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Happiness Adjacent

First five minutes into the movie and I was starting to doubt whether its gonna be a big mistake watching this film and wasting my time like most trash queer films out there, but thankfully it did spring a pleasant surprise on me. It wasn't earth-shattering or game changing in anyway; but it did manage to hold my interest in the lives of our protagonists. There i a lot of improvement that can be done in this, but more about that later.

Hank is now taking the week long cruise alone, because his best friend had a last minute family emergency. Aboard, he meets Kurt, vacationing with his wife. Since Kurt's wife is sea-sick, the two men hang out all the time, and there is some connection. At the end of day 1, Kurt ends up in Hank's room and they both have sex. Thankfully, the next morning is not about guilt or snubbing but taking it one day at a time. Hank is not sure, why Kurt os doing this and if he is just a vacation fling. But on the other hand, Hank is also here to get over his ex, but his increasing attraction towards Kurt is something that he really doesn't want to happen. Kurt's wife eventually gets better and join the two of them but still afraid of getting off the ship. This gives the two men enough opportunity to hang out and in fact have a heart to heart conversation. They both like each other and have great chemistry and want more from life. Only if it was that simple. Just when Kurt is starting to make up his mind about leaving his wife, he finds out that she is pregnant. Also we find out that this is not the first time that he is having flings with men and that his wife has always been aware of that. It is decision time and Kurt decides he would change his ways and wants to be a good husband and have a family. Hank respects his decision and they both decide to keep in touch as friends.

To be honest, I was slightly disappointed by the ending. In the long run, I really doubt that Kurt will be able to stay faithful to his wife but who am I to judge. Besides that things about the movie were pretty on and off. Production wise, this film seems to have been shot with a hand held camera or even an iphone over an actual 7 day cruise. If that is in fact true, then I have to say that acting was very very goodby all principal characters but the feeling of watching a film was amiss, which personally bothered me. There were way too many close-ups and the audio was bad but thats understandable given that it was probably shot in sync-sound. The acting was solid and thankfully there were not random side stories to take our attention away from core issue of sex, attraction and finding love in most unexpected situations and places. I wish, Kurt's wife's character was a bot detailed because in all this, she seemed to get a raw deal because you never sympathize with her character which I would have preferred, especially given how the maker wanted to story to end.

Its slow in beginning but eventually picks up. Audio is also an issue. But its not a bad film at all. Keep your expectations low. It's not exactly a feel-good movie, but it does bring to mind differing aspects of gay/bi romances. (6/10)

Comments

luigi43 said…
"Who I am to judge " is a phrase reserved to a South American gentleman all white-dressed! ! You are absolutely entitled to judge and U do it were well above our passion i.e. the movies .
Golu said…
hahahahahahha.. love your sense of humour and yes.. I absolutely judge all movies ;);)
ILHiker said…
Rewatched this one. I think your review does a great job of hitting the stronger and weaker points of the movie. The two guys were both good. The wife did need just a little more story, though I filled in some with my own imagination. Funny, in my memory the guy he flirts with after the cruise is Matthew Montgomery, but not at all. Watched him in All Kinds of Love today, which I really wanted to like more than I did.
ILHiker said…
I didn't see it up on the site, but I just watched "In from the side." Holy cow--it was extraordinary. The environment and culture of the rugby team, a good, slow, steady simmer of tension for a long ways, an agonizingly beautiful holiday interlude, things boil over, and an ending that just felt amazing and so fresh and non-cliche. Blew me away.
Golu said…
Thia film has been n my list for sure. I have been traveling last few days, so hopefully I will son be able to watch this one. Its a bit long if I remember right.

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