GAY
FILM REVIEWS BY MICHAEL D. KLEMM
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GAY
FILM REVIEWS BY MICHAEL D. KLEMM
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Shelter Here!
Films Director/Screenplay: Starring: Rated R, 97 Minutes |
Wipe
Out
Shelter is a rather sweet romance that could have been so much better. It follows the typical love story formula; boy meets boy (since this is a gay film), boy gets boy, boy loses boy, boy gets boy back. Because this is also a coming out tale, we can also include: sexually confused boy freaks out, comes to grips with his true self, and then gets boy. |
 Writer
and director Jonah Markowitz gives the familiar plot a bit of a new spin
by making our young lovers surfer dudes. Zach (Trevor Wright) is a budding
painter and graffiti artist who lives with his ailing father, his sister
Jeannie (Tina Holmes, the girlfriend in Edge
of Seventeen) and her young son, Cody. Jeannie was abandoned by
Cody's father and she frequently imposes on her brother to babysit the kid
whenever she enjoys a night out or a weekend with her latest boyfriend du
jour. Cody likes to think of Zach as his father and Zach has a great rapport
with the boy. I especially liked the scenes where Zach teaches him how to
draw. |
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 Their
romance is rather touching in an "aww, isn't that sweet" sort of way without
being nauseating. Our lads share one of the cutest first kisses I've ever
seen in a movie. Markowitz seems more interested in exploring their emotions
than emphasizing extensive sexual interludes between them. This isn't a
bad thing though male viewers might be disappointed by the overall lack
of gratuitous sex. For a film about surfing, there is also very little beefcake.
Lots of wetsuits though. |
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 Third
act drama is supplied when the sexually loose Jeannie finds out about her
brother's relationship with Shaun and sanctimoniously, not to mention hypocritically,
calls him a bad influence on her son. Talk about the pot calling the kettle
black, especially when a later development qualifies her for the "Worst
Mom Of The Year" award. Zach is more of a parent to the boy than she is
and, together with Shaun, provide an alternate family. She is almost successful
in her bid to break them up but, as to be expected, everything works out
in the end. The saccharine final sequence of Zach, Shaun and Cody happily
playing on the beach will be pleasing to some audience members but I caution
diabetics to have their insulin handy in case of an attack. |
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 There
is much to commend in this film, but its execution unfortunately leaves
a lot to be desired. There are problems in the script. The ailing father
completely disappears from the film (did he die and they forgot to tell
us?) and the "boy loses boy" section was not only unnecessary but also dragged
out until it became intolerable. I can find no fault with the acting, or
the characters themselves, but Shelter
suffers from a malaise common to more gay independent films than I can count
- namely way too many pointless scene transitions and montages set
to sappy music that makes you want to drive sharpened pencils into your
ears. |
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Still, before I get accused of being heartless, the refreshingly innocent love story made the low points more palatable and you can always fast forward over the boring bits. It is a credit to the actors that I stayed through until the end. Shelter isn't a bad film, it just doesn't live up to its potential. |
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Brad Rowe also
appears in: Tina Holmes also
appears in: |
Despite
dating a girl named Tori for several years, Zach is realizing that there
is no connection between them and he is about to discover the reason why
when his best friend Gabe's gay older brother, Shaun (
I
lost track of how many surfing and skateboarding scenes there were in
this movie, not to mention shots of sitting on the beach and long meaningful
glances, scored to annoyingly banal new-age guitar music and trite pop
songs that added at least 15 minutes to the film's running time. If film
schools don't teach their students not to do this, it's about time
they start. The best scenes in Shelter
are character-driven with silence in the background. This could have been
a great film but too much of it plays like a muzak music video.
Since
most of the films that I review for Cinemaqueer.com are unrated, I haven't
had the opportunity to rag on the Films Rating Board in awhile (with the
exception of my review of the documentary about those guardians of our
morality,