Skip to main content

Those People

I had mixed feelings while watching this film. At times it feels like this really nice British inspired film trying to be royal, other times it felt like the makers were confused on what they wanted to focus on between friendship and love. Some of the reactions by some characters would come so random, that it would feel a bit out of place. I understand that life and people are not straight forward and its not easy for all of us to make up our minds, but we all surely try.

Our main protagonist is Charlie, an aspiring artist, who has been closest buddies with Sebastian, son of a disgraced Wall Street criminal. Their group has some other close friends but these 2 are closest. Although they are both gay, they are nothing more than friends although its obvious to everyone that Charlie is madly in love with Sebastian. This entire group play nursemaid to Sebastian's drunken bouts of depression and anger because of his father's situation. Things change when Charlie meets Tim, a professional piano player. There is attraction and after a few weeks when Tim confesses his love, Charlie is confused because somewhere deep down he still yearns for Sebastian. He takes a break from Tim and kisses Sebastian & wants to know whey cant they be together. It seems Sebastian's situation is complicated and he feels that once they are together, Charlie will eventually leave him and their friendship will be gone forever. Completely heartbroken, Charlie gets back with Tim trying to leave everything about Sebastian behind. Tim soon gets a full time position in San Francisco which is a dream job and almost convinces Charlie to join him. Around this time, Sebastian's father commits suicide and all the friends get back together. Charlie still has very strong emotions for Sebastian and Tim gets into a fight with Sebastian when he kisses Charlie. Everyone realizes that Carlie can never get over Sebastian and Tim leaves them to sort their issues out. In a sudden turn of events, Tim comes back on Seb's insistence for a cleaner breakup and the Sebastian sells everything to move in some other part of the world. In the end I feel that Charlie is the one who lost both Tim and Sebastian.

The gentle blossoming of flirting leading to attraction and love between Charlie and Tim makes for some good tender moments in the film. Its a good balance to trying to really understand the friendship and bond that Sebastian and Charlie share. Charlie clearly loves him and cares for him more than anything, but why is Sebastian playing around. Agreed he is worried about their friendship, but it still feels like he uses his friends for his own sake. Its all about him, which makes me question his own loyalty towards his friends especially Charlie. The scene when Charlie confronts Sebastian head on for love which leads to a possible threesome is heart wrenching and superbly acted. You feel pain for both the characters and is a very different way the scene is handled. The actors all look very handsome and dress really well. Charlie os a dream. A superbly handsome man with a sensitive side, he brings the character to life. That combined with upper class setting in New York, gives it a very Brit feel. Nonetheless, this film is a very welcome change form all kinds of films out there. Sadly, in an otherwise fine film, the ending is quite disappointing and feels very rushed. Yes, sometimes its hard to truly differentiate and chose between love and friend (whom you also love), but there could have been better ways to end the film. For no fault of his, ultimately Charlie loses out on both and given how sensitive the guy is, it will not be a good sign.

Ultimately the film is about love and longing for a person who doesn't reciprocate your love. Devoid of any gay cliches (Thank God), this touching film will definitely strike a chord with most folks. (7.5/10)

Comments

luigi43 said…
The characters of Sebastian and his father have been real persons in one of financial bigger scandal ever. And the son committed suicide . May be writers ended this way for respect of Sebastian/ son's sorrow.
Golu said…
Yeah the characters were inspired by Maydoff family but it wasn't true. The son was not gay in real life.
Sailor Maan said…
Loved this film so much. Ok first I admit I had the biggest crush on Charlie just because he somehow reminds me of my husband haha.
It's funny though because I had a different feeling than you about Sebastian. I think he is a true friend to Charlie. Sure he is egocentric and clearly playing with him, but he knows things wouldn't work out between them. I mean it could be easy for him to sleep with Charlie (wow that threesome scene was intense!). But that would really be selfish (and no, the "what's the point of having gay friends if you don't sleep with them " doesn't work lol). I think he is just more lucid when Charlie is totally blind in his idealized love for Sebastian. In the end Sebastian is the one reuniting Charlie and Tim in the end, and it's Charlie deciding not to follow Tim (and not following Sebastian either).
Anyway great movie!
Golu said…
I think you have articulated it really well. Sadly, life and situations are complicated. Agreed about threesome. That scene was so full of all kinds of tension.

Popular posts from this blog

The Shortest Distance is Round 3: Fallen Flowers

Continuing with the weird trilogy of "The Shortest Distance", I am so glad that finally I am done with part 3 and won't have to deal with this again in future. Thankfully, as of now the makers have not announced any further parts; which will save all of us on this earth from the embarrassment of watching this in near future. After the first 10 minutes are used in sort of recapping bits of first two parts, the story moves forward. Haruto is now starting to have feelings for Ruka, the mysterious pole dancer from second part. In a fit of rage, Ruka ends up killing the goat man and to save him and Haruto, Shibahara asks them to go underground. Meanwhile Shibahara continues the search for Seiya (the guy who had cut off Haruto's penis). It turns out Seiya is now also taking care of the original club owner from part 1. Both of them were released after they had informed Shibahara of Aoyama's secret location. Shibahara tortures Seiya's boyfriend leading to Seiya killin

One Summer Night (Korean)

I really wanted to like this film but for non native speakers, these movie leaves a lot to be understood and the way scenes were unfolding in front of me, I wasn't sure many times what was really going on. The story had potential button getting any back story on any of the characters limited my ability to empathize with any of these actors. Film starts with two North Korea military guys Yong Joon and Jae Sung having sex and they are caught red handed and they run. Three years later we see Yong Joon in Seoul leading a very mundane and poor life. He has a boyfriend Tae-Kyu, who is a weird guy. He is carefree, doesn't do any work and is completely emotional and financially dependent on Young Joon. In fact, even Yong Joon will go to any lengths to protect him , fend for him and taking care of him to the extent of even taking up prostitution. Suddenly one day Jae Sung appears in their life again. His motivation is not clear but it is obvious he wants Yong Joon back in his life, who

Ultimate masturbation: Shigoki no yama (Japanese) [The Ultimate Masturbation]

I would never know what was the point behind making this film. Was it supposed to be a comedy, cos it wasn't. It wasn't even porn. It was just a silly attempt at making something absolutely senseless and ridiculous. The story, as well as direction is equally shoddy. You could laugh for having seen something so bad, but I wouldn't call that comedy. An old man runs a camp about gay masturbation. The explanation given is that gays masturbate for pleasure unlike straight men, for whom the act is seen as shame or because they can't find a woman. One day a straight man shows up and wants to join the camp for his thesis. After discussion, he is allowed in. Rules include that you can masturbate together, you can masturbate one another, but there is no fellatio or anal sex. Some students of course breaks rule. The teacher then talks about 2 forms of masturbation which gives ultimate pleasure. He shows one without touching and then refuses to talk of the other. Somehow suddenly,