The Last Year

Jeff London ('Regarding Billy') seems to be a director and writer who is committed to investigating the various degrees of problems young gay men face as they live in a homophobic society. His films resound with an honest feeling but too often he settles for stereotypes at both ends of the spectrum and that tends to weaken his work.

The setting is a Bible College somewhere in America where hunky Paul (Ron Petronicolos) is entering his 'last year' of study, his summer having been disrupted by an incident that is revealed later in the story. He re-joins his longtime roommate Robby (Patrick Orion Hoesterey) but keeps asking about his good friend Hector (Merrick McMahon), a subject no one wants to address. He meets Hector's roommate Alex (Mike Dolan) and gradually Alex lets Paul know that he is gay. Paul learns that the Bible College has discovered Hector is gay and the Dean (Rand Smith) and his henchmen are out to have Hector expelled. Paul's changed ways are noted by Robby and he finally confides that his summer incident was a gay experience in a restroom - a fact that Robby finds repulsive at first but soon comes to support Paul's anguish about his parent's disapproval and punishment.

As Paul's feelings for living who he really is surface he finds solace and sanctuary with Alex and the two become lovers. The Dean's spies gradually intimidate the group of four (Paul, Alex, Hector and Robby) and disciplinary action is taken. Among Paul's discoveries in his rebellion against the Bible College's stance against gays is the fact that the dean is a closet case and that is the reason for the rough action against Hector (with whom the dean had an assignation). It all comes to a tragic end for some and a sense of freedom for others - to find out who belongs to which category requires watching the film! The movie has its moments, due largely to the ability of the actors Petronicolos, Dolan, and McMahon, but it sadly is buried by otherwise mediocre to poor acting from the rest of the cast. The work of Rand Smith, Penelope Ma (who plays the dean's wife), and Lawrence Rinzel (who plays Paul's father) is particularly weak just when strong acting could have supported the flimsier portions of the script. London needed to spend more thought on Bible Colleges, finding that more razor sharp line between right wing bias against gays instead of opting for the usual clichés that are found everywhere. That dividing line among young men challenged by sexual identity would have made a far more successful film. But the film is worth watching for the performances of the three lead actors - strong young men each! Grady Harp

As this an extremely low-budget movie, I can forgive the technical problems like awful sound, horrendous lighting, odd use of background music and choppy editing; but I cannot forgive the silly, predictable script, generally awful acting the and relentlessly dull direction. Mike Dolan, playing Alex--the new guy-- does some decent acting with the lines he's given to read, but some of the other actors--most notable the guy who plays Paul's roommate--are so bad and so unbelievable in their roles, it is hard to watch. The basic idea--homosexuality at a bible college--is an interesting idea to explore, but this movie is simply inept and just plain bad.

This movie is a fairly well-written and well-acted project. I admit it has its Lifetime qualities: low budget (such as the sets and scenes that needed to be re-shot), a couple of actors who were not in any other movie (and for good reason), suspect editing, a useless montage, etc. Only one weakness in the plot though: homophobia and being closeted are not always the same thing. Regardless, Paul and Alex are characters that I was really able to buy into; there were a few other good actors in small parts. So I wouldn't pay much to see it, but if you can deal with the above, give it a chance.

I really don't understand how the reviewer whose comment is above (SunRock) thought The Laramie Project was "spectacular." I think this movie is at least on par with that one, except this movie is not a sensationalized documentary but sensationalized fiction. The former is worse.

A friend of mine saw this at the Philadelphia Gay and Lesbian Film Festival and reported that the audience laughed through the entire film. Then, when the director came out for a question and answer session, his first comment was, "I didn't know I made a comedy." Naturally, I had to rent it, but I approached it with an open mind, suspecting that the audience reaction was a reflection of the "hip, above it all, dismiss everything as camp" attitude that is far too common among movie viewers today.

Well, I was wrong. This film was one of the worst I have ever seen. The acting, writing, and directing were terrible. Particularly bad was the skinny kid with acne who read every line in the same way. He would say the first three words very slowly and then say the rest of his line quickly. For example, "Are...you...going...tothemovies?" Porn video companies make compilations of sex scenes from their various titles. Watching this film was like watching a compilation of the non-sex scenes from gay porn.

The "grown-ups" really did this movie in. The young woman and the four lead guys were very good. They were attractive and paced themselves well. How the "mature" folk got cast is beyond me. If there had been more realistic performances by their characters, the film would have been a great deal more satisfactory. The gay material by the young actors was nicely handled and not in the least offensive as is sometimes the case in a story of this nature. I didn't attend a seminary type school but it was a Methodist affiliated college and some of the situations really rang true. Now, fifty years after the fact, the world is really a better place. Hopefully there'll be fewer Hectors backed into that kind of a corner.