AUGUST – Trailer from Eldar Rapaport on Vimeo.
Queerty’s Outfest coverage continues with a look at August a sensuous drama about a summertime affair that could send the love lives of three men down in flames. You can also catch the film Sunday, July 10th at 9:45 PM at LA’s Director’s Guild of America.
WHAT’S IT ABOUT?: When Troy (Murray Bartlett) moves back to LA after many years in Barcelona he finds that his ex-boyfriend Jonathan (Daniel Dugan) has begun dating Raul (Adrian Gonzales), a handsome South American immigrant. Jonathan has helped Raul stay in America, but when Raul senses the sexual tension between the exes, temperatures rise between the three men in LA’s stultifying summer heat.
IS IT ANY GOOD?: The steamy sex scenes accompanied with a Middle-Eastern musical soundtrack will definitely leave you hot and bothered, but the film avoids cliche moralizing about cheating by concentrating on how timing and desire blur idealistic preconceptions about love. It’s especially interesting to see how Raul and Troy communicate to one another through Jonathan, who stays torn between their influence. Overall, writer/director Eldar Rapaport’s beautifully shot film concentrates on interpersonal dynamics with a intimate hand-held style focused on touch and body language.
How about we take this to the next level?
Our newsletter is like a refreshing cocktail (or mocktail) of LGBTQ+ entertainment and pop culture, served up with a side of eye-candy.
RATING: Three out of five hookahs – While a lot of other gay films have featured love triangles and the trope of the “mythical-ex-returns,” August stands out for its realistic portrayals of love, need, and desire of all sorts. It’s a positive cinematic step that uses sex and attraction not just to titillate gay audiences, but to delve deeper into each character.
It’s a long, hot season, so make sure to check out Los Angeles’ other cool summer events too!
freedoomboy
This film looks God awful!
TheRealMannequinAdam
“The steamy sex scenes accompanied with a Middle-Eastern musical soundtrack will definitely leave you hot and bothered, but the film avoids cliche moralizing about cheating by concentrating on how timing and desire blur idealistic preconceptions about love.”
In other words, it congratulates and honors whoredom. Should be satisfying for all those WeHo queens who swap STDs like they were handshakes.
merle
Looks pretty interesting to me.
Interesting
You ask whether the film is good, but answer by saying it does not moralize. I find your response confusing.
A morally ambiguous film can still be a good or bad film. Whether one likes Brokeback Mountain, for example, does not come down to whether cheating was moralized.
Did the director have a point of view about what the relationships all mean? If so, what was it? Or was the lack of moralization the point of view? if so, that does not sound very interesting.
Polo
First, congratulations to the filmmakers. The movie looks well made. I like the subtlety of the acting and strong dialog on display. The cinematography looks great: colors, angles, etc. I look forward to seeing this film.
Second….
@TheRealMannequinAdam:
It’s always great to see comments like yours that bring out the homophobia!
Every year, there are movies made about straight people whose marriages crumble because of infidelity. A movie featuring similar themes, however, causes you to denounce it for promoting “whoredom” and spreading STDs? Have you considered joining NOM? What about joining any of the other anti-gay political or religious organizations out there?
I’ve always found it interesting how gays use the terms that were designed to sexually oppress women on themselves. “Sluts” and “whores.” Straight men are “studs” or they get “lucky.” Straight women or gay men who are just as sexually free are somehow dirty. Why is that?
Have you any idea about the reality of the sex lives of heterosexual young people? Do you think that they are chaste? Does the term “hook-up” not mean anything to you?
TheRealMannequinAdam
“It’s always great to see comments like yours that bring out the homophobia!”
*eyeroll* Here we go…
“Every year, there are movies made about straight people whose marriages crumble because of infidelity. A movie featuring similar themes, however, causes you to denounce it for promoting “whoredom” and spreading STDs? Have you considered joining NOM? What about joining any of the other anti-gay political or religious organizations out there?”
Every year, those same movies about straight people involved in infidelity are promoting the same whoredom that this movie does. There’s no difference.
“I’ve always found it interesting how gays use the terms that were designed to sexually oppress women on themselves. “Sluts” and “whores.” Straight men are “studs” or they get “lucky.” Straight women or gay men who are just as sexually free are somehow dirty. Why is that?”
I don’t distinguish between male or female whores, and I certainly don’t give straight men any type of pass whatsoever. They’re all whores, regardless of gender or sexual orientation.
“Have you any idea about the reality of the sex lives of heterosexual young people? Do you think that they are chaste? Does the term “hook-up” not mean anything to you?”
I don’t care. This is about one gay movie, and so it is a gay presentation. Please stop comparing gays to straights every chance you get to justify any behavior gay men engage in. Last time I checked, the new infection rates for HIV and other STDs disproportionately affected gay men more than any other group of people, accounting for the vast majority of new HIV cases and other STDs. Clearly some work still needs to be done.
George412
If they can’t cut a trailer where the acting looks decent I can’t imagine how bad the acting must be in the full length film.
Interesting
@Polo: The lack of clarity in the review about as far as an actual story does not bother you?
Interesting
@George412:THere’s that too. And that means the acting is really bad. But then most gay movies contains some really horrific acting.
Aaron in Honolulu
What is this movie really saying? Let’s replace the actors with a straight couple and we would instantly dismiss the movie by saying it’s cliche and that we’ve all seen it before: an old fling shows up in the middle of a new relationship causing some drama. This film would work better as an episode for some bad soap opera.
When is the gay film industry gonna evolve? gaahhh
Joetx
“Please stop comparing gays to straights every chance you get to justify any behavior gay men engage in. Last time I checked, the new infection rates for HIV and other STDs disproportionately affected gay men more than any other group of people, accounting for the vast majority of new HIV cases and other STDs. Clearly some work still needs to be done.”
+1
Polo
@TheRealMannequinAdam:
Sex does not equate automatically with STD or HIV transmission. There is such a thing as safe sex. Moreover, examining bad behavior also does not equate with its promotion.
As for the review, yes it’s not detailed. The movie have been featured on other sites. So, I know its plot.
Interesting
@Polo: (a) glad you admit the review does not help one understand the story
(b) its true sex does not equate to STD or HIV, but I believe the point was about the audience for this type of movie wanting to hear that its morally okay to engage in whatever sex they want. I have not seen the movie, and, i therefore will not burden it with that kind of conclusion.
But this part of the mainstream gay culture does in fact exists and it does contribute to STD/HIV spread. In other words, number of partners is a factor in the spread of a venereal disease because it increases the chances of exposure. Its just a matter of the stats.
That being said, as I think about it, I am not sure a movie about a guy cheating on one guy with another guy where its not multiple other partners fits the gay main stream norm about sex. Its seems in many ways more hetero as far as multiple partners may play out.
jessi
The movie is based on a short film from 2005 called Postmortem. The actors playing Jonathan and Troy are the same actors from the short film. I liked it when I saw it and I don’t think their acting is bad like others commenters above.. Believe me, I have seen way worse acting in other gay films.
lizcivious
Murray Bartlett is a good actor. He was great in Guiding Light, and I’m looking forward to seeing him in this, although it’s weird to hear him using an American accent (he’s an Aussie).
steve
I thought that was the guy from the Mitsubishi commercial.. Yum!
Is he gay?