Good Grief

Beautifully filmed in London and Paris. Excellent cinematography and set decoration. And just the right pacing of motion and lighting by first time movie direction from Daniel Levy, who also wrote, produced and stars in his unique story of love, loss, sadness and friendship. Its so refreshing to see a story of queer love without seeing guys just ripping off their shirts for one night stands. Not much happiness is found here, but that's what makes this so true to life. I highly recommend watching this on Netflix and look forward to seeing what's next from Daniel Levy. Don't watch this looking for comparison to Shitts Creek, it's about 180° opposite.

People are looking at this movie in a weird way. It is an original love story, regarding two people, and the *most complications you can fit into a love story while holding it all together. It, has the least amount of tropes for this category of film, and draws you in emotionally on several different levels.

Here is where the reviews start to slant. It's what I've heard as a "gay-mance" movie. Meaning a romantic film involving lovers of the same sex (in case you don't know). But if Dan Levi was played by Rachel McCadams, this would be better than The Notebook; and I hope someone tells Dan Levi that. It's a great romance that should be recognized in film. It was great to watch with my wife and ask "what if...?" I would implore everyone else to do the same.

For those who cherish Daniel Levy from the humor and escapism Schitt's Creek provides, this is not that... adjust your lens and your expectations. This is a beautiful film that portrays real life in a myriad of ways and the actors do a fantastic job sharing that story. This felt very ready for the stage yet as a film it never gave me the release I tend to crave. No high highs, no drastic lows... just a restrained and even keeled world in which the characters still remain in tact. Not exactly what I hoped it might be, but still has its place and I'm happy it exists, especially to offer greater representation of many underrepresented communities.

Definitely fits into the underwhelming category based on the well known writing capability of Dan Levy. I liked the concept, but don't think it delivered. The opening segment was anticlimactic and didn't illicit the expected empathy, it was almost like "okay... now what". And the now what, was three self obsessed people pretending to be friends and having mostly meaningless conversations. The characters were all for the most part unlikeable, and therefore it didn't matter to me if they got "happy endings" and dealt with their hangups. Overall, okay, no depth to characters or story. I feel no need to ever watch again.

The directing is quite good, image and general aesthetic are qualitative, acting decent, the dialogues bring at time some sort of accuracy; I liked the promise behind the synopsis and what the letter brings.

However it doesn't deliver properly, I have not been fully satisfied with any of the aspects of the development, of the characters. Even though it sometimes felt right, the whole thing was a bit tasteless, seen before and didn't drag me into the story.

It's as shame, as many ingredients were there to make a good movie, but it is just average and a bit cringy at times. I liked that the romance was treated as a normal romance rather than gay stereotypes, but I would have enjoyed a better development. The secondary characters aren't especially likable, and some moments or conversations just didn't felt right.

I don't know if it should have been spiced up a bit or just more focused but the result wasn't pleasant enough to want me to watch it again sometimes. I like movies about grief and overcoming it, but they should also uplift and bring some more feel-good to finish it with satisfaction.