Sann Francsico Critics Circle Announces 2017 Award Nominees
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Director and Producer Bryan Singer is the latest of Hollywood elite to be accused of sexual misconduct. On Thursday, a lawsuit was filed in Seattle against Singer accusing him of raping a 17 year-old male on a yacht in 2003.
Cesar Sanchez-Guzman alleges that Singer forced the then 17 year-old to have oral sex with the director, before Singer penetrated him anally. The lawsuit states that Singer met Sanchez-Guzman at a party on a yacht owned by tech investor Lester Waters.
According to the suit, Singer gave Sanchez-Guzman a tour of the yacht before “Singer lured Cesar into a room, shut the door and demanded that Cesar perform oral sex. When Plaintiff refused, Bryan Singer forced him into acts of oral and anal sex.”
The lawsuit claims Sanchez-Guzman did not know who Singer was at the time, but later in the evening, Singer promised that he could help Sanchez-Guzman launch an acting career if he would stay silent about the incident.
“He then told Cesar no one would believe him if he ever reported the incident, and that he could hire people who are capable of ruining someone’s reputation,” the lawsuit states.
Singer responded to the lawsuit, denying the accusations. His statement references a 2014 lawsuit for similar reasons by Michael Egan, who accused Singer of drugging and raping him after they met at a Hollywood party.
It was one of many the many parties allegedly attended by Singer thrown by convicted sex offender Marc Collins-Rector. After evidence suggested the claims were false, Egan withdrew his lawsuit. Egan later pled guilty to investment fraud, a plea used as ammunition in Singer’s statement
Yet, Egan was not the only person to accuse Singer of sexual misconduct in the past. Also in 2014, Singer was accused of another sexual assault by an anonymous British minor. That lawsuit was also withdrawn.
The earliest allegations against Singer date back to a 1998 lawsuit alleging that Singer forced young extras to strip naked for a shower sequence in his film “Apt Pupil.” That case was also dismissed.
Singer’s behavior again under question in the 2014 documentary, “An Open Secret.” Featuring Egan and focusing on Collins-Rector, the film references Singer, without speaking directly about any detailed accounts.
After a limited release, the producers of “An Open Secret” sought commercial distribution, only to find no takers. “We got zero Hollywood offers to distribute the film. Not even one. Literally no offers for any price whatsoever,” said financier Gabe Hoffman earlier this year. After the Harvey Weinstein saga began, the filmmakers released the documentary on Vimeo.
Even before Thursday’s filing, there were signs that all was not well for Singer. Three days prior to the suit, he was fired as director of “Bohemian Rhapsody,” the Freddy Mercury biopic. Reportedly, he was frequently absent from set and stopped showing up all together after Thanksgiving. The production had to shut down while he was away. Singer claimed he was caring for a sick parent only after he was fired.
On Monday, Singer’s long-time publicist, Simon Halls, told the Washington Post that he was no longer representing him without explanation.
It all brings to a head a long-brewing campaign of whispers and suspicions. Many in media at many levels assumed that, at some point, Singer would be swept up in the tide of allegations against powerful men in the entertainment industry, that the past suits and accusations would resurface. They just didn’t know when or from what angle. Many in the in gay community have also spoken quietly or openly about Singer in similar ways.
Indeed, Singer himself had already become part of the conversation thanks to his own statements. When asked by TMZ on Friday whether or not he’d ever work with past collaborator Kevin Spacey again after this year’s revelations surfaced about the actors assault of actor Anthony Rapp, Singer said it would depend on the project. Singer worked with Spacey on “Superman Returns” and “The Usual Suspects,” the film that won the actor an Oscar and the director improved standing in Hollywood.
Subsequently, “The Usual Suspects” co-star Gabriel Byrne has claimed that production on the film was held up due to Spacey’s sexual misconduct toward a younger actor.
Singer is currently still serving as producer in X-Men related film and television franchises and has been announced as executive producer and director of an upcoming television series, “World War III,” and his film “Broadway 4D” is still slated for release in 2018.
The status of these and other projects must now be considered in jeopardy. Much like Spacey, no one is rushing to Singer’s defense after years of whispers. It’s not too hard to imagine that his treatment following Thursday’s news will mirror that given to the actor as well.
Saturday December 16 @ 8 pm. Occidental Center for the Arts. Guitar Virtuoso Peppino D’Agostino ! Internationally renowned finger picking acoustic guitarist, composer and master teacher D’Agostino will present a dynamic 8 pm concert covering his original classical, folk, Irish, Italian, Brazilian, flamenco and jazz compositions as well as holiday music. Don’t miss this warm and engaging award-winning performer as he brings his mesmerizing virtuosity to OCA’s acoustic sweet spot for the fourth holiday season! $25 General. Fine Refreshments available. Art Gallery open for viewing and gifts. Accessible to people with disabilities. OCA is a non profit arts center staffed by volunteers. www.occidentalcenterforthearts.org; 707-874-9392.
Watching Desert Hearts it’s difficult not to feel a little frustrated. That’s not because of anything in the movie itself. It’s because even 32 year later it still feels so exceptional. A film with a female director and screenwriter – and based on a novel by a woman – is still an unusual thing. A film that’s about the lives of women and not just how they relate to men, is still an unusual thing. A movie that treats lesbian love as a serious thing and isn’t framed by tragedy, is still an unusual thing.
It shouldn’t be that way, but Desert Hearts retains a very special position as one of those incredibly rare movies by women, that doesn’t feel like it’s been co-opted either by the influence of men, or by a need to please the male viewer.
Based on Jane Rule’s 1964 debut novel, Desert Of The Heart, the film follows the uptight Professor Vivian Bell (Helen Shaver), who arrives in Nevada from New York in order to get a divorce. Her marriage has simply run its course and she has decided she needs a fresh start, but in order to get the divorce, she needs to establish residence in the desert state.
Life on a ranch in Nevada is very different to where Vivian came from, and it also brings her intro the sphere of the younger Cay (Patricia Charbonneau), who’s about as close to an out and proud lesbian as its possible to get in the 1960s American west. Cay begins to develop feelings for the New York academic, but for Vivian, admitting she feels something too will need her to open up far more than she is used to.
Desert Hearts is a beautiful love story that’s carefully told and which pulls the audience in as it slowly allows its uptight and cerebral central character to unfold against the background of gambling and ranches that are far different to her city life. Director Donna Deitch has said the genesis of the film was her desire to make a lesbian-themed movie that wasn’t framed by tragedy. She succeeded admirably, instead creating something that takes women, their feelings and their sexuality seriously. It does it in an emotionally grounded and affecting way, and you can certainly understand why it became an instant lesbian classic the moment it was released.
As noted above, it’s also still exceptionally rare, not just smashing the Bechdel Test, but completely reversing things to how they typically are in movies. For example, the male characters are largely adjuncts to help illuminate the women’s stories rather than the other way around. There are several nice, subtle moments where male characters come in and act in dominant, privileged, patriarchal ways (even if they’re not aware that’s what they’re doing), but the movie literally never shifts focus from the women, which allows them to retain the power.
This Criterion release presents a great new HD master of the film, alongside some very worthwhile special features. Desert Hearts super-fan Jane Lynch interviews director Donna Deitch in one of them, where they explore where the film came from and the impact it had. There are also featurettes with new interviews with the main actresses, as well as some of the crew. It’s worth watching all of these features, as each person has a slightly different perspective. If nothing else it gives some interesting insights into the intense and rather famous sex scene between Cay and Vivian, which is still a masterclass in how to shoot women making love in a way that’s erotic and sensual, but never feels like it’s been co-opted by the male gaze.
It’s been a great year for gay-themed movies at the Independent Spirit Awards – the gongs giving out shortly before the Oscars, which acnowledge and celebrate those film made by and released outside the Hollywood studio system. Leading the pack is the acclaimed Call Me By Your Name, Luca Guadagnino’s movie about two young men falling in love in italy in the early 1980s.
It scored six nominations, including Best Feature, Best Director, Best Cinematography, Best Editing, Best Male Lead (Timothee Chalamet) and Best Supporting Male (Armie Hammer).
The Independent Spirit Awards used to largely be a way to celebrate movies that were ignored by the Oscars, for the past few years the winners have been the same (five of the last six Indie Spirit Best Feature winners have also picked up the Best Picture Oscar). That suggest Call Me By Your Name has just taken a big step closer to Academy Award success.
It wasn’t the only gay-themed movie picking up nominations, as Beach Rats was nominated for Best Cinematography and Best Male Lead for the excellent Harris Dickinson. The much loved and praised French movie BPM (Beats Per Minute), about the rise of the activist organisation ACT UP in the early days of the AIDS crisis, is nominated for Best International Feature.
Away from the gay front, other films being giving love include Jordan Peele’s hit Get Out, and Good Time, starring Robert Pattinson, which both scored five nominations. Lady Bird and The Rider meanwhile got four apiece.
Take a look at all the nominations below.
BEST FEATURE
Call Me By Your Name
The Florida Project
Get Out
Lady Bird
The Rider
BEST FIRST FEATURE
Columbus
Ingrid Goes West
Menashe
Oh Lucy!
Patti Cake$
JOHN CASSAVETES AWARD (Given to the best feature made for under $500,000)
Dayveon
A Ghost Story
Life and nothing more
Most Beautiful Island
The Transfiguration
BEST DIRECTOR
Sean Baker, The Florida Project
Jonas Carpignano, A Ciambra
Luca Guadagnino, Call Me By Your Name
Jordan Peele, Get Out
Benny and Josh Safdie, Good Time
Chloe Zhao, The Rider
BEST SCREENPLAY
Greta Gerwig, Lady Bird
Azazel Jacobs, The Lovers
Martin McDonagh, Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri
Jordan Peele, Get Out
Mike White, Beatriz at Dinner
BEST FIRST SCREENPLAY
Kris Avedisian (Story by Kyle Espeleta, Jesse Wakeman), Donald Cried
Emily V. Gordon, Kumail Nanjiani, The Big Sick
Ingrid Jungermann, Women Who Kill
Kogonada, Columbus
David Branson Smith, Matt Spicer, Ingrid Goes West
BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY
Thimios Bakatakis, The Killing of a Sacred Deer
Elisha Christian, Columbus
Hélène Louvart, Beach Rats
Sayombhu Mukdeeprom, Call Me by Your Name
Joshua James Richards, The Rider
BEST EDITING
Ronald Bronstein, Benny Safdie, Good Time
Walter Fasano, Call Me by Your Name
Alex O’Flinn, The Rider
Gregory Plotkin, Get Out
Tatiana S. Riegel, I, Tonya
BEST FEMALE LEAD
Salma Hayek, Beatriz at Dinner
Frances McDormand, Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri
Margot Robbie, I, Tonya
Saoirse Ronan, Lady Bird
Shinobu Terajima, Oh Lucy!
Regina Williams, Life and nothing more
BEST MALE LEAD
Timothée Chalamet, Call Me by Your Name
Harris Dickinson, Beach Rats
James Franco, The Disaster Artist
Daniel Kaluuya, Get Out
Robert Pattinson, Good Time
BEST SUPPORTING FEMALE
Holly Hunter, The Big Sick
Allison Janney, I, Tonya
Laurie Metcalf, Lady Bird
Lois Smith, Marjorie Prime
Taliah Lennice Webster, Good Time
BEST SUPPORTING MALE
Nnamdi Asomugha, Crown Heights
Armie Hammer, Call Me by Your Name
Barry Keoghan, The Killing of a Sacred Deer
Sam Rockwell, Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri
Benny Safdie, Good Time
ROBERT ALTMAN AWARD – Given to one film’s director, casting director and ensemble cast
Mudbound
Director: Dee Rees
Casting Directors: Billy Hopkins, Ashley Ingram
Ensemble Cast: Jonathan Banks, Mary J. Blige, Jason Clarke, Garrett Hedlund, Jason Mitchell, Rob Morgan, Carey Mulligan
BEST DOCUMENTARY
The Departure, Lana Wilson
Faces Places, Agnés Varda, JR
Last Men in Aleppo, Feras Fayyad
Motherland, Ramona S. Diaz
Quest, Jonathan Olshefski
BEST INTERNATIONAL FILM
BPM (Beats Per Minute)
A Fantastic Woman
I Am Not a Witch
Lady Macbeth
Loveless
Reiter, Jendi. Two Natures. Hilo, Hawaii: Saddle Road Press, c2016. 374 p. $22.00 (Amazon) ISBN: 978-0-9969074-2-2.
Two Natures is a literary quality gay novel by an award-winning author of poetry books and short stories. Although this is Reiter’s first novel, it received a first prize in ‘best gay contemporary fiction’ from Rainbow Awards. ‘Bildungsroman’, a charming German word for a coming-of-age novel, is an apt word to describe this story as it tells the story of Julian Selkirk, a native Atlantan on scholarship studying fashion photography at the Fashion Institute of Technology in Manhattan.
The novel takes place in New York City in the 1990s, ten years after the AIDS disaster struck. Gay young men are getting tired of the restrictions and are not always careful. Julian falls in love with Paul, a working class man from Pittsburgh who works as a physical trainer. They develop an open relationship as Paul gets into drugs, porn and contracts AIDS. A political activist named Peter helps Julien cope. Together, they care for Paul, who then dies. His straight-laced family offer no recognition of Julien’s role in his life. Julien, Peter and friends drive to Pittsburgh for the funeral, a decision that causes a scandal.
Admittedly, fashion freaks will love this novel more than I did. Outside of fashion, the realistic gay drama was more than enough to maintain my intense interest. Quality writing abounds. “The film of another day developed in shades of gray, roofs and windows emerging from the bath of darkness, touched with the pallor of dawn.” Characters are finely drawn and dialogue is genuine.
This is a truly fine novel that belongs in collections of current gay fiction and will be enjoyed by all lovers of quality writing on gay themes.
Jim Nabors, who starred as Gomer Pyle on The Andy Griffith Show and on his own sitcom before retiring the wide-eyed, countrified character at the height of his popularity, has died. He was 87.
Nabors died at his home in Hawaii on Thursday morning, his longtime partner told the Associated Press.
In January 2013, Nabors exchanged wedding vows with Stan Cadwallader, his partner of almost four decades, before a judge in a Seattle hotel room. Nabors met Cadwallader, a former firefighter in Honolulu, in 1975.
A native of Alabama, Nabors also recorded more than two dozen albums with a rich, operatic baritone voice that surprised those who were used to hearing him exclaim “Gawwwleee!” with a Southern twang on television. For many years, Nabors sang “Back Home Again in Indiana” during the opening ceremonies for the Indianapolis 500.
In the early 1960s, Nabors was a regular performer at The Horn, a cabaret theater on Wilshire Boulevard in Santa Monica that showcased new talent, when he was spotted by Andy Griffith, who thought Nabors would be perfect to play a new character on his CBS sitcom. That would be Gomer, a dim-witted, affable mechanic at Wally’s filling station in Mayberry and a cousin of Goober (George Lindsey).
Nabors was signed for just one episode, which aired midway through The Andy Griffith Show‘s third season in December 1962, but Gomer proved popular, and Nabors went on to appear in 23 installments of the series. One of his signature phrases sprang from a discussion in which Gomer extolled the sophistication of Don Knotts’ Barney Fife: “Gawwwleee! He’s even been out with some nurses.”
Nabors’ run on The Andy Griffith Show culminated with the fourth-season finale in which Gomer joins the U.S. Marines. (The episode also served as the pilot for the spinoff sitcom.)
With Pvt. Pyle being hounded by tough but caring drill sergeant Vince Carter (Frank Sutton), Gomer Pyle, USMC aired for five years (1964-69) on CBS and was a great success in the ratings — always in the top 10 and No. 2 in its final season — before the actor decided to pursue other activities, which included hosting his own variety show.
“It got down to what you think you want to be: an actor or an entertainer. I want to entertain,” Nabors said in 1969, when he decided to retire Pyle’s gear. “I don’t think I’m much of an actor. The only part I ever played was Gomer. I’m the most surprised person around that I’m successful anyway.”
He then showcased his singing and comedic talents on The Jim Nabors Hour, which lasted two seasons and featured some of his Gomer Pyle co-stars.
The big-hearted Nabors never ventured far into movies, though he did perform opposite his pal Burt Reynolds in such fare as The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas (1982), Stroker Ace (1983) and as “Pvt. Homer Lyle” in Cannonball Run II (1984).
James Thurston Nabors was born June 12, 1930, in Sylacauga, Ala., the son of a policeman. He sang in high school and acted in fraternity productions at the University of Alabama. After graduating with a degree in business administration, he moved to New York and worked as a typist and answered phones at the United Nations.
“With my thick accent, people would try out different languages on me, never suspecting I was speaking English,” he joked.
Nabors returned to the South and worked as a film cutter for a TV station in Chattanooga, Tenn., then moved to Los Angeles — the climate was better suited for his asthma — and landed a similar job at NBC. At nights, he sang and spun tales as a Gomer-like character at The Horn.
Comedian Bill Dana saw him perform, and that led to Nabors becoming a regular on ABC’s The New Steve Allen Show. All the while, he kept performing in Santa Monica.
Nabors also showed up as a beatnik in Take Her, She’s Mine (1963), starring James Stewart and Sandra Dee. His voice was dubbed in the film.
In the 1970s, Nabors starred with Ruth Buzzi as time-traveling androids on the ABC series The Lost Saucer, produced by Sid and Marty Krofft, and hosted his own syndicated talk show.
He was back as Gomer for the 1986 NBC reunion movie Return to Mayberry.
Nabors admitted that he had trouble watching Pyle‘s opening credits when the series was playing in syndication because many of the Marines with whom he marched were killed in Vietnam. (The Pollyanna sitcom never addressed the war.)
He first demonstrated his singing ability to TV viewers in 1964 on CBS’ The Danny Kaye Show, and on a Gomer Pyle episode that aired in November 1967, he sang “The Impossible Dream” from Man of la Mancha, which would become a concert staple for him. His 1980 album, The Heart-Touching Magic of Jim Nabors, went platinum.
Nabors sang “Back Home in Indiana” at the Indy 500 for the last time in 2014.
“I’ll be honest with you, I didn’t want to stay too long at the fair,” he said. “Everyone has been so incredible to me so many years. The first time I was here was 1972, so I guess most people have grown up with me.”
Nabors, who underwent a liver transplant in 1994, starred regularly at the Hilton Hawaiian Village Dome in The Jim Nabors Polynesian Extravaganza, which in the 1980s was one of the state’s top showbiz attractions. He lived in Hawaii for more than 30 years and had homes in Honolulu and Maui, where he had a macadamia nut farm.
Asked in a 2000 interview with the Los Angeles Times about why The Andy Griffith Show and Gomer Pyle continued to be so popular, Nabors said, “Television has become very cynical, even the comedy shows, and the cynicism from the young people just boggles my mind.
“In Mayberry, there was no illness. There was no war. There was no violence. There was no graffiti. We all had a good time, and we laughed a lot.”
The Icelandic movie Heartstone arrives in the UK fresh from a very successful festival run, where it impressed audiences and picked up over 30 awards. That’s not bad for a movie from a country with a population of just 332,000 people. That’s about the same as the city of Coventry. Despite its size, it has a surprisingly thriving film industry, to the point where a large chunk of the population must spend at least part of their time making movies – and surprisingly good ones.
The film follows a group of teenagers in a remote fishing community. It’s a place where they’re left to their own devices a lot of the time, as parents are either absent or ill-equipped for their role in shaping young minds. The focus is Thor (Þór – Baldur Einarsson), who’s on the point where he’s frustrated his body is developing as fast as some of his friends, but he’s certainly becoming more interested in girls. His best friend is Christian (Kristján – Blær Hinriksson), with the two of them pretty much inseparable.
Set across one summer, Heartstone charts the duo’s evolving lives, as they move from boyhood into manhood and begin to look at the world in different ways. Thor pursues one of the teenage girls – unsure what to do, but increasingly keen – while becoming less tolerant of the bullying of his older sisters. Christian meanwhile has developed feelings for his best friend, but isn’t sure what to do about it or what his friend may think. His dilemma is graphically illustrated when his father gets into a fist-fight with a man who might be gay – this is not a place where it appears being LGBT is a possibility. But at least Christian has Thor. Or does he?
Director Guðmundur Arnar Guðmundsson has created a very delicate movie. It’s a coming of age film interested in the hard edges of the cusp between childhood and maturity, when the self-centred outlook of a child is forced to realise the effect they have on others, that life can be hard – and at times scary – and that being a carefree kid can’t last forever. It’s a film that has some extremely dark moments as it teases out the growing tumult underneath these remote lives.
I do wonder though whether a gay and a straight audience will view it slightly different. The focus is on Thor and his pursuit of a girl, as well as him dealing with changes he doesn’t really understand in his friendship with Christian, and the first pressures of adulthood. It’s seriously and delicately handled, with a real empathy for a young man trying to deal with the world despite having relatively little proper guidance.
However, to my eyes it is Christian’s story that is the stronger one, as he realises he’s gay in a remote community that isn’t equipped for difference or supporting people through emotional distress. Christian must deal with a homophobic, abusive father, as well as coming to feel that perhaps his unbreakable bond with Thor isn’t a steadfast as he’d assumed, and that he is ultimately completely unmoored. That leads to some very dramatic and dark events.
Click here to watch the trailr for Heartstone
I couldn’t help but feel that this should be a film about Christian, both because his tale is more powerful and because towards the end by ignoring him and focussing on Thor, it bypasses some of the biggest issues it raises. However, I do wonder if I felt like that because I empathised with Christian so strongly (I know all about growing up gay in the middle of nowhere), and whether a straight audience would react differently.
Click ere to watch the trailer for Heartstone
By focussing on how Thor reacts to the events that have happened, it does undoubtedly have its own power – forcing the young man to face himself, his culpability and who he will be as an adult. It shows how a lack of thought or a small rejection can have massive repercussions for someone who’s struggling. Even so, I still wanted to find out what was happening with Christian more than Thor, but perhaps a straight viewer would feel differently – and considering the ecstatic notices it’s received at mainstream festivals from Venice to Toronto, it would seem they do.
Don’t get me wrong, the way the film focusses itself certainly isn’t a deal-breaker. It’s more a minor frustration amidst what is otherwise a beautifully told, and well-acted coming of age tale, that doesn’t shy away from some of the darker aspects of life. It is admittedly quite long, but this allows it to take the time to build its world – a remote life that is simultaneously very familiar and very alien. That twist on the ideas and themes of the coming of age film – where teens are the same as they are everywhere but facing situations very specific to the community they live – allows it to look at things with fresh and unsentimental eyes, but still with great empathy.
Overall Verdict: A powerful, sometimes shocking coming of age tale. Gay viewers may wish the focus wasn’t quite so much on the straight teen, but it’s still a careful, delicate and beautifully told tale of the trials of growing up.
December 2,3,8,9,10 .The Occidental Community Choir Winter Concerts: ‘Alleluia Anyway’. Guest Music Conductor Sarah Saulsbury. OCC ushers in the holiday season with its unique blend of original compositions, old favorites, and contemporary and classical music from across the spectrum of genres and traditions.This year’s offering celebrates the necessary art of kindling light during the dark months of winter, as well as the dark times we face in our lives and in our world. Quirky, fresh, funny, touching, and inspiring, the 40-plus member OCC is a West County cultural icon, keeping the community bonfire burning since 1978. Adults $15. Kids 12 and under Free. Dec. 2 @ 7:30 pm is Community First Night: $10. www.occidentalchoir.org for ticket information. All concerts will be held at Occidental Center for the Arts, 3850 Doris Murphy Ct. Occidental, except Dec.10 (Glaser Center, Santa Rosa).
16 year old Nathan (Bérenger Anceaux) is the new boy at school, and unbeknownst to him his arrival stirs up some very definite feelings in his classmate Louis (Jules Houplain). When the two of them are at party at the weekend Louis makes his move and kisses Nathan in a deserted spot in the garden. They are however not totally alone, and when an anonymous photo suddenly surfaces online next day Nathan starts to feel the heat. It is not clear which boy he is kissing, but that doesn’t stop all his homophobic classmates verbally teasing him, and eventually a few of the boys physically beat him up very badly.
Nathan lives at home in this small suburban French town with his Police Captain father Stephane (Patrick Timsit) who is horrified when his son comes out to him, and the two who were previously very close, start to drift apart. However when Nathan is attacked, Stephane comes to his senses and starts to support Nathan in his quest to pursue the object of his affection.
Meanwhile Louis who has been dating Laura (Lisa Kramarz) for a year now has very confused feelings about his sexuality, and is so ashamed of his feelings for Nathan that he joins in with the other boys when they violently pummel him. Louis’s own father (Nicolas Carpentier ) is a strict disciplinarian and when eventually the news breaks that Louis is in fact the second boy in the infamous photo, all hell lets loose.
The situation is not helped by the school’s headmaster who insists on sitting on a high moral fence refuses to support Nathan for fear of a backlash from what he claims are the conservative parents. It causes the closeted female maths teacher to out herself, and along with her straight ally friend, insist that he tackles the homophobic bullying before it gets anymore out of hand.
This rather charming French coming -of-age movie directed by Didier Bivel from a script by Jérôme Larcher was originally made for TV, but it so deserves the wider audience that it will get now with its digital release. With compelling performances form the two young leads, this is a very realistic and sympathetic take on a a very serious subject which is a real and dangerous problem for LGBT youth everywhere. This one has a happy-ever-after ending, but far too often stories like this end in tragedy.