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A Previous Earthy-Crunchy Presentation
at Friday Night Movies:
Bedrooms and Hallways
Friday the 28th of June
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Seething animal passions about to erupt through the pie crust of decorum.
--Darren (Tom Hollander) describes Jeremy (Hugo Weaving)
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USA: 1998 -- Directed by Rose Troche
Written by Robert Farrar
Starring Kevin McKidd, Julie Graham, Simon Callow, Con O'Neill and Hugo Weaving (of Priscilla: Queen of the Desert, The Matrix, and Lord of the Rings fame).
"Re-model Your Love Life." - original tagline
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Leo (Kevin McKidd) is an endearing pup of a blue-eyed lad looking for old-fashioned romance with a happily ever after. Convinced to join a friend's drum-thumping New Men's Group ("Let these strong loving men heal you!" begs leader Simon Callow, who all but steals the film as a man in touch with his inner guru), Leo confesses an attraction to another member of the circle in the spirit of sharing. He's the only gay man in the group but his confession starts a cascade of sexual reassessment, all encouraged by Callow's hilarious new age Iron John. Meanwhile Leo's gadfly of a roommate is having sex in other people's bedrooms all over town with his new real estate agent lover (a sly, haughtily confident Hugo Weaving) and Leo reconnects with his childhood girlfriend Sally (Jennifer Ehle), who brightens the film with her sunny smile and wounded yet spirited tenderness. Rose Troche, whose guerrilla American indie Go Fish transformed a lesbian love story into a classic romantic comedy, here straddles screwball farce and sophisticated sitcom with a clumsy style that skews more toward the latter, but she invests it with genuine affection. As the funny but flippant comedy winds up to almost painfully trite pairings between the ricocheting couples-to-be, Troche's loving direction allows everyone their dignity and their charm, even through the most contrived and kooky complications. --review by Sean Axmaker
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Hope to see you there. I'll save you an aisle seat and a copy of Robert Bly's Iron John: A Book About Men!
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Awards
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Won Audience Award at 1998 London Film Festival
Nominated for the Rosebud Award for Best Feature at the 1998 International Gay & Lesbian Film Festival held each year in Munich, Stuttgart, Cologne, Frankfurt and Berlin
More awards
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Memorable Quotes
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Leo: Who is it?
Darren: I'm not sure, but his voice washed over me like a dark, powerful river.
Darren: Rub some compost in your face, straight boys love it.
Darren: All relationships end. You either split up or you die.
More quotes
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