Reviews

Were the World Mine is set in an all male private school where the entire senior class is required to participate in the senior play, a production of "A Midsummer Nights Dream"---even the members of the rugby team.

But the events in the town start to take on a surreal gay twist, as the interactions of all the folks in the town start to mirror those in Shakespeare's original script.

As you may know---the comedy of the Shakespeare play centers around a device where a fairy named Puck can sprinkle a magic elixir into someone's eyes, causing that person to fall madly in love with the first person they lay eyes on.

Timothy, who is picked on by all the members of rugby team, and is playing Puck in the play, manages to get his hands on the elixir for real. But as in Shakepeare's version, not everything goes as planned.

Along the way, there are lots of shirtless hot rugby players, and amazing singing.

I saw this at the Santa Barbara GLBTQ film-festival and was captivated. After seeing the film, now when I play the clips of the trailer I get goose-bumps. During the film I was so transported into the world of the characters that I didn't even notice all the amazing cinematography that I see now in the trailer. The film seems to move effortlessly between realistic scenes and those that are surreal and fantastic---in all senses of that word.

The cast is terrific---and the music is transcendent. I highly recommend this film.

I actually watched this movie being filmed while living in Isfahan, Iran in the last 1970s. My father worked for an American company, and I was in high school---there were actually 10,000 Americans living in Isfahan, (including families with children) before the revolution got underway and the evacuations of non-essential personnel started.

I haven't seen the movie since the time it first came out, but I do remember that (a) the score was quite good (b) although the plot of the original Michener novel dealt with Afghanistan, and although the adaptation may have put the "location" of the action near the Pakistani border, the filming of exterior sequences took place within an hour's drive of Isfahan, VERY far from the Pakistani border.

It was great to see Aiden Gillen, who I first encountered in the British version of Queer as Folk, in a much meatier, more difficult role. Also this is another terrific performance, as always by Helen Mirren. A very moving and sad film.

This film reminded me of the Iranian film "White Balloon", in the following sense.

In White Balloon, the whole plot is "two kids go to buy a goldfish, and a bunch of stuff happens to them along the way". That's it. Nothing else. There isn't necessarily any point to any of the stuff that happens to them. There isn't any theme. There's just... lots and lots of stuff. And then the movie just ends.

In the same way, this movie is: a kid escapes from juvenile detention, and a bunch of stuff happens to him while he's on the run. And then the movie is over. What's the point? No point.

If you can get PAST that, then there's a lot to enjoy here. This, in spite of the fact, that as another commenter pointed out, there are lots of technical flaws in the cinematography, that might *appear* to be intentional, "for effect", but are probably just goof ups or inexperience. However, in between the out of focus shots and the "unsteady-cam" shots and the underexposed shots are some really interesting sequences and very nice use of music to create mood.

To really enjoy this film, change your expectations: see it as a series of 3-5 minute "mini-plays" that all happen to revolve around the same character, Ryan Kazinski. And then, just to watch this young actor, Ryan Daugherty in his first feature film, is a real treat. Especially heartbreaking is the scene between Ryan and his brother (played by his real life brother, Jon Daugherty.) I expect that after some casting directors see this film, the phone may be ringing in the Daugherty household.

This movie had potential... an interesting premise... a not too bad first half... then, in the middle, it gets really really bad... screaming out for the MST3K treatment... where did those "funny cars" come from? And the skeleton appearing in the smoke of the car explosion... and the daisies in the foreground of the car chase scene... it almost looks as if someone malicious substituted "crank footage" for the last reel in a deliberate attempt to sabotage the movie.

But ultimately, if you are a Wil Wheaton fan, it's not THAT painful to watch. Well, ok, actually it is kind of painful, but it does have some genuinely interesting moments, and some touching scenes. Enough that you just have to feel bad for Mr. Wheaton... this COULD have been a much better film.

This film has the look of a low-budget film by an inexperienced film-maker. However, it has an interesting story, two interesting main characters, and ultimately is worth watching.

The setting is a university in Hong Kong, and the two main characters are a young Chinese man (19 years old) and a considerably older (40s or 50s?) professor of English Literature. The dialogue is in both Chinese and English, with both languages subtitled in the other language.

Some of the flaws: the sound is sometimes lost below the background music, and is uneven in quality; the DVD I saw it on was not letterboxed, and the adaptation to the TV aspect ratio cut off the sides of many of the english subtitles, which was a bit frustrating.

The ending too, is a bit unrealistic and disappointing. But I'm still glad I watched it, and still will probably share it with friends.