ways of saying that. Now it is something out of Ed Wood,jr's imagination. These two lovers are never actually in love. They are just having sex and fooling around. Only little tenderness but mostly Oliver is giving Elio a cold shoulder. And he is sometimes even putting him down, like in the interrupted oral sex scene. I hope he is treating his girlfriend better or their marriage won't last. It is hard to find the last crying scene touching. What is Elio missing? His cold-hearted lover or his virginity? Or his lovely peach? Words of his father are good but they belong to a different movie, where we end up caring about the characters. One thing that could have made this movie is If they had the balls to make Elio a 15 year old. Boys of that age usually try everything for a size, including peaches. But had they done it, the cryers would start roaring and crucifying everybody connected with this film. That is how we have evolved, sadly.

There are many reasons for liking. this movie. I loved the cinematography and the casting. And the action scenes were done very well. A lot of violence and gore, but done with a surprisingly good taste. But it seriously lacked believable plot and character development. I know that making this kind of films are expensive and hard but they could have paid a few pounds more to the scriptwriter to make a true epic. Men are just meat here and the women...a little more... The talented cast could have made more of their roles. Obviously the Hollywood credo of action and entertainment makes money corrupted this film like so many others. Still highly recommended despite its faults.

I think this is a very well crafted movie. The performances are excellent and the director and all his staff made a wonderful job. And this has the best dialog I have heard in years - despite the frequent f-words. Yes, this is one of the rags-to-riches-and-then-to-jail -movie. But somehow I missed the larger-in-life -character Gordon Gekko, who has already become a living legend although he is only a fiction from Stone's Wall Street. The main character is just a brat with addictions: drug, sex and money. Like a teenager-for-ever -type. He never grows and he never learns. At the end he is still making money for himself and some avid listeners. I hope his methods are legitimate now. But there is virtually no reference to the outside world. No political or philosophical connotations. And during this time inside Wall street was happening a lot! Later we found out what... So my only complaint is that this movie tries to be a Novel (apparently Epic Novel for 3 hours!)but manages in only being a short story.