Pit Stop is the story of two working-class gay men in their thirties - Gabe, a building contractor (played by Bill Heck), and Ernie, a lumber-yard worker (played by Marcus DeAnda) - in a small town in Texas.
Gabe is divorced but still close to his ex-wife and daughter; the man he loved and left them for has dumped him and moved far away. Ernie is breaking free of his latest failed relationship with a man. Their paths almost cross a few times, but they don't actually meet until fairly late in the movie. Because of its unconventional structure and slow pace, it has been widely criticized by amateur reviewers of gay movies.
But this is by far the best gay movie I have ever seen, and I've seen hundreds - all the ones that are worth seeing and many more that aren't. Everything about it is perfect.
It doesn't need editing or any of the other fixes even favorable reviews say it needs. They're looking for a different kind of movie - in which the lovers meet early and we see all that happens afterwards - and they won't have any trouble finding it, because it's all we've gotten until now. But I THANK GOD that Yen Tan didn't hear their whining, and that he made this movie EXACTLY as he did. Not in any universe could it be any better than it is.
Every character (including the ex-wife and her new boyfriend) and every scene is essential, exactly as it is. If I listed everything about Pit Stop that's perfect I'd list everything (well, maybe not the title), but I must single out the writing, direction and acting.
The characters have time to develop fully and richly, each within the context of his own life, every tiny detail of which is perfect. Their brief almost-meetings (at least three times) earlier in the movie help tie their stories together even though they're deliciously subtle and easy to miss; and the pacing of the whole movie is as graceful and lovely as a ballet, but more natural. Action lovers will definitely be bored, but who cares? When the two men finally meet, it's the sweetest, hottest stuff ever shown on any kind of screen anywhere on earth.
Gabe and Ernie are the realest couple ever in any gay movie, and Bill Heck and Marcus DeAnda are the best actors who ever played gay characters. Every word, every sound, every movement, every gesture, every glance of an eye or lift of an eyebrow is perfect.
Movies of any kind - gay or straight - just don't get any better than this. It's fantastic.
Gabe is divorced but still close to his ex-wife and daughter; the man he loved and left them for has dumped him and moved far away. Ernie is breaking free of his latest failed relationship with a man. Their paths almost cross a few times, but they don't actually meet until fairly late in the movie. Because of its unconventional structure and slow pace, it has been widely criticized by amateur reviewers of gay movies.
But this is by far the best gay movie I have ever seen, and I've seen hundreds - all the ones that are worth seeing and many more that aren't. Everything about it is perfect.
It doesn't need editing or any of the other fixes even favorable reviews say it needs. They're looking for a different kind of movie - in which the lovers meet early and we see all that happens afterwards - and they won't have any trouble finding it, because it's all we've gotten until now. But I THANK GOD that Yen Tan didn't hear their whining, and that he made this movie EXACTLY as he did. Not in any universe could it be any better than it is.
Every character (including the ex-wife and her new boyfriend) and every scene is essential, exactly as it is. If I listed everything about Pit Stop that's perfect I'd list everything (well, maybe not the title), but I must single out the writing, direction and acting.
The characters have time to develop fully and richly, each within the context of his own life, every tiny detail of which is perfect. Their brief almost-meetings (at least three times) earlier in the movie help tie their stories together even though they're deliciously subtle and easy to miss; and the pacing of the whole movie is as graceful and lovely as a ballet, but more natural. Action lovers will definitely be bored, but who cares? When the two men finally meet, it's the sweetest, hottest stuff ever shown on any kind of screen anywhere on earth.
Gabe and Ernie are the realest couple ever in any gay movie, and Bill Heck and Marcus DeAnda are the best actors who ever played gay characters. Every word, every sound, every movement, every gesture, every glance of an eye or lift of an eyebrow is perfect.
Movies of any kind - gay or straight - just don't get any better than this. It's fantastic.