Lonesome

Powerful movie about the struggles of a young gay guy: survival, migration toward a big, gay city, and learning how to love (oneself and others) without much help along the way.

The two main actors are amazing and convincing, the photography is stunning, and the plot has a picaresque pace.

The movie reminded me of another Australian queer film, Head On (1998), which deals also about identity crisis, migration, and the difficulty to be at peace with oneself.

Lonesome also reminded me of My Own Private Idaho because of many factors: the appeal of the drifting cowboy, the family drama, and the ordeal of alcohol, drugs and chemsex.

In small-town Australia, young gay man Casey can't get what he wants locally, instead causing a deadly scandal. He hitchhikes to Sydney, "to see the ocean".

Living on the streets and by his wits, he hooks up with guys he meets on his phone's online app. One is Tib, who takes him in, providing him with couch, some work, companionship, and sex. But when Tib's own problems causes him to revert to his s promiscuous ways, , things get difficult between them.

There is lots of male nudity and (likely simulated) sex, which leads me to believe the film is geared to a particular audience. However, Casey does have a back story that is slowly revealed, and part of his journey is to let go of his past, and reconcile his feelings of unworthiness with his streak of independence.

Josh Lavery as Casey and Daniel Gabriel playing Tib were real stars here. I don't recall either of them putting a foot wrong under the tight direction of Craig Boreham. The supporting cast was uniformly good too.

The sex and the nudity didn't bother me at all. These are integral to the lives of young gay guys. Casual sex and promiscuity are a given in much of the queer community. I've lived this and, to me, the guys portrayed were true to life.

As the film progresses, we learn about the background of the two leads, especially that of Casey. Those back stories explain much of the motivations and behaviour of the two protagonists.

I don't want to leave spoilers, but I've reduced the mark to a seven as I thought the ending could have been handled better or written differently. However, all in all, a good film.

Lonesome" is a raw, unflinching exploration of gay intimacy and isolation, following Casey (Josh Lavery), a country boy navigating Sydney's queer landscape. Director Craig Boreham crafts a provocative character study that's both sexually explicit and emotionally vulnerable, tracking Casey's journey from self-punishment to potential redemption. With frank depictions of sex and connection, the film offers a nuanced portrait of loneliness, desire, and the search for belonging in modern queer life. It's one of the best Australian movies in the Queer genre i have seen so far. Not for everyone, but most good movies have a focussed audience.

Lonesome

Who would have thought that a movie director and script writer in 2022 could conclude that some attitude and sporadic nudity was sufficient to sustain a movie.......well it just ain't! At best we had some simplistic emotional exploration but it was shallow.

There was an early scene on the beach with Casey that remained unexplained, in fact it was a slow burn revealing his backstory. When it was revealed it was quite banal, things got complicated at home so he fled to the city. Wow so rare!

What was good was the chemistry between Casey and Tib, this was the only reason I continued watching. Also the losing oneself in transient relationships to avoid emotional entanglements was cleverly engaged with as a coping mechanism in gay life.

Despite the emotional vacuum Casey became "attached" to Tib and then misread a situation that lead to a violent encounter. I got the feeling we were looking at children pretending to be adults, what with the constant storming in and out! As a depiction of gay life this was a rainy Tuesday in Brighton and only slightly more interesting than "hair night" lol!

Always a problem how to end such a movie and I think they went with the right choice. At best this is a 5 out of 10 I enjoyed the camera work but the story was so shallow. It really needed a proper script writer.