Fixing Frank (2002)

Director:

Michael Selditch

Writer:

Ken Hanes (screenplay)

Genre:

Drama

Tagline:

If there were a pill to make you straight, would you... ?

Plot:

Gay journalist, Frank Johnston sets out to write an expose on Dr. Apsey, a therapist who claims to convert gays to straight...

Plot Keywords:

Closeted Homosexual | Gay Interest | Conversion Therapy

Awards:

1 win & 1 nomination

Cast

Dan Butler	...	Dr. Apsey
Andrew Elvis Miller	...	Frank Johnston
Paul Provenza	...	Dr. Baldwin
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Shannon Carson	...	Woman in Laundry Room
Andrew Gitzy	...	Shop Clerk
Ken Hanes	...	Market Clerk
Adam Hunt	...	Market Patron
Amy Kiehl	...	Frank's Mother
Perfecto	...	Doorman
Claudia Schneider	...	Shop Patron
Michael Selditch	...	Frank's father
Thomas Vitale	...	Gym Patron
Arlynn Wilson	...	Market Patron

Runtime:

103 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Sound Mix:

Mono

Company:

Maximum Vacuum

Movie Connections:

Featured in 2006 Independent Spirit Awards (2006) (TV)

Interesting & inspiring, not only its investigation of gay identity, also universal theme of self-discovery

I found this really interesting, not only because of sexual preference/identity issues, but also because of its universal theme of trying to figure out who you are apart from other people in your life whose opinions may sway you toward doing what you think they think you should. For me, watching this character try to unravel this tangle was inspiring. Also it was refreshing to me to face head-on some of the questions it raises. Even though the film takes a stand in the end, there's a lot of room to question and think about the issues, and I didn't come out of it with clarity, but more with thoughts about the questions, which is so much better than everything being wrapped up neat package. If I have one critique it's that maybe the film could have ended even more ambiguously (hence I gave it 9 instead of 10). This story is very layered and clever, if not always entirely subtle about it. Shot beautifully - another review listed as one of the negatives that it is mostly close-ups. I think this is a strength of the film, it is so much about internal dialog of the main character, and the other main characters are really in his space mentally so I think the way it was shot really reinforces what he's going through. The use of reflections and enclosed spaces whenever the shots are NOT close-ups also enhances this feeling of closeness and constriction. And the director's commentary is pretty good, which is so rarely the case... starts off on the wrong foot, but stick with it, they actually do discuss meaning and intent and ideas rather than the all-to-often string of production stories.