The Ring Thing

As with love itself, The Ring Thing is a layered and complex work that moves like a memory piece but forward rather than back. My husband and I make a small appearance in this film by William Sullivan. We appear as ourselves and are subjects of Sarah Watson's (played by Sarah Wharton) documentary she uses as a means to explore her "to wed or not to wed" questions. After a clumsy, misunderstood moment involving a family wedding ring, Sarah and her live-in lover Kristen (played nicely by Nicole Pursell) stumble forward down their respective paths trying to determine if this would/could be the right step to take. Kristen is ready at first but Sarah has reservations and uses her creative life to help work out the question.

The beauty of the acting on all fronts and the ambiguity of the questions they wrestle with makes for a film that is alternately frustratingly confusing, romantic and uplifting much like LOVE itself. Each of these women take their turn seeking their happy ending. Wharton & Pursell have nice chemistry together especially in their more "sparky" moments. Wharton stands out particularly as she so brings to life all the love angst and joy while representing everything Pursell wants and simultaneously being the chief obstacle to that dream. Conversely Pursell represents what Wharton loves most but is also most terrified of for inexplicable reasons. The supporting cast gives both the ladies all the right tones, colors and acts as their sympathetic sounding boards as Wharton's Sarah works on her documentary about long term love and marriage.

All in all The Ring Thing is an adept exploration of all the pitfalls in this new age of same sex marriage.