Ten minutes into Rock Haven I had given up hope. Nothing I've seen on screen had approached the level of overall ineptitude on display here. Suddenly though, when the film descended to a never before revealed level of after-school-movie hell, I realized that this film was actually a kick-ass parody of the "Christian/gay predicament" genre. Haha. Brilliant.
Wrong! To give this film full credit, it's a brainless screed aimed at an audience that outgrew this sort of crap probably in the mid 60's at the latest. A languid melodrama that would be boring at 25 minutes is stretched to 87 deadly minutes with (30+) breaking waves/Pacific/ community shots. Gay audiences - most audiences - are too smart for this idiotic pandering.
Characters have no back story and no depth; and most are written and performed as grotesque stereotypes - most notably Brady, his mother, and, especially, his priest (who makes Paul Linde look like Sam Elliott). Neither IMDb nor the film's website provides full cast credits. Telling. Credit Owen Alabado for an engaged, informed performance that belongs in a much better movie.
Tech credits are sub par across the board: script, score, editing, hilarious lighting, and "cinematography" will have set (-) standards when history is written.
TLA Releasing has, with this dv gem, begun to compete with Wolfe.
If anybody has a radically more positive take on Rock Haven, I'd like to hear it.
Wrong! To give this film full credit, it's a brainless screed aimed at an audience that outgrew this sort of crap probably in the mid 60's at the latest. A languid melodrama that would be boring at 25 minutes is stretched to 87 deadly minutes with (30+) breaking waves/Pacific/ community shots. Gay audiences - most audiences - are too smart for this idiotic pandering.
Characters have no back story and no depth; and most are written and performed as grotesque stereotypes - most notably Brady, his mother, and, especially, his priest (who makes Paul Linde look like Sam Elliott). Neither IMDb nor the film's website provides full cast credits. Telling. Credit Owen Alabado for an engaged, informed performance that belongs in a much better movie.
Tech credits are sub par across the board: script, score, editing, hilarious lighting, and "cinematography" will have set (-) standards when history is written.
TLA Releasing has, with this dv gem, begun to compete with Wolfe.
If anybody has a radically more positive take on Rock Haven, I'd like to hear it.