Dare - Movie Poster

Dare

3.5 Anne Murphy

A drama centred around three high school seniors - an aspiring actress, her misfit best friend, and a loner - who become engaged in an intimate and complicated relationship.

This coming of age movie covers all the social awkwardness of teenagers discovering themselves as friends and lovers. Dollops of naivety and maturity are stirred in to create realistic and likable characters that are topped up with a measure of angst and balanced out with charm. The storyline of "Dare" takes its characters through new experiences and interesting predicaments. It's a little bent yet nonetheless could cross over to a mainstream audience. Dare to be different.


Outrage - Movie Poster

Outrage

4.0 Anne Murphy

An indictment of closeted politicians who lobby for anti-gay legislation in the U.S.

This is a fascinating consciousness-raising documentary presented through interviews and film clips. The movie is a compelling compilation of vignettes that are on public record. The filmmaker relentlessly exposes the hypocrisy of closeted politicians who vote against the civil rights of the gay and lesbian community. In doing so, the constituencies whose prejudices are pandered to are also shamed. The ethical quagmire isn't navigated with a strictly even hand but with a sense of injustice and anger. The situation is indeed outrageous.


The Other Side - Movie Poster

The Other Side

4.0 Anne Murphy

A drag queen returns, bereft, to the village and family he left 17 years ago.

The film has a rhythmic heartbeat as it traverses the delicate territories of love lost and dreams unfulfilled. It is possible to come home and still be on the other side, the other side of understanding and the other side of reconciliation. The landscape of relationship is tenderly navigated and the unrequited yearning of each character is faultlessly depicted. Watching "The Other Side" is like being subjected to open heart surgery with deft and precise incisions that lay bare the most vulnerable of places.


Fashion Victims - Movie Poster

Fashion Victims

3.0 Anne Murphy

A travelling salesman loses his licence and gives his reluctant son no option but to accompany him on his sales round to women's fashion stores.

The plot is lively in this comic coming-of-age movie where the old must make way for the new, and the father has more growing up to do than his son. Grounding the fabulously theatrical characters are interpersonal relationships and frustrations with one another that evoke empathy. Parts of small town life in Germany look a little dated, but the overall effect is quirky and entertaining, and that's never out of fashion.


Dog Tags - Movie Poster

Dog Tags

3.0 Anne Murphy

Two displaced and unconventional men discovering what it is to be sons, fathers, and lovers.

This could have been a road movie, if only the car had been more reliable. Geographically, not a lot of distance is covered in small town USA. It is a different story emotionally, however, as the two central characters encounter each other while each is traversing his respective family landscape. The restrained style of the film lends cohesion to a sequence of unlikely events shared by this improbable pair, as they seek to discover themselves. Identity has infinite possibilities once the dog tags are discarded.


Antarctica - Movie Poster

Antarctica

2.0 Anne Murphy

A group of good looking Israeli men hang out at the same library, bar, and beds.

The physical encounters that make up the greater part of this movie are frequent and torrid. There is more heavy breathing than dialogue, and the storyline feels underdeveloped as a result. Desire and sex are not confused with love, and it's all a little cold as a result. Odd that with such pumping action, emotions are so understated. There is no deceit, an absence of jealousy; the characters are as cool as they're hot. "Antarctica" - little wonder the ice caps are melting.