Straightman (Gay)

 

Picture: C+     Sound: C+     Extras: C+     Feature: C+

 

 

Two friends are about to have a breach in their friendship when one of them admits he is gay in Ben Berkowitz’s Straightman, a project from 2000 shot on film that is a truly sincere, ambitious effort to do a serio-comedy on the subject.  Jack (Ben Redgrave) is the one who is having a heterosexual relationship with a decent-looking woman, but is realizing something is just not working out for him personally.

 

That this deals with a certain aspect of bi-sexuality without labeling it is a plus, which means the script can get on with telling the story, but a funny thing happens about the acting that can be contributed to the directing.  These are actors with limited experience.  They are not great, but they are doing their best and as a result, a certain atmosphere results, creating an enclosed world where it seems open enough and therefore convinces us this could all be happening.  That takes some talent, though the feature ultimately does not get to go as far in all directions as it could.  For what is here on this low budget and by limited means, it works well enough to take a look at it.

 

The 1.33 X 1 image was shot on video and looks about the way it should for its age.  This includes the usual flaws and limits of NTSC, including color, but it also has a sort of atmosphere that is interesting.  The Dolby Digital 2.0 is simple stereo at best with no surround information.  Extras include a missing scene shown as a strange gag, the original trailer and an audio commentary by Berkowitz and Redgrave that is informative and gives us clues as to how the production got its uniqueness.

 

 

-   Nicholas Sheffo