Customer Reviews

Crush

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This charming collection of four shorts explores the whys & wherefores of gay love & longing.
In all four, the acting is flawless and the emotions are real.
Bloodlines is the most fun--as two gay teens fall in love, they must deal with the faxt that one of them is a vampire!

Breathe is intense: two young boys feel the pangs on their first crushes on each other.
Breathe's music is lush & romantic. There's no dialogue: the story is told through the boys' facial expressions, with the help of an adult offscreen narrator.
It's heartwarming, and, as we get lumps in our throats, will remind all of us of our first boyhood crushes.

Good stuff!

Sure the movie is a little snappy at times, but its enjoyable. Movie is composed of 4 short stories, from a lover about to leave to be deployed to gay vampires in la to artist and his intern, to an adolescence crush. My favorite was Strokes, about the intern who meets his idol and finds out how disappointing your role models can be, and "breath" about the adolescent crush, a boy finding out who he is and discovering his feelings for another for the first time.

If you enjoy gay theme (or just something different) films you'll find many of these stories to your liking.

For those with little time to read reviews, watching this film is a joy that's well worth the time you'll spend with these characters...and the few dollars you'll spend on the purchase.

Crush is a quartet of shorts about love, aspirations, relationships and (yes) crushes. Michael J. Saul is the writer/producer/director who deftly weaves four beautiful stories into delightful tales about people we come to care about. For those unfamiliar with Mr. Saul's work, this is no amateurish endeavor. Michael J. Saul is an accomplished and talented artist who has delivered a film that is full of engaging stories.

These films are beautifully written and envisioned. The acting is believable and understated, showing both the abilities of the troupe as well as the guiding hand of the director. The production values are appropriate for the material; honest, believable and entirely competent. The technical work never gets in the way of the stories: Neither sticking out to be "showy" nor obvious because of any short-comings. Well done!

There are four out of four gems on this DVD. All are very good, although the final short "Breathe", was my favorite. It reaches for, and grasps, that magical realm of passionate adolescence when everything is so important. The notes that are played ring true. Enjoy!

Four short films that deal with love in the sense of how it can affect you when there's too much uncertainty involved make up "Crush," Michael J. Saul's rather uneven new movie. I found myself engaged by two of the segments here, bewildered by one and just flat out annoyed by the final episode.

The opening, "Don't Ask," is a musing on the lives of gay soldiers and the 'army wives' they leave behind. Cameron is about to leave on yet another tour of Iraq, and his partner James is struggling with the emotional freight of having to keep that part of their relationship private. While they played a loving couple very well, the story itself was less than compelling. Add a stridently annoying 'friend' who has to be the angry-war-hating loudmouth, and I was left wondering why this was the kick off to the DVD.

The second is a vampires in love segment, and was interesting in it's style, even if I am sick to death of vampires. But the two young actors were very good together and the open-ended final scene made me wonder where the story would lead to next.

The best of the four segments is "Strokes," about a gay art student's meeting/internship with his artist idol. Who just happens to be a caustic, bitter man whom nobody can stand to be with. The artist, Robert Brooks (Marc Sicilani) is note perfect as the disillusioned painter who wastes no time crushing Micheal The Intern (Jorge Diaz), even though all Micheal wants is to discover why his hero is the man he is. They play extremely well off of each other, and this was the one segment I was sorry to see end.

Finally, there is "Breathe." A soppy sponge cake of pre-adolescent desires as seen through a pair of awkward kids and their families as they go camping, it positively dripped syrup, and the narrator's whispery wet voice was as annoying as I could stand. Cloying, gauzy looking and saccharin, I forced myself to watch it all the way through. It's the kind of artsy cute romanticizing of young boys that gives gay movies a bad rep.

So there's the split - about 50/50 for my viewing entertainment. Individual mileage may vary.