For those who love the color brown and all its muted shades of beige, sand and taupe, you'll find this film riveting. From one exotic Canadian location to another, an unexpected viewing of Unexpected Love (UL) was a whirlwind of static delight for this viewer. Never before had I seen a romance born out of the most mundane, sparse and cheerless interiors, which so accurately reflected the characters that we are asked to take to our hearts. As Kate (Leslie Hope) says in the film, 'my heart, which I gave to you,' we are robotically drawn in to the strange awakening of Kate VERY DORMANT homosexuality. As she begins to find her attraction to her boss Mack (Wendy Crewson) we find ourselves looking for the scotch, or the door, or some way to escape what has to be one of the most boring and strange depictions of modern 'attraction' yet on film. I can't stress enough how mechanical this love (and its fruits) display themselves. In a cycle of one-sided conversations between the three primary figures which always take place in the middle of an open door, the director has chosen to temporarily infect his actors with an acute inability to speak. These soliloquies that touch upon the essence of attraction are no more than high-school essay stock copy that reads as warmly as a cup of coffee left outside in February in Maine. Yes, there is some sex - hot, steamy, girls kissing and touching each other with candles in the background. These sensual moments are subversive: they would teach would-be gay women that sex is little more than being Good Friends with another woman with... candles. And maybe a kiss.
I'm not even touching the true high points of this film. There are so many, which leave so many questions unanswered, questions that are too dull to even consider: why does Mac's former lover's brother work at the real estate firm with Mac and Kate? Why does he show up, late in the film, to tell Mac that his dead sister (the former lover of his boss) 'would have liked Kate'? and who could possibly care? We have NO information about this alleged previous lover with which to make any comparison... it's somewhat like someone saying 'Lauren would have really liked this cheese.'
In short, 'An Unexpected Love' is a film about - love - or shall I say, temporary attraction that explodes into full-blown coming-out vignettes that serve (again) to mislead questioning young gay people into thinking that a little crush is akin to announcing a conversion to a new and radical religion. Why does a kiss equal marriage? Kate and Mac, strong women that they are, cannot seem to just enjoy life as it is. Life in this film, aside from being Canadian, is one confession after another.
I'm not even touching the true high points of this film. There are so many, which leave so many questions unanswered, questions that are too dull to even consider: why does Mac's former lover's brother work at the real estate firm with Mac and Kate? Why does he show up, late in the film, to tell Mac that his dead sister (the former lover of his boss) 'would have liked Kate'? and who could possibly care? We have NO information about this alleged previous lover with which to make any comparison... it's somewhat like someone saying 'Lauren would have really liked this cheese.'
In short, 'An Unexpected Love' is a film about - love - or shall I say, temporary attraction that explodes into full-blown coming-out vignettes that serve (again) to mislead questioning young gay people into thinking that a little crush is akin to announcing a conversion to a new and radical religion. Why does a kiss equal marriage? Kate and Mac, strong women that they are, cannot seem to just enjoy life as it is. Life in this film, aside from being Canadian, is one confession after another.