Josh and Michael have barely kept in touch with each other since they graduated from University in Chicago ten years ago. Michael had ran off to teach English in a school in Japan whilst Josh moved to Los Angeles to make a name for himself in the music industry. Now they about to attend their 10 year college reunion so Michael flies in to join Josh in LA so they can take a road trip together for the drive up North meet up with all their old classmates. The idea was that the few days they spend on the road would help them re-kindle their friendship, but it immediately gets off to a bad start when Michael fesses up that as he has no insurance he wont be able to do his share of the driving. He also breaks the news that he has plans to take a less direct route so that they can stop off and see some friends on the way, something Josh who hates anything remotely spontaneous, doesn’t take kindly too.Nevertheless they set off eastward for a journey that is going to take them through nine cities before they reach Illinois. The two men’s stories are at first much more about what is left unsaid than their actual conversations. Voluble Michael is ditzy and unpredictable with what he comes out with, whereas Josh is much more reserved and quiet. As their tales unfold it is obvious that what they both have in common is that are unhappy with their lot which doesn’t seem to have changed or improved since they graduated. Now that they are in their early 30’s they want to mature and move on, but they lack both the impetus and know how.
There is also a great deal of sexual tension between these two handsome young men but aside from affectionate casual touches there is a reluctance on both of their parts to act on their feelings. The more time they spend on the road and the more they relax then hints of an unresolved past come to the surface. At one particular stop where they meet up with Lisa one of their college friends, Michael behaves boorishly as he embarrasses everyone by insisting in recounting the intimate details when the three of them shared a bed together. As angry as that makes Josh, it is also the final straw that does actually get the two men in each others naked arms at long last.
The revelation that Michael’s constant stream of phone calls he has been fielding from Japan is a complication that Josh did not predict although most of us in the audience had. It just remained to see how that would all play out which was not quite so easy to foretell.
Its an intriguing first feature from director Hernando Bansuelo who shared the writing credit with his two actors Michael Lovan and Josh Weston and their take on these two young gay men coming to terms with their identities was quite endearing. Convincing performances by the actors in what is essentially a two-hander, and asides from the occasional slip into a few too many cliches and letting the stunning scenery overpower the dialogue at times, it was a very laudable and enjoyable indie movie.
I caught the World Premiere at the Provincetown International Film Festival but I’m sure it will be shortly available via DVD/VOD, and is definitely worth checking out. And I am already intrigued with what the three of them may do next….
I caught the World Premiere at the Provincetown International Film Festival but I’m sure it will be shortly available via DVD/VOD, and is definitely worth checking out. And I am already intrigued with what the three of them may do next….
