Postcards From London, starring Harris Dickinson, might well be renamed, "Flights Of Fancy: An Introspective On The Beauty Of Harris Dickinson". While the work itself is not without intrinsic value, the meandering quality of the plot and the film's premise do not lend themselves to easy enjoyment.
Harris Dickinson stars as Jim, an out-of-towner who dreams of moving to London to live a life of glory. While Jim appears to be a gay man, his sexuality is extremely downplayed in the film, as writer-director Steve McLean chooses instead to focus on Jim's medical condition, known as Stendhal Syndrome.
Along the way to Jim's journey of self-discovery, we meet various young people who form the underbelly of London - bartenders, rent boys and homeless artistes. To focus the story on any one subject might have created a cohesive theme about which a compelling and interesting story might be based. Instead, Steve McLean chooses to mosh several different themes together in order to create a cornucopia of a gay man's coming of age story - a story which is mostly written in the safer language of PG-rated, rather then the reality of R-rated.
One focus of the film is art, and the film succeeds if viewed strictly from that point of view. Unfortunately, since this is a film about gay men, the point of the movie may be lost on its intended audience. Pretty pictures do not a fantastic story make, and Postcards From London is in the end nothing more than a collage of beautiful images.
Kudos to writer-director McLean for daring to be different. But if you're looking for an uplifting story of a gay man coming to terms with his identity and finding his place in society, you may want to look elsewhere. I, for one, couldn't wait for the film to end.
Harris Dickinson stars as Jim, an out-of-towner who dreams of moving to London to live a life of glory. While Jim appears to be a gay man, his sexuality is extremely downplayed in the film, as writer-director Steve McLean chooses instead to focus on Jim's medical condition, known as Stendhal Syndrome.
Along the way to Jim's journey of self-discovery, we meet various young people who form the underbelly of London - bartenders, rent boys and homeless artistes. To focus the story on any one subject might have created a cohesive theme about which a compelling and interesting story might be based. Instead, Steve McLean chooses to mosh several different themes together in order to create a cornucopia of a gay man's coming of age story - a story which is mostly written in the safer language of PG-rated, rather then the reality of R-rated.
One focus of the film is art, and the film succeeds if viewed strictly from that point of view. Unfortunately, since this is a film about gay men, the point of the movie may be lost on its intended audience. Pretty pictures do not a fantastic story make, and Postcards From London is in the end nothing more than a collage of beautiful images.
Kudos to writer-director McLean for daring to be different. But if you're looking for an uplifting story of a gay man coming to terms with his identity and finding his place in society, you may want to look elsewhere. I, for one, couldn't wait for the film to end.
- Chipper F. Xavier, Esq.