esrosedotblog

A LONG TIME COMING updated and updated again--this film really shook me up--in a good way

Today's gay film was

The Edge of Seventeen (1998)

This film has perfect pitch. It may be the 80s and this guy is seventeen but it is the same deal. Fundamentally, every gay man has the same coming out story.

It is the obligatory part of any social connection. We go over each other's stories and compare them, then do it again. They all have the same threads, internal and external. Even being a different age or doing it in a different decade, they are the same.

The difference is in how well the story is told. Personal awareness is usually left at the door. It is all externals. But this film skips no bases. I can identify with almost every aspect of the story. Sometimes painfully, others, joyfully.

I really liked this film. I was caught unawares by it. Another coming out film.

No. It is special. And in addition to a cast of fine young actors, it features Lea DeLaria who we "know" from Provincetown, as the ultimate lesbian mom and guide into what they used to call "the life". There are also some fine old fashioned queens who are supportive and great to watch helping the young get on with the part of gay life that surrounds the sexual part which, to be frank, only lasts a little while, part of the time.

I will see it again. And, perhaps, again.

Great sound track too and DeLaria sings at the end. Sells a song.

One more thing. This is the 80s so a lot of the coming out is in a bar. That is how we did it. Of course, I fell into that trap, drinking. But I got out. Miracle.

These days there are many more options for men to meet men and at least half the people around us think that we should be able to do that.

But the stuff is the same. Just more healthy places to get over the hurdles. And I am sure that they still play a lot of the Eurhythmics.

This was a NYTimes Critics' pick.

I will give it a 5 out of Netflix5.

Labels: gay films