Reviews

Enjoyed the film. It's more of a European film than American, in that there are no end of film tidy resolutions.

I can guess where Joel Ballanger's character Ryan is heading in life by the end. It doesn't mean his life will be heading downward, but I see a very sad life. BTW, Joel does a wonderful job as an actor, this cast is incredible.

In the story, Ryan is in a fog of habitual life surrounded by a tight, but emotionally distant set of friends. Ryan is truly only on, when he's spending time with Al Braatz's character Sam.

Sam is in a relationship that will end soon and is eager to start a new life with Ryan. While Ryan is not ready. I'm glad the film takes its time developing the relationship and not rushing anything. Ryan sees who he is by his friends who he thinks are not ready to accept a gay Ryan. This movie ends up watching Ryan making decisions about what he is going to do about this new relationship. He makes the decision that this relationship only works for him on the down-low. That's not enough for Sam, and Ryan just ends it suddenly when he does not see the same concern about what other people think is not mirrored. It sucks being Sam at this point, but he's actually in better shape. Ryan is hunkering down and ends the movie hoping that no one will bring up his decisions we see him making. It's tough growing up, but we're watching someone dealing with his sexuality turning 30.

It's a bit painful to watch Ryan's decisions, but I understand them. There really is no mystery for me in watching this film; I was just left with a feeling of sadness for the whole group in this film.

I liked this film because of incredible acting, professionally created film and a very living real world. BTW, this film uses Toronto a great deal, which helps the story in its own visual way. Dark and depressing, winter is, when lonely as well as spectacular in a cold, gray, multi-layered clothing way. One negative comment is not necessarily negative... this film has a very naturalistic sound. So there are moments you might want to hear the dialog, but you get the din of the party, the noise of the street with the conversation in a coffee shop. I enjoyed it more as the film continued. Initially, I wasn't happy with the scenes.

Lastly, I've read the reviews discussing the morality of the decisions in the movie. So yes: Sam should end his relationship ASAP. Ryan should man up to his feelings and not use the women in his life. I do agree that real love is messy and does not always fit the rules that participants would hope they follow. But you hope in life that people will stand up for the things that are important in life. Not everybody is ready at the appropriate time. And unfortunately, some opportunities are once in a life time. This was a movie about a couple ultimately out of sync.

AN OBSERVATION: Oh my gosh, reading some of the reviews, you'd think this show was previewed at a Focus on the Family conference rather than a pretty late hour of over the air television. THE REVIEW: The main character seems to be a bit too amazing. Everyday, she has to relive horrible events and situations that would drive most people to drink, like her dearly departed mother. But, she has somehow overcome the constant visions of being buried alive, burned alive, stabbed, strangled.... the joy just keeps going on. Does it bother me that she is a near saint in putting up with this nightmare on a regular basis... no. One observation is that one of Cassi's dads is a shrink, which would come in handy with a troubled adoptive daughter. I think the actresses acting ability is just fine. The other cast members look and feel like they are adding positively to the storyline. Why one of her adoptive fathers is from the UK is a little unusual, but is also fine. At least with the show Elementary, it was a logical situation for the protagonist has had major problems in his home country and moves to New York to get away and start recovery from a bad drug habit. This show doesn't fill in all the back story for all of the main characters, yet, except for Cassie. With the first year done, I can say that I really enjoyed this season and hope for more to this story. The shows development of the evil dead as the season progressed was interesting and worked well. That season one's horrible dead person, who was dispatched out of the "in between" in the final episode, seemed a bit rushed. It's not that I wanted him to be in future shows, but his influence over living people was an aspect of the show that really worked to build up drama. Dispatching him at the end seemed a bit too fast for what proceeded. All in all, I enjoyed watching this world and the characters that inhabit it. I'm giving this 9 out of 10, because it is a very watchable show of it's type. This is not Breaking Bad or Friends. And that this show seems to upset people who are sharing their inner personal dialogs in public, is unrelated to the good and bad of this story.