O Beautiful (2002) User Reviews

Get a Grip, indeed!

[artsavant · 8/10 · 8 January 2012]

I watched this in 2 parts on YouTube's queerflix and came right away to IMDb, excitedly hoping to learn more.

First, if you've watched numerous crappy commercial gay movies that people excuse for being low budget (or for a pandering full frontal), seeing this short film gives lie to the idea that low-budget is ever any excuse for crap or that an exposed willy is the ultimate measure of cinema.

Second, investing your thought and imagination into appreciating anything will return those gifts, just as political dogma and snide cynicism will return only that.

>>What some saw as a non-Grammy performance of O Beautiful, I heard as an attempt to block out the anxiety of awkward regret and shame. Or, like his speaking Spanish, it might just be Andy's way of trying to establish trust. Whatever, isn't it better to think than scoff?

>>What some misunderstood as pica, I felt as eating dirt to scrub a bad taste out of his mouth. Or maybe Jay was anticipating an earlier degradation to forfend what he feared was a return attack.

>>What some derided as an extra-legal transfer of property, I took for naive adolescent impulse aimed at making amends with abject sincerity.

>>What some saw as seduction I know as the suspension of responsibility afforded by playing at hypnosis. See also, "boy, was I drunk last night."

>>And what some don't get is that in thrall to a small cornfield town you can have sex every weekend for the last 2 years of high school and still not realize that you're gay and he's your boyfriend.

Whether you understood them or not, you've got to admit the director's choices stayed with you enough to make it worth a comment. I also found that the two affecting performances in this movie make it hard to forget. Being gay or experiencing gay bashing is not necessary to finding something worthwhile in this movie, anymore than being a straight MMA fighter is necessary to appreciating Warrior.

Definitely worth tracking down and experiencing for yourself.

What do you do when you are basically good but have been part of something bad?

[Havan_IronOak · 9/10 · 18 April 2003]

This wonderful film deals with a confrontation between two young men following a rural American gay bashing. One is the victim who has been bashed and left in a cornfield. The other was among those who did the bashing, but may well be gay himself. Afraid to stand up to the gang mentality or to "out" himself while the assault was going on, he nevertheless regrets what has happened and comes back to aid the victim.

This confrontation is presented in split screen so we can see every expression and reaction as they both confront each other. While the scenario itself is one of the best I've ever seen presented in a gay film, the dialogue at times seems contrived and amateurish. Yet, overall this is a wonderful film.

Great GREAT FILM!

[ameliasolum · 10/10 · 11 May 2005]

I'm sorry, I must disagree with the other reviewer. I thought the short film was poignant and very realistic. It may not be the type of movie everyone would like or would want to view, for that matter, but I found it captivating. It basically follows two young boys. One, named Brad, having been left in a field naked and sexually abused by some homophobic jocks, and Andy, one of the attackers who had enough heart to come back to help the kid. I thought this movie (which is supposed to be loosely based on the Michael Sheppard Story) was fantastically acted. Parts left me breathless. If you want to know what I mean, go find this film and watch it. You will NOT be sorry.

Haunting and Disturbing

[dcoppard · 9/10 · 9 September 2008]

"O Beautiful" is a hauntingly beautiful film about a student who has been gay-bashed and left without his pants in a cornfield. It takes place between Brad (Jay Gillespie), and Andy (David Clayton Rogers),another student who may have been one of the bashers, but who was certainly a witness.

As the story unfolds, we begin to understand that Any is also gay, but can't admit it.

The movie, despite being only 29 minutes, is eloquent and powerful and raises many questions about violence, about being gay and coming out. These two could have been close friends, but are separated by religion and fear.

I was a bit startled by the split-screen technique, but as the movie proceeded, one understands why the Director did it this way. All the emphasis is on the two faces, and their expressions and emotions. Both actors give superb performances, their faces express every shade of emotion and feeling.

This movie is part of "Boys Life 4: Four Play" and has stayed with this viewer long after seeing it. I really recommend it. It also occur to me, that this could be used as the core of a much longer movie.

In one word, Awesome.

I was moved

[bradleyalanrowe · 2 April 2003]

I was moved by this film. I screened it at the Cleveland International Film Festival in March 2003. I loved the split-screen editing of the film. I loved being able to watch the actors react to each other as the other was speaking their lines. The film is so true. Haunting. Beautifully-acted. I hope to see the two leads, Jay Gillespie and David Rogers, move on to larger projects. Thank you for this experience.

DO NOT WATCH THIS FILM.

[usnavynuke · 1/10 · 3 September 2019]

This film is ludicrous. Absolutely ridiculous. It's insensitive and idiotic at best. In a film dealing with sexual assault, you should never try to frame one of the perpetrators as benevolent.

I hardly ever write reviews, but this one needed my two cents. DO NOT WATCH THIS MOVIE. The only good part of this movie is the ending, when the person who basically got raped does not dignify this "holier-than-thou" Christian Athletes president with a handshake. I am so unnerved that somebody thought this was a good plot to a short film. Obviously, anybody who appreciates this movie has never been sexually assaulted by a group of men. Watch literally any other gay movie, please.

I Was Moved

[pauls143 · 10/10 · 10 December 2007]

I totally disagree with the bad reviews of this short film. It wasn't about a title transfer. The part about the truck was showing the deep sorrow that the one basher had and his need for forgiveness. Okay so the singing wasn't that great, but that wasn't really the point either. The basher himself had his own struggles with his sexuality and he knew that his domineering father and the homophobic town he lived in would never accept him being anything but the hetero jock he was molded to be.

I'd never heard of this or knew anything about it before I saw it as part of Boys Life 4. I was seriously captivated from beginning to end. I didn't really get the dirt eating part but then again I have no idea how I would react to that situation either.

I also thought the acting and split screen was brilliant.

It left me with something I didn't have before I watched it.

Very simplistic

[Horst_In_Translation · 4/10 · 29 July 2016]

"O Beautiful" is a half-hour live action film from 2002, so this one will have its 15th anniversary next year. I am usually pretty critical about gay-themed short films as they lack realism on many occasions. But this is not really a problem here. It's also fine to see that director Alan Brown and actors Jay Gillespie and David Clayton Rogers are still active in the industry and it also shows in here that occasionally talent is present. I have seen many many inferior short films about this subject. i still would not say that it was a very interesting watch. A boy was beaten up because he is gay and another boy (one of the gang) returns and talks with him about his "issue". I would say that the material was maybe not enough for half an hour. At 15-20 minutes, I may have given this one an even better rating. Overall it simply did not have enough good moments, also for this runtime. Thumbs down for me, not recommended.

A beautifully acted film...

[steviecarlson · 9/10 · 24 September 2002]

The acting in this film was wonderful. I didn't really care for the split screen choice of the director. I thought the performance would have been even stronger with traditional editing. But that aside, this is still a really wonderful movie with a great story.

Powerful and disturbing

[preppy-3 · 10/10 · 2 January 2010]

Gay teenager Brad (Jay Gillespie) has been attacked and assaulted (not shown) and left battered and nude from the waist down in a cornfield. Straight Andy (David Clayton Rogers) comes by and tries to help him--but why?

Strong short beautifully acted by the two actors. I was surprised to see Gillespie nude from the waist down for the first 5 minutes or so but this was to make it clear that he WAS assaulted. A split screen technique is used throughout almost the entire short so we can see both characters and their reactions to what each other is saying. The dialogue is sometimes awkward but that's exactly how it WOULD be in real life. Both of the actors are great but Gillespie is incredible. He had the more difficult role but he pulls it off. His reactions are completely believable and heart-breaking. Strong and uncomfortable but just great. A must-see! It's part of the DVD "Boys Life 4".

an incredible melding of superb actors and a skilled director

[swedeboi · 10/10 · 4 August 2017]

I have had the privilege of reviewing, for an independent blog, more than 120 coming of age, boyhood, and gay-themed short films using six independent criteria. Of those, O Beautiful and Funfsechstel stand at the very top—each because of its extraordinary acting, directing, and production.

You will not find a more compelling job of acting anywhere. The shock and fear that Jay Gillespie pours into the role of Brad (his very first acting role) and the remorse and frustration that David Clayton Rogers brings to his portrayal of Andy (only his second role) are simply incredible. The split-screen used in this film, a technique that has ruined many a movie, could not be more perfect. It allows you to experience each boy's reaction as he interacts with the other on an intense emotional plane. How it was done without 30 takes for each scene, I know not. It couldn't have been easy to get both actors to react so perfectly, so simultaneously, so often. But maybe they're just that good. They sure seem to be.

The movie represents a masterpiece of direction. Alan Brown even used the temperature to his filming advantage. Gillespie starts out completely naked below the waist and wearing only a light shirt as the film opens on a night so cold that the breath of both boys is visible throughout the film. The cold undoubtedly augmented Gillespie's portrayal of a boy in shock following a homophobic attack. Brown's eerie use of truck headlights in a post-harvest corn field gives the entire production a haunting, Halloween-like atmosphere that was further enhanced by even eerier primary theme music that features a person whistling.

Don't be put off by criticism of the dialogue. High school students (being portrayed here) are not always as astute as movie reviewers, and awkward comments—especially those made in the context of a remorseful teen trying to make amends with a peer whom he brutalized—would be expected in real life, I think.

Filming took place at the eastern end of a cornfield, at 40°52'13.03"N 74°30'28.75"W, just below the fence-line of a soccer field across from the New Hope Community Church in Denville, New Jersey. Despite the town's location in a fairly populated area of the state, a perfectly secluded spot was found for filming. With darkness and only one filming location involved, though, the movie could not rely on spectacular scenery or action sequences to compensate for even momentarily inadequate acting. And it didn't need to. I never thought it possible for a film of this quality to rest so completely on the acting ability of two such inexperienced actors and on so little else...well, little else except for superb direction and production.

You won't tire of this film after multiple viewings. Without a single change, this short film would make a worthy inclusion in a first-run feature-length movie.

a bitter story

[Kirpianuscus · 26 July 2018]

Its surprising freshness is the lead virtue of this short film, reminding a play. two characters. and the inspired dialogue. almost a Christian film, reflecting two perspectives and a relation between teenagers, vulnerabilities, hate and compassion, innocence and not comfortable answers. and the way to give yourself to the other. its lead virtue - to propose a real reflection. about a delicate subject. and about attitude front to it. a film. maybe, profound useful. sad, bitter, complex and too simple in same measure.

Get a grip!

[boypan · 1/10 · 24 August 2004]

I saw this film at the Egyptian Theater in Hollywood as part of Outfest's Wednesday series. This film is incredibly un-ethical and it's sexualization of a gay bashing it insensitive and exploitative. It's like tramping up the victim in a rape vs. showing how terrible the attack is and how similar both rape and gay bashing really are, sociologically and psychologically. At some point during the film I started hissing. I didn't stop till the movie ended. I have rarely been so outraged before. I can't remember when but I couldn't take it anymore. If there was any irony in the film it would have at least been aware of itself but instead it was just immoral and cruel, in dangerous times as these. Camera tricks do not excuse irresponsible film-making. There are filmmaker out there who are trying to do work on the edge for a reason not just because they can't write something compelling like this script. This work clouds their work. Get a grip!

Telling

[les-reed · 9/10 · 20 April 2013]

Such a shame that very sad subject matter often produces good books and films: this is one such case. Beautifully shot - with partial split-screen imagery - the characters were portrayed to perfection.

A telling story indeed, of the inhumanities heaped on some, by others, because they dared to be different - in this case, being gay. Lovely film, and highly recommended. Sometimes gay themed films turn out maudlin to say the least, but when the issue is dealt with in a manner that shows exactly how painful and damaging such prejudices can be, you get a warm glow, knowing that there are people ready to expose such nastiness - in the form of this film - so that well-balanced folk can really see what some of us have to contend with!

What a tour de crap.

[jmorrissey · 1/10 · 5 May 2003]

I saw this at the Miami Gay Film Festivial last friday and it was plain awful and it actually hurt to watch it.

Not only was the dialogue ludacris, but the entire plot was lame as was the acting. I hate the dramatic esoteric drama they throw in. It was trying to be symbolic of something, lord knows what, but if anything it manage to be symbolic of a gay man's fantasy about getting gay bashed.

Why would this guy go back and give him his shoe, his jacket, his pants, and his truck? Hello title transfer! But that's not even the most painful part. The most painful part was watching this guy sing O Beautiful.

I can't begin to tell you how painful this was to watch. If you see this short playing anywhere near you please burn the screen before it harms any more people. UGH.