Friday, November 14, 2014
Back to the closet
It is hard to remember that in a lot of places, gay men still go through the excruciating process of self discovery with no place to claim the place they have found.
A bit of history will show us that we are not really all that far from the time when all of us were faced with the choice about whether to "practice" our identity or to stay put, to be in the closet.
Today's film explores that dilemma again. Again, again, again. Some day this kind of film may be unnecessary but today it is still possible that some men will see this and take the leap that many of us did a long time ago.
Snails in the Rain (2013) is not a great film but it is an honest one.
An Israeli movie, it shows the local version of the universal dilemma. What do you do when you discover that you are gay in a straight culture?
This is not a good news coming out story. Actually two stories. Parallel. Sort of.
That is the problem. The resolution depends on a kind of gimmick with another closeted gay man who we do not know very well. Actually, the guy who is writing our hero anonymous love letters. We don't know a lot about him and should. I think.
I bought this because it is the only way I could see it but I will probably not watch it again. Although the eye candy is pretty compelling it doesn't save the day.
A 3 out of Netflix5 for this one.
The snails? I guess a metaphor shoved in at the end. Not very effectively.
