The Lost Language of Cranes

In an age before "Will and Grace" that few people born after 2000 will understand, the "Lost Language of the Cranes" deals with the decision whether or not to come out of the closet as gay, given the ramifications and potential hostility from family, friends and society as a whole. The film centers around a family, namely its patriarch, who from the very beginning is revealed as a closet homosexual. From the interactions with his wife and son, we see there is an underlying, unspoken tension between all the characters in typical British "stiff upper lip" fashion. When the son comes out to his parents, neither take the news particularly well. As the story progresses, his mother comes to a kind of detente, while his father eerily appears to attempt to relive his youth through his son. The brilliance of this story is the inter-working theme of communication throughout, and how sometimes someone is trying to tell you something important in every way possible...except verbally. I seriously don't understand why this has not become a cult classic, especially given the time in which it was produced, as even today it is miles ahead of most gay cinema around.