Several weeks ago I ordered Redwoods through Netflix. Left it unwatched til this evening. Just let me cryptically say that nowadays everything reminds me of one thing. And this film was no exception. Nevertheless...
It's really nice to see a "gay" film with real people, people with flaws whom you still like and care about. As the blurb says, "Though Everett has built a comfortable life with his partner Miles and the autistic boy they are raising, his passionless life is challenged when he meets visiting writer Chase in this touching romance set on the Russian River." Very much Bridges of Madison County --either homage or plagiarism, depending on your mood-- but with two men as the brief encounterers, a homebody accountant and writer instead of a homebody housewife and photographer, and set among the redwooded hills around Guerneville rather than in Iowan plains. River and woods I've been to...and remembered.
The lovers are easy on the eyes but not coverboys, likeable, and their whirlwind affair is played out believably, for the most part. Everett's family is local and warm, even his straight brother. It makes men together sort of a non-issue. No ideology or posing or preaching or cartoon stereotyping, one way or the other. A relief. And rare. There's moral dilemmas, aching romance, and a fair amount of "touchingness". Not original, but sad, sweet, sometimes sentimental, beautiful and a welcome vision of complicated romance between men.
A few things I noted. The foggy forests and hills of northern California are quiet and magical. You can be beautiful and not know it. You can cry and make love at the same time. You can fiddle with your moral compass without losing it.
1 comment:
Some other viewers on the Netflix site compared it to Brokeback Mountain. Huh? Two men, but that's pretty well it. Nothing at all like BBM.
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