In the Gloaming (1997)

The directorial debut of the late Christopher Reeve is a made-for-cable movie about the effects of AIDS on a family. Danny (Robert Sean Leonard) returns home to his parents to be with them in the final days of his battle against AIDS. The stress of the situation brings out the tensions and anxieties that the family members have been quietly bearing for years. Danny's mother (Glenn Close) grows closer to her son through the tragedy. His father (David Strathairn) struggles with the reality of his son's life and illness.



Also starring Whoopi Goldberg and Bridget Fonda, IN THE GLOAMING is a simplistic film that is precisely directed to perfection that it won't waste a second of your time. All scenes in this one-hour piece are equally important; and Glenn Close and Robert Sean Leonard's performances make it more than just another AIDS-related family film.

Bent (1997)

This is a screen adaptation of an award-winning play about the persecution of homosexuals by Nazis during World War II. In Germany, the Nazi party's program of genocide against any and all perceived "enemies" is coming into full swing when the party begins a violent purge of homosexuals in its membership. Max (Clive Owen), a bisexual playboy, is attending an orgy thrown by drag queen "Greta" (Mick Jagger) and featuring a number of party members when the festivities are raided by the police; Max and his lover Rudy (Brian Webber) escape, but they are later arrested and sentenced to a concentration camp. En route to the camp, Max betrays Rudy and arranges to be given a yellow identification star, marking him as a Jew, instead of a pink triangle, which would signify him as gay; while the Jews are destined to be executed, gay prisoners receive even more brutal treatment from the guards. While incarcerated, Max meets Horst (Lothaire Bluteau), an inmate who proudly wears the pink triangle. Max and Horst fall in love with each other, and Horst's bravery leads Max to accept his sexual identity.

BENT is truly one of the best films ever made for its genre. Based on a theatrical production, this powerful and moving film made in Britain mainly demonstrates the most evil practice or treatment by humans that act more like beasts than humans. It’s certainly a film for everyone!

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La Vie de Jésus (1997)

Chronique de la vie de Freddy (David Douche), jeune épileptique, qui vit avec sa mère Yvette à Bailleul où elle tient le café Au Petit Casino, siège d'un club de pinsonneux, amateurs de pinsons qui concourent tous les dimanches et marquent à la craie sur un long morceau de bois le nombre de trilles de leur oiseau.

The chronicle of the life of Freddy (David Douche), a young epileptic, who lives with his mother Yvette in Bailleul who keeps the "Au Petit Casino Café," the seat of the Finches Club where the finches lovers flock every Sunday and mark with chalk on a long piece of wood the number of bird trills.

LA VIE DE JÉSUS (titled THE LIFE OF JESUS in the US), is one breathtaking film about the life of young people living in the northern part of France near the Belgian border. Its realistic and raw approach to personal differences, marginalisation, racism and love makes it a milestone winner for its targeted viewers.

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Little Boy Blue (1997)

A teenager tries to shield his family from his father's violence in this downbeat drama. Jimmy West (Ryan Phillippe) is a young man growing up within a horribly dysfunctional family in a small Texas town. His father Ray (John Savage) is a Vietnam veteran whose physical and emotional scars from the war have turned him into a psychotic; he terrorizes his two younger children, Mikey (Adam Burke) and Mark (Devon Michael), brutalizes his wife Kate (Nastassja Kinski), and sometimes forces Jimmy and Kate to have sex at gunpoint. Jimmy's girlfriend Traci (Jenny Lewis) is about to move away to attend college, and while Jimmy would like to go with her (and with his abilities as a baseball player he could probably win a scholarship), he's afraid to leave his mother and siblings behind with no protection against Ray's abuse. One night, a man stops by Ray's tavern and begins asking questions; the stranger arouses Ray's fear and suspicion, and he never makes it home after an "accident" in the man's room. The death leads the local police to begin asking questions of their own, and soon a number of ugly revelations about the family's history come to light.

LITTLE BOY BLUE is simply amazing... I didn't expect it to be so good. It is a well-written and a well-acted mystery drama. And you'll feel good when you learn the truth in the end that you will remember this movie for sure...

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The Hanging Garden (1997)

25-year-old Sweet William (Chris Leavins) returns to his parents' house after ten years of absence to attend the wedding of his sister Rosemary (Kerry Fox). He used to be an obese in his teens (as played by Troy Veinotte) and was once caught having sex with his hunky bisexual friend Fletcher (Joel S. Keller) in the garden by his grandmother when he was 15 and that same friend is the man marrying his sister. As a consequence of the ensuing rejection, particularly by his father (Peter MacNeill), Sweet William had the choice of either running away to live in a big city far away from the family or committing suicide by hanging himself from a tree in the garden. In the movie, both the alive, now slender and self-assured Sweet William and the obese, suffocated teenage Sweet William, hanging as a fresh corpse in the garden, are present and interacting. In the version of reality where Sweet William dies, his family members cannot shed their memories of his death and carry on with their lives, whereas in the other version Sweet William is haunted by memories of his father's misbehavior and is unable to reconcile with him. As well, a new family member, Violet (Christine Dunsworth) is subsequently revealed to have been fathered by Sweet William, from an incident when Sweet William's mother (Seana McKenna) took him to a prostitute in an attempt to “cure” his homosexuality.

THE HANGING GARDEN is a stimulating mature film that will challenge the minds of its viewers. This great offer from Canada has a story plot so original and the whole ensemble of cast so terrific that it won accolades and awards in different film award bodies. A MUST-SEE to my books!

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