With the amount of gay writers, directors and actors (openly out or not), it's remarkable that there exists something of a dearth of really high quality gay themed movies. While it may be too much to expect Hollywood to come to the fore, the independents too have been surprisingly poor in this area. European cinema has dealt with gay issues in a far more successful manner. Faced with this situation, gay movies are often over praised simply because they've been made rather than for their intrinsic qualities. "Sunday Bloody Sunday" made over 30 years still overshadows just about any other gay themed movie made since then.
While "Forgive and Forget" certainly does have much going for it, it remains not entirely successful. What it suffers from is a certain pandering simplicity that has been so rampant in British movies for too long; the worst of these (despite their commercial success being "Billy Elliot" and "Full Monty"). "Forgive and Forget" has scenes which teeter on the brink of this ultimately insulting approach of the depiction of complex emotional states. (In all fairness I should mention the winning coming out drama "Get Real" as an outstanding exception.)
What saves the film and really what makes it a worthwhile experience are the two central performances by Steve John Sheppard and John Simm. Both give fully convincing, committed portrayals, despite dialog which is at times less than credible. The force of their acting compels one empathize with predicament of these characters.
Despite the flaws, "Forgive and Forget" is a memorable movie , well worth making the effort to seek out.
While "Forgive and Forget" certainly does have much going for it, it remains not entirely successful. What it suffers from is a certain pandering simplicity that has been so rampant in British movies for too long; the worst of these (despite their commercial success being "Billy Elliot" and "Full Monty"). "Forgive and Forget" has scenes which teeter on the brink of this ultimately insulting approach of the depiction of complex emotional states. (In all fairness I should mention the winning coming out drama "Get Real" as an outstanding exception.)
What saves the film and really what makes it a worthwhile experience are the two central performances by Steve John Sheppard and John Simm. Both give fully convincing, committed portrayals, despite dialog which is at times less than credible. The force of their acting compels one empathize with predicament of these characters.
Despite the flaws, "Forgive and Forget" is a memorable movie , well worth making the effort to seek out.