Sunday, October 9, 2011

August

Round out a great day 3 with August, a sexy American drama at 9:30. With superb acting from its gorgeous cast, haunting music with Middle Eastern influences, beautiful photography, and perfect camera angles, August is easily one of the best American gay dramas this year.

Actor Adrian Gonzalez will join us for the screening and your questions afterward at the Little Theater.

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

I wanted to love this movie, but it left me unsatisfied. Hard to say what, the acting was fantastic, beautifully directed, and of course very sexy.

Maybe it was just doing what a good movie should, and provoke me. The theme for me was "men behaving badly". Adults who don't want to take responsibly for their lives, confusing lust with love, and selfishly wading through other people's lives. Too close to home for me?

Stefan said...

For me, this was my least favorite film of the day. But it may have just been due to the fact that I was tired, perhaps a little, dare I say "imaged-out" lol...

I also had trouble following the story. To me it just seemed like a bunch of scenes put together.

I don't have much to say about this one. Like most films shown at ImageOut, it's good, just not one I am going to favorite...

Erik and Jason said...

Anonymous (above) hits the nail pretty close to on the head for me. I definitely thought the movie had some thought-provoking content....but in the end I was just reminded that when there is one or more characters (especially principle characters) with whom you can't find any relatability or likeability at all...the movie ends up falling a little flat. Is it provoking? Sure...there's come interesting content there. Did I find it all that entertaining? No, sorry.

On an up note, though, I stayed for the Q&A with the actor after...and not only was he very pleasant to look at, but he was very pleasant to listen to, as well. In fact, I found I liked him and his comments about the movie more than I liked the movie itself (which again, I think, speaks volumes about the film). So THANKS to ImageOut for bringing him in.....having those guests who really enhance the overall movie experience is just one more thing that makes the festival experience more special than any other night out at the movies!

Olaf said...

I thought August was a good movie, but it didn't leave you feeling good, but I believe that is part of the message. I would have liked to see more tenderness and love between the men.

Woody said...

I liked the story, but for the very short time-line implied, the movie itself felt unbearably slow and long. The only thing that kept me awake was having to look for clues about timing and piecing together what was happening when, and how long things were.

In the end, that's what really spoiled the movie for me though. When you piece together how long each set of couples were together, it leaves you to wonder why things happened the way they did.

Overall, I found it was just a little too hard to fit into the way I frame reality. And despite using several tricks to play with time (which I usually love, see film 1), I spent more time looking at my watch than trying to track time in the movie.

I can also see why others missed a lot of the "overlap" and hints on time shifts in the movie, since they were quite subtle at first. That, combined with the pace, lack of dialog, and it's program slot, I think made this less than a hit. Where it 40 minutes shorter and in a mid-day slot, I think it would have been much better.

Anonymous said...

I'm surprised so many had negative or ho hum reactios to this film. In my mind it was one of my favorites of the festival-- beautifully filmed, well acted,, with situations I think a lot of gay men can relate to.

One scene in particular, toward the end when Jonathan and Raul are eating together, and Jonathan scoops the tomatoes from Rauls plate that he does not like, was brilliant. As the audience, you did not know the meaning of that scene, until about 5 minutes later and you realize Troy has witnessed this seemmingly innocuous act.

It was such a small thing, yet so pivotal to the plot. I believe it was at that moment Troy decided to go back to Spain, realizing the intimacy of the other's relationship he could never hope to challenge.

Just brilliant storytelling.