Be prepared for a lot of butts...both human and cigarettes.
Here's my 2nd "Mystery Movie" (or as AMC calls it, "Screen Unseen.") All I knew was the Rating (R) and length. My guess was "Sinners." Wrong. My friend's guess, and he's almost ALWAYS right, was "The Accountant 2." Also, wrong. In fact, neither of us could be FURTHER from what this movie was.
And I bet this was a very, very big surprise to the almost-packed audience. I had to not-so-secretly smile to all the heterosexuals in the audience who would've never paid to see a LGBTQ+ period piece melodrama...in their lives.
As stated, this movie takes place in the 1950s and explores an unconventional love triangle. Two brothers, two Korean War veterans couldn't be further apart, but still love each other. In-between is one of the brother's wife. All three have dreams...and two of which were really hard to come by with 1950s homophobia.
I liked the movie, there's really nothing wrong here. I like that there were two heartbreaking leads vs. The typical one. The acting was fine and the stakes were real. Was it anywhere close to the similar Brokeback Mountain?
Absolutely not. Not even in the same league. But, it's a good update to how homosexuals struggled in the 1950s. I can't even imagine what it was like then. I will forever salute the brave men, women and everyone who stood up to homophobia to make it easier - no, 1000x easier for future generations.
I don't suspect so, but it would be interesting to see if this gets any award buzz next Awards season. Maybe I'll have to revisit this and see something different. For right now: I did like it, I didn't love it and I didn't regret seeing it.
***
Final Thoughts: I do love to go into a movie cold. Not knowing much about it, other than the title, usually at least one of the leads, maybe genre/subgenre and a recommendation. This is by far, the coldest I've ever experienced. I never once heard of this movie, the background or absolutely anything. In fact, I was worried I wouldn't remember the title since I never heard of this before to write this review. Well, I finally got my #1 wish...to be completely frozen over.
