Robin Williams takes on another serious role here as Nolan, and he does another good job in playing a serious role like this and handling a lot of raw emotions that really diverge from the image of Robin Williams in the role of comedy, although there's certainly some humour he brings to some scenes.
Really though, the film tackles a very somber and difficult topic as Nolan, long since married, takes a sudden leap into trying to acknowledge his homosexuality when he picks up a young guy off the street, paying him just to spend time with him. The idea of someone in a marriage having an affair usually is linked with boredom or disinterest, or some sort of deficiency present. What makes this powerful is that there is no deficiency in the marriage, it's simply something that Nolan can't choose to be. There is love between him and his wife, but they seem to be different loves.
To an extent, I found the film difficult to watch, particularly the scenes with Leo, the young man that Nolan develops an infatuation with, but part of the power of the film are those scenes, the awkwardness and uncertainty that Williams brings to Nolan, and the overpowering feeling that he's not sure how to accept what it is he wants. It's a very different sort of story than what I've seen of dealing with someone being gay, but it's strongly shown that it is a story that deserves telling.
Most poignant about the film, for me, wasn't the film itself so much as what was discussed during the Q&A, and an unusual coincidence that happened during the shooting of the film. One of the filming locations belonged to a couple that had been married for decades, but where the husband came out only a few years prior to being contacted by a location scout. That just adds something powerful to it for me, perhaps just as it really added to the sincerity of the film to have someone stand up and say that the heart-wrenching and painful scenes in the film can be very real, but that the underlying love, even if not quite romantic, is also very real.
I did find the film dragged, and there was a slow agony to it, somewhat like slowly removing a band-aid, so while I think the core of it is a very powerful set of emotions, as a film I was less impressed, and that as a film it was solid, but not stand out.
Really though, the film tackles a very somber and difficult topic as Nolan, long since married, takes a sudden leap into trying to acknowledge his homosexuality when he picks up a young guy off the street, paying him just to spend time with him. The idea of someone in a marriage having an affair usually is linked with boredom or disinterest, or some sort of deficiency present. What makes this powerful is that there is no deficiency in the marriage, it's simply something that Nolan can't choose to be. There is love between him and his wife, but they seem to be different loves.
To an extent, I found the film difficult to watch, particularly the scenes with Leo, the young man that Nolan develops an infatuation with, but part of the power of the film are those scenes, the awkwardness and uncertainty that Williams brings to Nolan, and the overpowering feeling that he's not sure how to accept what it is he wants. It's a very different sort of story than what I've seen of dealing with someone being gay, but it's strongly shown that it is a story that deserves telling.
Most poignant about the film, for me, wasn't the film itself so much as what was discussed during the Q&A, and an unusual coincidence that happened during the shooting of the film. One of the filming locations belonged to a couple that had been married for decades, but where the husband came out only a few years prior to being contacted by a location scout. That just adds something powerful to it for me, perhaps just as it really added to the sincerity of the film to have someone stand up and say that the heart-wrenching and painful scenes in the film can be very real, but that the underlying love, even if not quite romantic, is also very real.
I did find the film dragged, and there was a slow agony to it, somewhat like slowly removing a band-aid, so while I think the core of it is a very powerful set of emotions, as a film I was less impressed, and that as a film it was solid, but not stand out.