40 | Out in the Mountains |June 2000

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Brotherly

REVIEW BY ROLAND F.
PALMER

Welcome to the world of

college frat boys, parties,
girls and the coming out
process. John “Griff” Griffith
(Chilson) finds himself in a
dilemma when his late-night
rendezvous with ex-house-
mate Pete Bradley

(Handfield) turns from just.
fun sex to love. Griff spends

Love

most of his time and energy in
the film trying to maintain
two lives: one as Pete’s bed-
room buddy, the other as
straight frat boy. Pete, who
has moved out of the fratemi-
ty house, finally demands that
Griff make a commitment.
Griff decides to concede
by going out on a “date” with
Pete, who asks Griff to meet
him at a gay coffeehouse,
where they get into a bit of a
tiff Pete leaves Gri_ffto fi ure

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out what he wants, only to
walk into a dark alley where
he is severely beaten.
(Perhaps luckily for all of us,
this scene is "not shown in
great detail. In fact, many of
the film’s more dramatic

moments are handled in less

dramatic and low-key ways
that help the film. Another
example of this occurs in a
flashback scene to when Griff
and Pete first discover their
desire for each other.) Griff
then spends a great deal of
time trying to come to a deci-
sion about his life — although
one has to wonder whether he
would have struggled with
the issues if Pete hadn’t ended
up in hospital as the victim of
gaybashing.

There is a good represen-
tation of collegiate charac-
ters in this film, including a
very ‘hunky’ Todd (Lange),
Griff’s very understanding
straight friend and house-
mate. I personally spent the
whole film focussed on this
character, hoping he would
surprise us by coming out;
alas, it doesn’t happen. Griff
also meets a female class-
mate struggling with coming
out as well.

Griff comes off as too
emotionally stunted for most
of the film, with some brief
interludes into true humani-
ty. The roller-coaster had me
wondering if the problem
was in the way the character
was written or the acting.
The film tries to be serious

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and bittersweet, which makes
it rather slow in parts. The
ending is no surprise, but the
identification of the people
responsible for putting Pete in
the hospital may surprise
some.

Defizing Gravity is John
Keitel’s first feature film. He
began working on the story in
1993, and after numerous
drafts and a name change, he
decided the only way to get
the movie made was to make
it himself. With the help of
family and friends and a very
small budget, Keitel was able
to complete the principal
shooting in just under two
weeks. Since it was filmed
mainly at the SAE fraternity

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Celebrating
GLBT pride

makes us
strong!”

I “Some

month in song
“because love

house at the University of
Southern California, some
real frat-boys got to be extras
in the film. Keitel, who
belonged to the SAE fraterni-
ty while at Stanford, has com-
mented in various interviews
that it was somewhat strange
to be filming in such familiar
surroundings.

Understanding that this is a
first film done on a minimal
budget makes you a little
more forgiving; at least, it did
for me. I enjoyed the film, but
there was definitely potential
for more. Perhaps the hardest
thing to forgive is the market-
ing tag line for the film:
pledges are for
keeps.” Please. V

 

Sunday, June 11th at 4: 30 p. In.
St. Paul’s Episcopal Cathedral
in Burlington
(corner of Cherry and Battery)

$8 in advance or $10 at the door
Purchase advance tickets at the
Peace & Justice Store
on Church Street, Burlington

For more information,
call Peter at 864-5327., or
visit our web site_ at
wvvw.qeocities.com/SoHo/Exhibit/3052
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