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Reviews
Red Lodge (2013)
Charming gay indie love story with engaging leads
Red Lodge is a perceptive look at how marriage equality has affected gay relationships. It's also likely to coax a tear or two from the romantics out there. Wintry Montana proves a photogenic backdrop for the action.
Jordan (Joseph Kim) proposes to Dave (Richard Pierre-Lewis), his boyfriend of two years, expecting an enthusiastic "Yes!" Instead, he gets a, "Can't we just be in love and leave things the way they are?" Hardly the answer our handsome hero was expecting, and not the best timed response either, just before the couple are to spend Christmas with Jordan's kooky Aunt Vanity (Diane Kylander) up in Big Sky country.
Joining them for the holidays are Jordan's "sister" Lisa (Jessica Garibay), also raised by Vanity but enough younger than Jordan that he's had little chance to get to know her, and her nerdy/cute boyfriend Lace (Aric Weber). Add to this a frisky twink ski instructor (Ross Andrew Dibble) and you've got just enough characters for a 77-minute indie.
Supporting cast members are talented Montana locals who acquit themselves quite well on film, though a little of Aunt Vanity can go a long, long way.
Best of all are the two leads, the entirely winning Asian-Caucasian Kim (who goes by Joseph Daugherty these days), and his equally charming African American costar Pierre-Lewis. (And how refreshing to see actors of color as romantic leads!)
Incredibly neither actor is credited on the DVD cover (you have to look at the opening and end titles to find out their names), and Pierre-Lewis doesn't even get IMDb mention, nor does Dibble. Even more outrageous is that this fine film isn't making the LGBT Festival circuit, where it would be a sure audience favorite.
I have an extensive gay indie collection, and Red Lodge tops many festival selections I have seen. And at the price it's going for on Amazon, it costs about as much as a movie ticket and is well worth a look-see.
Tick Tock Boom Clap (2011)
Wonderful backstage romcom
Preteen Sara Pedri's crush on future a future Broadway star may not have led to romance, but now, thirty years later, the chance to appear in a show he's guest choreographing seems the perfect way to get over her father's recent death and get on with her life. Melissa Fahn lights up the big screen in a beautifully nuanced, utterly engaging star performance as Sara (coincidentally or not so coincidentally the same name as the filmmaker's) and she couldn't have found a better leading man than Sam Zeller, Captain Hook to her Peter Pan in this backstage romantic comedy with heart. The film has a professional look that belies what was surely a shoestring budget. Supporting cast performances are uniformly fine, and I loved the original song score by Joel Alpers. Kudos to writer Sara Pedri and co-directors Sara and Jason Pedri. Musical theater lovers will get a special kick out of Tick Tock Boom Clap, but you don't have to be a show queen to fall under its spell.