Customer Reviews

The Journey of Jared Price

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(17)
3 star:		(8)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(5)

 

 

Having viewed this movie several times now, several aspects worth comment jump into my mind.

The look and feel of this movie, shot on video with handheld cameras, with sometimes bouncy and jerking motions, perfectly mimics the type of video the main character Jared is shooting. Therefore, I think the director has very effectively tied the cinematography to the main character and therefore the story that is being told. It is almost as if Jared filmed his own life story.

Dustin Lance Black has created a film that is very different from the typical "young gay man goes to the big city" story. When we first see Jared, he has just arrived in LA and with a backpack and sleeping bag, he appears to a target for any street criminals. Even more so when he is seen making a call to the youth hostel...one view of Jared is through the window of a car parked across the street. This gave me the impression that someone was watching Jared and that this might lead to the typical "pimp forces Jared to turn tricks" movie. But that didn't happen.

Instead this is the story of a genuniely sweet and very, very polite young man exploring a world different than his Georgia upbringing. This is not about being all excited about being in LA; its not about the glamour of LA.

Jared's polite Southern upbringing is evident when he first meets Mrs. Haines. The way in which Corey Spears delivers his lines leads me to believe he is overly polite and kind...so if he isn't this way, then he is a truly great actor.

Having known several "Mrs. Haines" in my life, I found Rocki Cragg's acting to be right on the money. She is one of those wise, yet quirky characters that make any moving interesting. Mrs. Haines plays a "former diva" perfectly, whether she ever was a true diva or not.

But all the other characters Jared meets are also interesting...his hostel roommate who makes his money as a male prostitute, the front desk clerk who can't say "monopolize", Robert, the boy who just wants someone to love, Matthew, who seems to find men by posting job notices in youth hostels. While Robert is overlooked through most of the film, Matthew makes his presence known.

Matthew supposedly has it all...success(with his mother's money) and a boyfriend. But Matthew is really the little boy in this film, not knowing that he really does have alot and always wanting more. Sexually speaking, he gives Jared a rather pleasant introduction to gay sex. Emotionally speaking, Matthew tramples on Jared. Not ready to give up his boyfriend, Matthew suggests a threeway with Jared and Matthew's boyfriend and this is where Jared fails to understand the big city ways and rightfully so. Matthew's boyfriend may be the most understanding character in the film...offering to give Jared a ride home when the threeway sex fails and there are alot of hurt feelings all around.

Quite possibly it is Matthew's office assistant who is the best overall character in the film. Her straight forward and totally honest approach to life is always refreshing among a group of people where emotions rule the day. She's the type of friend everyone wishes they had and the type of person who gives great advice that is usually ignored.

Overall, this film is a rare gem. It's simple, raw, rough, and sweet all at the same time. I think what makes this film a standout is how the cinematography blends so well with the story and the character of Jared.

I first viewed this film at the Phila L & G Film Festival in the Summer of 2000. A fine film, though the proof picture quality could have been better. It should be much improved in the final DVD release. The story is a somewhat traditional innocent youth meets older, wiser person and is seduced, falls in love (he thinks), and finds it isn't all it's cracked up to be. In this case, it's a young man (18) and an older man (30s). Typically, there is a young man his own age head-over-heels in love with Jared whom he ignores, but therein is (at least) the drama of the plot. What is so charming about this film is that the characters are simple and portrayed very realistically. You can feel sympathy for Jared immediately and yet feel like you could enjoy getting to know him and some others as well. These young, unknown actors perform exceptionally well.

In a time when (especially independent) movies seek to be offbeat, sometimes just for the sake of being so, it is refreshing to have "an old-fashioned" love story. Jared learns some life lessons and we are taken along with him. Director Lance Black does a fine job with a low budget making the film interesting to watch and experience.

THE JOURNEY OF JARED PRICE is a small budget Indie that has so much going for it that overlooking the squeaky production values is not a problem. Though it is obvious that the film was made in a short time with a minimal budget (the quality of the film is washed out to almost variations of gray), the direction and the cast serve the screenplay by writer/director Dustin Lance Black well. It has some very fine moments.

Jared Price (Corey Spears), 19 naïve years of age, arrives in Los Angeles from Georgia with high hopes and little money and checks into a youth hostel where he meets Robert (Josh Jacobson) who is more than casually attentive to the oblivious but interested Jared, and finds a job as an attendant to blind woman Mrs. Haines (Rocki Craigg), a kind and wise wealthy lonely lady whose son Matthew (Steve Tyler) is 'paying for' someone to give his mother the attention she needs. Jared and Mrs. Haines quickly bond, each supplying the care and tenderness the other needs. Matthew is living the high life on his mother's wealth and is in a long-term (but only partially non-monogamous) relationship with Andrew (Bryan Shyne) and when he meets Jared the signals go up and Matthew introduces Jared to his first physical relationship. Matthew's only conscience is his work partner Kate (Gillian Harris) who warns Matthew to be true to Andrew and not to pursue Jared. But as the tryst between Matthew and Jared deepens, each of the men learns more about himself and what is actually important in life and the story ends with enlightened views of the meaning of love.

Each of the actors does a fine job finding the core of each character and there is enough comedy to keep the drama afloat. Yes, there are scenes of bedroom activity, but they for the most part are done with taste. This is a fine example of how a good story and crew can make a good movie on a minimal budget. Were that there were more of these...Grady Harp, November 07

I thoroughly enjoyed this film. It is a sweet, uplifting coming-out story - no wonder it's done so well on the gay & lesbian film circuits. Yes, it is done on a budget, but they've done very well. Don't let the technical quality cloud the great story.

As a major bonus, the "interviews" and "outtakes" on this DVD are very entertaining (unlike most DVDs, IMHO).

One thing that I felt important was that this is a film from (mostly) gay people for gay people - not like so many that mainly feature straight actors playing gay roles.

The lead actor is Corey Spears. He did a brilliant job. He was also in "Traffic" (which I have yet to see). Let's hope his acting career really takes off. I look forward to more films from the director, Lance Black.

And who is the guy who is obsessed with "Mark"??? (see the outtakes)

At one point in this movie, one character hands another an envelope of money. He opens it and looks inside, and there is four or five hundred dollar bills. Lets just say I think he much have shot that particular scene early in the production because the actor was obviously holding the entire films budget.

That said, it was actually a very enjoyable film. The complete lack of budget gave it an honesty thats often hard for a "slick" film to capture.

Story Precis: Jared is young, cute, newly arrived from Georgia. Quiet, shy, reserved, speaks with a slow southern drawl and is generally a very endearing character. He's moved to LA, gets off bus, gets a room in a hostel. His roomate in the hostel is a hustler who has *almost* no lines, but who proceeds to provide some titilation and a reason for Jared to not be able to get back in his room, which allows us to introduce another character, a potential romantic foil. Jared proceeds to get a job working as a blind old ladys houseboy. He meets the old lady's late 30's son, who is successful, gay and has a long term partner. Proceed from here to a very nice, romantic storyline of Jared's developing sexual awakening, (conveyed very well by the and the choices he makes.

I'd give it 3.5 stars overall, most gay men would give it an extra point for the gratuitous and sometimes hardly justifiable nudity and sex scenes. (And thats not taking off the point I should take off for dodgy camera work, occassionally atrocious lighting and sometimes annoyingly bad quality audio. (And yes, I have the DVD version).)

There are many reasons to like this film. The fact that it was made on a tiny budget and filmed in just 5 days astounds me!

I completely enjoyed this film. From the moment Jared arrives above ground in West Hollywood to the final romantic kiss.

Some people may review this film negatively, take those reviews with a grain of salt. The things to look for in a good film are all here. Humor, Love, Fear, Loneliness and adventure into the unknown. I would like to see anyone of the previous negative reviewers do as good a job on the budget that was provided ($30,000).

Don't be swayed this is a great film and very enjoyable. If you're just comming out or you can remember that first experience and all the confusion and goose-bumps that go with it, then this is a movie for you! If you're looking for big money, overpaid actors who don't care about their roles, and you need everything in a film explained to you, then this is not your movie! Go watch "Too Wong Foo". This film may be too much for you.

There aren't many films that can relate to the comming out story the way this one does! If you like this one the way I enjoyed it and you understand the emotion of comming out and first loves, then I will also recommend "Beautiful Thing".

A mature and intelligent gay drama about a young fledgling who's just forging his way in the wild world. Yes, this is a low-budget film, and yes, the production values can be criticized--by the shallow. The conversation is not witty and there are no spicy dramatic scenes where dishes are being thrown or people are O.D.-ing off drugs. Instead this movie is mild and entertaining ...and true!

Of all the gay dramas available today--and I have seen a considerable number--this rates in the top ten. This movie burns up "Queer as Folk" and stomps on the "L word". Sorry, but it's true, the writers for those shows need to sit down with pen and notepad and take notes from this little gem.

A realistic, charming, and even exciting story about a Georgia boy who journeys to Hollywood and meets other gay people for the first time.

The boy is just unbelievably cute -- more than the over-hyped, over-polished Hollywood celebrity crowd. He's the rare shy, sensitive, soft type; kind and loving, ethical and polite, a nice and wholesome Southern country boy, such as we never see in movies. Can you watch him for five minutes without feeling an impulse to give him a hug?

A big break from the rude urban twinks we usually see in gay films. Just for the record? Nothing's wrong in having a shy character in a movie. Not everybody has to be an obnoxious, raging extrovert. And this quiet, charming boy speaks volumes even when not speaking; just dig his good looks.

Now for the negatives. Film critics will deduct points because they will say the production values were sloppy. Oh, you can hear traffic noise when the boy's talking to the old blind lady. Tsk, tsk. Well, I really didn't give a flip about the low-budget touch, because, why? Because the writing was first-rate, and the acting was first-rate, and guess what: nothing else really matters, period. My rating? Five stars.

Oh yeah, the story does indeed descend into didacticism, teaching a life-lesson about love to the young gay audience, but not in a heavy-handed or syrupy way, but in a way that fits just like a piece to a puzzle. People of all ages would benefit hearing what this movie has to say about choosing a life partner and in making decisions about who to be with.

The love-making scenes are just about as sensitive as we find in straight movies, which even today is rather revolutionary for a gay film. I also like that there are no villains or monsters, but the characters are instead human beings with good points, bad points, and in-between areas.

Recommended. This is a movie you may indeed watch again a few years down the line.

When I first got involved with 10%, I bought alot of their movies, for the longest time, this was one of my favorites by them. Now having it on DVD, it's becoming one of those again. The only charecter I don't like is Matthew, kinda bad choice in name after Matthew Shepard was killed, but this is just a charecter. I adored Jared, his relationship with Robert, Mrs. Haines, Matthew's boyfriend Andrew. The ending was very inspiring-Mrs. Haines speech to Jared, then the kiss between Jared and Robert-that was cute. Some say this film is loaded with cliches, but my attitude to that is-if it has a good story and believable charecters, why should that matter?)Corey Spears does a very nice job with his role as Jared, and he's cute! Corey makes the comment in the feature, that he did a very uncomfortable scene with Matthew/Steve Tyler, followed by the love scene,he goes from hating him, to having partial sex with him. Other than Matthew, I adore this film, for obvious reasons.

I have purchased many gay movies and The Journey of Jared Price is the best. I have watched this movie three times already. Corey Spears, who plays Jared- and was also in Traffic as the kid who OD'd, is a cutie and a swell actor. When you watch Corey Spears the actor in the interview at the end of the DVD you can get a sense of the difference that separates the actor and the character. Corey has a hot body, beautiful electric-blue eyes, is polite to a fault, has that cute little southern accent and has the most expressive face of anyone I have seen. Rocki Craig who plays Ms. Haines is to die for. The story was inspiring and shows Jared to be a man of character as he leaves at the end even though he could have stayed and milked the situation. Instead, he moved on with his life. His struggle with his sexuality comes through, especially in the scene in the park where he meets the guy from the hostel. The DVD is clear and has a lot of nice extra features such as deleted scenes and interviews with the cast. Dustin Lance Black is young but obviously a talented director- although his name sounds toooooo gay...

This is one of the better films I have seen in quite some time. The director chose to film with handheld cams which gave the film a more down to earth style. The actors were very believeable in their character portrayals. Perhaps the best two scenes in the movie that touched me the most was the scene when Jared talked with his blind charge informing her he was leaving and the final scene where Jared asked Robert for a date. This film was reminicent of Beautiful Thing. It explored the coming out of a young man and the conflicts he encounters with the gay lifestyle's good and bad subject matters. Make this film one of your must see films of the year!