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Reviews
Puoi baciare lo sposo (2018)
Well worth the price of a ticket
I agree with some reviews, that the movie could have been more polished, particularly in the editing, but if you see this in the way I think it was meant, as a light hearted story, with a good message, then you can get past it. I felt towards the end they may have ran out of time so they edited it to get to the end, and I have to say this is the past I had most issue with. But you can forgive that.
If you get the humour (typical Italian) it really is funny to watch. I enjoyed it. Was it a masterpiece, no, was that what the producers were going for, doubt that very much. So for what it is, it was a great film to suit back, not take seriously and enjoy. Although it tried to deal with very real issues, coming out, acceptance, love is love, even small towns disappearing, none of it was felt with in any real depth.
Don't expect the deep conversation with a parent giving a hero speech. It's just a fun movie to have a Google and if you take it that way you'll come out having laughed a little and smiling.
That's good enough for me.
Holding the Man (2015)
A movie that does the book justice - finally!!
I read the book Holding the Man close to 20 years ago, and it had a pro-found affect on me. So a film based on this needed to live up to the book for me. I heard some mixed reviews about the stage adaption and so I was hoping that the film would not suffer from that. Well, I wasn't disappointed. There are so many things that worked for me in this film and some that worked, but I felt the book explained far better. I felt that the director understood what an important book this was for so many people that had read it, and he really took a huge amount of care in ensuring he got it right. The way the film announced their HIV status in the film early in the film I felt did a great job. It just put that on the table early and got on with it. Rather than make it an elephant in the room that many people who read the book already knew and those that hadn't had heard. So doing that was actually a great touch. The two lead actors, Ryan Corr and Craig Stott were just fantastic. Craig Stott's performance in particularly however stood out. Based on reading the book, I just felt Craig completely captured who John was, in every sense. He was dead on on the mannerisms, his attitude and the beautiful nature of who John was. When I read the book, Craig's portrayal is the way I imagined John Caleo. It moved me beyond words. His acting was beyond real, almost too real. amazing. Ryan's portrayal was great, and you got a real sense of the real Tim and felt he captured the essence of Tim. These two actors should get the top billing, but because of some top name stars appearing in the film, they seem to get lower billing to the better known names. This is not fair on the great performances by Ryan and Craig. The whole film showed everything in a very raw and real fashion. It didn't try to spice it up, dramatize it, or Hollywood it up. It presented how it was, including the way it handled the sex scenes, unbelievable. In the end, what I loved about the movie, it didn't treat it as a gay love story, it treated it as a love story. It could have been Romeo & Juliet, which interestingly is depicted within the movie. I like that although it can be viewed as political, it's not a political movie. It just tells a love story that took place in a different time. My only criticism, is that in the book there is one of the most tender moments which was extremely emotional, and that although I know that they filmed this scene, it was cut. The scene takes place just after the death of John and is between Tim and John. It was an extremely tender moment. For those who read the book, they would know what I am talking about. I hope a later Directors cut release will include the scene. Overall, I think its a must see. I have no doubt that it is not for everyone, but it certainly looks at the emotion of love beyond boundaries. Some people may deem this as mushy, but the story is a real story.