Customer Reviews

Blue Citrus Hearts

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(7)

 

 

Despite the very low budget, this film really has a lot to say. Paul Foster is great here. His portrayal is heartbreaking and so real. And after a while, I saw how attractive he is because of his inner beauty and killer smile... I think this film had so much heart and deep characters. It really was done with loving care. The film ended a bit too quickly but I am going to give this 5 stars anyhow. Please, before you watch this, do not judge the film by the low budget. Try and overlook the low budget and enjoy what the director was able to accomplish here. I really love this little film. Some parts of it broke my heart seeing how much love was here..

BLUE CITRUS HEARTS as conceived, written, produced, directed, etc by Morgan Jon Fox is one of those films that has a core of honesty and passion for the message that makes you want to love it. Apparently filmed on a digital camera with no accoutrements available to the other Indie film makers, Fox makes the most of a no-budget situation and perseveres in making a statement about gay crises in high school kids who must fight for their identity in an inhospitable world - this time Memphis, TN serving as the Anyplace, USA.

Sam (Joshua Peter Laurenzi) is a quiet teenager who lives with grotesquely ignorant parents (Lee Ann Roberts and Mark Pergolizzi - both pushing the borders of credibility) who wants to take guitar lessons and have a car but is refused both by grounded parents who feel he is a loser. Julien (Paul Foster) is a quiet guy who daydreams, and spends his idle hours in coffee shops, but differs from Sam in that his single mother (Emily Fry) is a loving, caring, present person. They both attend a high school that seems in the rank and file of most, both have girlfriends (I think the better of the two may be Alex Booth, but the credits are minimal), and both feel something is missing in their lives. Sam and Julien struggle through this film, trying to communicate with themselves, with friends and finally with each other - discovering what they fear most, that they are gay.

Yes, this is a tale universal and yes, Fox manages some good effects superimposing his poetry over the picture screen, poetry that is better than the script thoughts. The problem here is not the story telling, fragmented as that is, but in the actual product of the film. The soundtrack is so loud that it drowns the dialogue. And that is not only the very raw 'music track': the ambient sound of trains and cars and just plain noise is enough to make many folks just stop watching out of frustration at not hearing the storyline.

Fox has gathered some credible non-professional folks to enact this journey - some even with evident talent that may take them beyond this particular project. For a first film by a wannabe filmmaker this is a brave and in some ways successful attempt. Hopefully next time around Fox can clean up the distractions and focus more on production techniques that would move his talent into the public arena. Grady Harp, February 2005

Caveat: Anyone needing a blockbuster with a budget and great effects need look elsewhere. What this is a slowly paced, heartfelt, honest little movie that has, if one allows it to, the power to move you profoundly. There is a sometimes arthouse pretentiousness that is not inappropriate here, which in fact reveals the deceptively simple story as the myriad of complex emotional issues that as the film's base.

The story of two teenage boys in Memphis - from extraordinarily opposite homes, finding their way through friendship and sexuality while dealing with the complexities of highschool, teenage romance, angst, fitting in, the desire for popularity and the odd desire of wanting to be misunderstood and alone.

Joshua Peter Laurenzi (Sam) and Paul Foster (Julian) are outstanding as the "heros" of the story; unremarkable, ordinary boys learning to cope with emotions they fear and possibly can't understand.

Director Jon Fox strikes the right balance, lights the film beautifully, at times allowing primary colors to wash over the entire screen. Another nice touch is having the poetry to flow across the screen (I'm assuming Sam's) adding a rich layer of emotion to an already overwhelming experience.

I've read many negative criticisms here (and elsewhere) so I suppose this is one of those no-budget indies that speaks strongly to some while others can't seem to find its remarkable heart. A beautiful experience for those willing to look past its obvious limitations.

This is a movie my brother had given to my parents becuase he saw it and I am gay, and my parents are mean about anything they do not understand. They actaully watched the movie blue citrus hearts and enjoyed it because I think it wasn't the same ole thing and it had a more human feel to it. In some ways, i think that this movie has helped my entire life. I reccommend it for anyone who would want someone to see what's it's like to be gay, to help open their minds.

I don't understand why so many people gave this film such a bad review. Sure it wasn't perfect, but I liked it a lot. I felt it was refreshing compared to all these high budget overcomputerized things they have out. Plus, unlike the majority of movies with gay characters, there was a somewhat happy ending. Plus, it really makes you think. It's one of those movies that just gets better and better the more you mull over it. I highly recommend it.

Blue Citrus Hearts - 2 ½ *'s

This movie really took some time to "get off the ground"; the beginning was very slow moving, "unfocused", the situations were "oh hum" "too real", it wasn't "Edgy" enough and the supporting actors were lacking in skill. However, as the film progressed, the film maker's style became clearer, the characters became "more real" and more importantly more interesting. By the end of the film I could truly empathize with the lead character - he really did a great job of convey his emotional pain as did the director in moving this story forward and painting a picture of "realism". I felt the film could have used a bit tighter editing (some of the classroom scenes seemed a bit disconnected), there was an apparent lacking in skill with some of the actors and the ending was a bit unbelievable for me (I really did not feel these characters shared a "physical" attraction and the "jump" seemed a bit unbelievable). This film had a very "real world", "unpolished" feel to it; the dialogue felt unscripted, the situations real and the character's story believable - it is not a typical "Polished", "Hollywood" Drama and was clearly produced on a "no budget", however it's believability and realism was masterfully crafted...

Blue Citrus Hearts was one of those films you buy out of curiosity because Amazon associates it with a lot of the films that you like and enjoy. I'm a huge indie fan and this sounded sweet and had some positive critical review behind it, so I took the chance. I can't say that I'm upset that I saw it, but honestly it hasn't really changed me in any way as good cinema ought to.

First, the good: Paul Foster as Julien is wonderful. He's charming, interesting, beautiful, and lights up every scene that he's in. I would be very excited to see him in something that displayed his talents better. Lee Ann Roberts as Sam's mother and Helen Bowman as Sam's grandmother were both very good and made the most of their few moments on the screen. I have nothing against the "two boys fall in love and it's tough" script; it's pretty much what one expects from a low-budget indie. It's a very rough effort that tries hard but the writer clearly needs more life and experience to really grab hold of an issue and do something revelatory with it.

And then, the bad: The camera-work is pretty much unforgivable. I completely understand that it's a budgetless indie, but the cinematography in BCH is a step below what you see people doing with their cell phones and posting on YouTube these days. The shaking, the awkward angles, and the crappy lighting all made the film very difficult to watch. If there's something worse than what they did with the camera, then it's the audio mix. The ambient sound made parts of the film un-hearable and some elements were so loud that you just wanted to press 'stop.' I have probably never encountered a movie ever that I so wanted to stop watching on account of the audio. The soundtrack was horrific; it sounded like they went down skid row and had all the drugged-out buskers sing into a microphone whatever they could make up at that moment and decided to call that the movie's musical score. Alex Booth as Arielle and Suzie Cyanide as the local tranny were grating and terrible. Cyanide in particular spent chunks of his time staring right at the camera as if reading his few lines off a cue card - it was very uncomfortable to watch.

But the real problem here is a complete lack of direction. Several times through the film, the actors are just kind of sitting there looking at people behind the 4th wall spitting out dialogue that they seem to be improvising as they go. They don't understand what's supposed to be happening at that moment in time, they're not telling us any part of a story, and that is entirely the fault of the Director. If someone had effectively been able to get the actors to understand what they were supposed to be doing and feeling throughout the script, this movie would have been much improved.

I don't know what to say about the star, Joshua Peter Laurenzi. He's not a good actor, but he's not unwatchable. Again, it seems the Director just told him, "hey, you're full of angst and unhappy" and then started filming him as he did whatever he wanted to do.

All the badness aside though, there's something endearing about watching such rawness. We were all teenagers and a lot of the issues are familiar. The film just tries way to hard to be the most indie indie-film ever when it would have done much better to actually create something less painful to look at with some sense that the characters themselves believed that they were not just actors. If this were made by junior high school students (and make no mistake, it looks as though it was), then I'd say "good job, kids." As an effort by adults; however, it just didn't win me over despite the charming Paul Foster and some not-terrible motivating ideas. If it's showing on cable some time, see it. I can't recommend it as a purchase though.

This film was called "one of the years top 15" by the Chicago Reader, and The Commercial Appeal......

an unassuming film of extraordinary power. Bold, delicate, yet resilient Blue Citrus Hearts is an exquisite, wildflower of a film. Set in Memphis, far from the pulsing coastal cities, and with alarming realism, the film's ensemble, non-professional cast expertly gives us a multi-layered story of first love, enduring friendship and survival of "outsiders" in the south. An emotional, yet fitting soundtrack by indie-rockers Loggia adds to the beauty of this story of adolescent angst, sexual exploration, and true love. This film will remind even the most jaded why we love film. If this captivating indie feature film debut by writer/director Morgan Fox and his collaborators doesn't wrap it self around your heart and give you an exhilarating rush, check your pulse!

With some movies the modest ambition is to entertain. Others seek to expose and enlighten. It is the latter category into which "Blue Citrus Hearts" fits -- a simple film about life in America told with passion and elegance.

Sam and Julian are two boys who, within the high school caste system, fall somewhere between the nerds and the losers. Sam has an abusive father and a cold-hearted mother; Julian's parent is a single mom who nonetheless provides him with an abundance of love. Both have girlfriends and neither has a job. Sam writes in a journal he will not let anyone see and hopes to take guitar lessons. Julian haunts coffee shops and daydreams.

Yet both have come to realize something is missing from their lives, and this sense of loss is diminished only when they are together. Will either have the courage to admit their love for one another, or the strength to overcome the consequences of that love in a disapproving world?

The genius of "Blue Citrus Hearts" is that the filmmakers used every aspect of the storytelling to support the gritty and unpolished nature of the story itself. The film was shot with a digital camera using ambient lighting. The sound is choppy and harsh. Camera angles and shots lack the slick sophistication of a Hollywood production. The script speaks in a language we all know and speak ourselves. Acting is dead-on.

It is a skillful intersection of cinema verite and 21st century technology.

"Blue Citrus Hearts" makes another important statement, too -- that in 2005 it is still not OK to be gay. It may be fashionable to accept and even embrace homosexuality in television and movies, but in the day-to-day grind of modern American life, gay men and women are still shunned, still legislated against and still murdered because of their sexual orientation. The misery Sam and Julian experience in coming to terms with their sexuality brings this struggle into the blessed light of day where it can be revealed for what it is: a pox on compassion.

"Blue Citrus Hearts" tells a story that is being lived by millions of loving and decent people in America. I hope it will say to the parents, neighbors and co-workers of gay men and women everywhere that we are human beings who seek only one thing from this all-too brief life: happiness.

When I watched "Blue Citrus Hearts," I cried.

I really wanted to like this film -- the concept is great and the actors are very likable. But I found the plot pacing, characterization, and overall thematic development to be so slow that I was really wishing the movie would just end. After 25 minutes I "got" everything the movie was trying to tell me -- but the movie kept plodding on, with one agonizingly long, shaky camera shot of a sad, tortured teen's face after another. We get it - the kids are sad cause they're gay and no one understands! What else? Anything? No, that's about it.