Edge of Seventeen.* Edge of Seventeen * Written by Todd Stephens * Directed by David Moreton * Starring Chris Stafford, Anderson Gabrych, Tina Holmes, Stephanie McVay, Lea DeLaria * Strand Why, oh, why, oh, why, oh, why did you ever leave Ohio? Edge of Seventeen is all the reminding you'll ever need in this deceptively straightforward coming-out-in-Sandusky saga from first-time feature director David Moreton and writer Todd Stephens, high school senior Eric (Chris Stafford, gawky and goony as we all were before turning into swans) untangles the emotional knots tightened by a summer-job romance named Rod (Andersen Gabrych), Ids adoring best friend, Maggie (Tina Holmes), and his increasingly bemused mother (Stephanie McVay). After the empty flash of such neophyte ne·o·phyte n. 1. A recent convert to a belief; a proselyte. 2. A beginner or novice: a neophyte at politics. 3. a. Roman Catholic Church A newly ordained priest. gay filmmakers' efforts as Jawbreaker jaw·break·er n. 1. A very hard candy. 2. Slang A word that is difficult to pronounce. 3. A machine that crushes rock or ore. and Billy's Hollywood Screen Kiss, one is tempted to greet Moreton and Stephens's meat-end-potatoes stylistic approach with champagne and balloons. They get the atmosphere just right: the boozy, sexually everwrought make-out parties; the astonishing a·ston·ish tr.v. as·ton·ished, as·ton·ish·ing, as·ton·ish·es To fill with sudden wonder or amazement. See Synonyms at surprise. kitsch kitsch [Ger.,=trash], term most frequently applied since the early 20th cent. to works considered pretentious and tasteless. Exploitative commercial objects such as Mona Lisa scarves and abominable plaster reproductions of sculptural masterpieces are described as of fast-food-chain uniforms; the popped-cork whoosh whoosh also woosh n. 1. A sibilant sound: the whoosh of the high-speed elevator. 2. A swift movement or flow; a rush or spurt. intr.v. of letting go at your first gay club. The film has a "lived" quality that lets you know the writer has been there. While it may be Stephens's story, it feels archetypal ar·che·type n. 1. An original model or type after which other similar things are patterned; a prototype: "'Frankenstein' . . . 'Dracula' . . . 'Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde' . . . in all the host ways. There is also--never to be underestimated--some hot, wide-eyed queer sex: Eric's first time is about as molten as gay indies get this side of NC-17. And as so often happens in the lives of gay men, file women steal the show: Witness Lea DeLaria as Eric's buoyant, too-good-to-be-true boss/cunfidante (so where's her girlfriend, fellas?); Holmes's heartbreaking Laura Dern-esque Maggie; and McVay's convincingly unpretentious mother. McVay even manages to reinvigorate a mom line we knew so well: "What did I do wrong?" Watch it--and wince. |
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