User reviews

I expected sleazy gay trash bordering on porn but what I got was a reasonably intelligent thought provoking introspection into gay love - in the broadest sense of the term.

Don't expect a lot of eye candy. There is a lot of gratuitous sex but it is tempered by good acting, professional cinematography and a moderately good script. It does lapse periodically, but on the whole you're left with a feeling that at least a couple of the characters have achieved a life-changing moment.

I watched it with my husband and it provoked some discussion between us. Good for a lazy Sunday afternoon.

Beautiful Something" is an engaging and entertaining film that I wholeheartedly recommend. The story intricately weaves together the lives of four gay men over the course of one night in Philadelphia, capturing their struggles, desires, and connections. Each character is compelling, and the performances are strong, making their journeys feel authentic and deeply personal.

The cast is undeniably attractive, adding an extra layer of appeal to the film. Their chemistry is palpable, and it brings a raw, sensual energy to the screen.

One of the highlights for me was the ending. It ties the various storylines together beautifully, offering a satisfying conclusion that leaves a lasting impression. Overall, "Beautiful Something" is a captivating watch, blending poignant storytelling with a visually appealing cast, making it a must-see.

The movie feels a little underwritten, like they needed to work a little harder on making the plot flow. But I want to HIGHLY recommend the director's earlier movie, "Strapped." It was also made up multiple stories that came together in one narrative, but it was much more focused and fun.

Some people say this film has little or no plot but then you are missing the point of the movie. This is not about sex yet rather a single moment in the act where something beautiful takes place whether it be the act it self, a shared emotion during sex or what takes place after the act is completed. That moment of bliss. Some spend the rest of their lives trying to chase it repeatedly (Brian/Drew,) while others run away in fear or denial (Jim/Dan.) Or maybe you want to share in someone else's adventure(Bob/Sergio?) However you choose to seek and find your bliss hopefully you discover it with someone you love.

What I loved most about "Beautiful Something" is the way it accurately portrays the baseline of gay life in the US; random sex, mercenarial encounters, dysfunctional relationships and this constant expectation that there is always something better just out of grasp. This could be applied to the human experience as well, but in gay culture it is reality on steroids. Sex is used as an intro, a bartering tool, a commodity and at times even a weapon. The person you go to bed with is hardly EVER the same person you wake up to. The viewpoint from the main character, a frustrated writer, echos that of an entire community. The ending isn't sugar-coated or campy...it's a conclusion that you either accept or reject at your own demise. Great story-line, believable dialogue and great acting from everyone (even those who are clearly non-actors).

Beautiful Something is a movie about a handful of gay men in Philadelphia. Each is dealing with a personal crisis (not coming-out angst or gay bashing, thank God), and their paths intersect occasionally over the course of a single night. Except for one couple (Jim and Drew) and one ex-couple (Brian and Dan), none of the men knew each other previously. The totally safe and comfortable world in which they live, where everybody is gay and very well adjusted to being gay, is slightly dream-like, but it's entirely believable.

Brian (whose story this mostly is) is a published poet suffering with both deeply unhappy relationships and writer's block. He is by far the best written and acted character I have ever seen in a gay movie -- in almost any movie. He's complex, mercurial and fascinating; every second he's on the screen I had to remind myself to breathe. I would give several years of my life to see a whole movie about only him. He's an endlessly interesting character played by an amazing actor.

I'd never heard of Brian Sheppard, but I will find every movie he's ever been in and watch it. The scene between him and Dan (the mostly straight man who's the love of his life) is one of the best scenes I have ever seen anywhere. Grant Lancaster, who plays Dan, is the only other actor who can share a scene with Brian Sheppard without disappearing into the wallpaper.

Brian's story begins and ends this movie, and it makes holding on through the really bad stuff in the middle well worthwhile. But when I watch it again (and again, and again), I'll know I can fast-forward through all the crap with Jim and Drew and Bob. Brian has a few scenes in that vast mid-movie wasteland, so I'll catch them on the way through, like oases in a desert.

Those other three characters, and the actors who play them, are like stale leftovers from a BAD gay movie, and I wish Joseph Graham (the writer-director) could have just left them out. They're boring people, and their story is dragged down by overwrought melodrama, pretentious dialog, and completely unbelievable performances. The scenes between Jim and Drew aren't all that bad (except that Jim is in them), but the horrible, endless scene between Jim and Bob in a stretch limousine and a restaurant, and afterwards at Bob's house, is unbearable. It made me want to throw up and pull all my hair out.

Jim is such an obnoxious character that any time he was on I wanted to stop the show. He's as awful as Brian is wonderful. The scene where Jim is trying to read Shakespeare is profoundly embarrassing. When the character is supposed to be an actor, the actor playing him really should be able to act. Graham definitely should have avoided Shakespeare, at least. I never could stand the character Jim, but hadn't noticed how bad Zack Ryan's performance was until that scene.

But the endless scene at Bob's house finally DID end (thank God), and Brian rushed down from heaven like an avenging angel to rescue the movie from the bottomless pit of schlocky melodrama it had nearly fallen into. The last ten minutes or so (I was loving it too much to watch the time) are stunningly, breathtakingly, achingly, gloriously beautiful -- beautifully written, beautifully directed and beautifully acted.

So Brian and his story -- and Brian Sheppard, the marvelous actor who plays him -- raise this movie way, way, way above anything else you'll see this year or any year. If he weren't so extraordinarily good, the rest of the movie might seem better. But he IS that good, and he makes it worth doing whatever you have to do to see this movie.

Despite the fact that the scenes without him are so bad they're unwatchable, Brian (the character) and Brian Sheppard are SO GOOD that I'm giving the movie ten stars. I started to average it out and give five, but Brian/Brian are just too spectacularly good to drag down.

It wasn't bad, but nothing great either. Slow at times with "artsy" stuff thrown in; a bit strange and not very relatable. I enjoyed it, but don't seem to "love" this as much as other reviewers.

I saw this at the Sydney Mardi Gras film festival 2016 to a packed audience who seemed to appreciate this disarming film - judging by the closing applause, and comments I heard while the audience was walking out of the cinema. Set over one night in an urban city it follows the movement of a few gay men of different age ranges, and ethnically diverse, yet all with backgrounds in art or literature; and all looking to connect emotionally (and often physically). It is a beautiful film with good performances and one that keeps you entranced and emotionally connected with the characters – hence a very disarming film. Well worth your time.

I thought it was a bit cliche. The characters all seem one dimensional, privileged and spoiled. it was like a bad after school special from the 1970's.

I liked writer-director Joseph Graham's Strapped, and this movie, which is similar in treatment, lives up to the promise of the earlier one. Beautiful Something starts with our protagonist Brian stepping out to a gay bar where he meets a young man who asks him "Are you ummmm...gay?" Turns out he's one of those ambivalent types who's not sure about his sexuality. Brian brings him home and a pretty torrid sex scene follows with the young man going "please f**k me, please f**k me," but afterwards, he's all hostile and angry about it. As the movie moves on, Brian meets up with several other kinds of men, including an ex who he still loves who has gone straight. He also has a brief encounter with Jim, the other main protagonist in the film, which leads to good sex, but no emotional connection. Like Strapped, this movie has some incredibly hot sex scenes, though nothing is shown explicitly. It has a pretty good story line, with lots of different characters to keep you engaged. Though it's funny in parts, the film's mood is dark. There's an underlying theme on art (the protagonists are all artists in some way - sculptor, writer, actor - but I don't think that's really important). I watched it at Kashish, Mumbai's International Queer Film Festival. I hope it gets a larger audience over time.

Brian is a frustrated poet who having lost his muse, now has also lost his inspiration. He seeks solace in easy love – that never works. Then there is Jim who is in a relationship with an older sculptor but he feels trapped. An ageing actor's agent, Bob, also cruises the streets in his limo looking for the young boys that will fill the void in his life.

On one night all the stories come together but in a way that is far from obvious and with enough drama to make you want to know more.

Now this also features a fair amount of bedroom rumpy pumpy and it is done in a realistic way. The actors are all excellent here and the direction is spot on. This is a film from Joseph Graham who you may remember from 'Strapped'. In some ways there are recurrent themes that were explored there but this is still an original, subtle, in your face and compelling piece of cinema that I can easily recommend.

We are back in the utterly strange and utterly human night-world of director Joseph Graham (Strapped). This time, in particular, men are trying to make art at the same time that they are trying to make connections, and they are trying not to sacrifice one for the other, though in the end they often do. These characters are who you and I are when no one is looking. That is the wonderful and unsettling thing about Graham's work: there is no movie-like artifice, no clichéd interactions you can see coming. Emotions erupt at odd times, as emotions do, and under it all lies a fateful loneliness that it is Graham's special task to explore, as he did so well in Strapped. This is another must-see.

The first thing that grabbed me about this film was the lighting. Celestial without being tooo heavenly. The second thing was the sex (I am not gay, and not a man, but sex is sex). I don't usually care for sex with my non-porn movies, but this was different. It had a realness (yes, even with clothes on), a gentle, sweet, sensually loving aspect to it that is rarely transferred to film (Drew was my favorite). It's tenderness, not just sex, which is strangely absent in even Hollywood roms. Humans don't do well when there is little feeling in something; we all want some measure of it, no matter how casual the encounter. And this film illustrates that well. It's hot, which is a tribute to the acting and directing, as it's not explicit whatsoever.

The characterizations are wonderful and complete (it's not for lazy people and we are told all we need to know, for this one night), the acting superb, casting excellent, and production values very good (I missed the errors, as usual, and all movies have 'em). Oh, and I love the sculpture!

Joseph Graham is an amazing director and writer, of any genre. He is now on my list of favorite directors. I see where he teaches film on a college level, which is good for film's future. The writing has me still weeping into my keyboard. The poetry slayed me. Many films tell a story, many films have good production values, many films entertain, but when a film also rings that elusive emotional note, echoing love, beauty and sadness, it is a rare thing indeed. Bravo!

I just read some of the not so great reviews here and am stunned at the low rating. You can pick this film apart, and I cannot comment on gay life, but I take films as a whole work, and this work is outstanding. I want films to inform my life in a significant way. A lot to ask, and seldom met, but so glad to have found this one.

Among the best of new gay films and an excellent effort by young director/writer Joseph Graham (his 2nd feature), Beautiful Something is original in conception and execution, taut and dramatic despite its restrained pacing (so that the viewer really feels the long night in which the film takes place) and a beautiful film to watch. Most important is the small ensemble cast's sensational acting and the director's and cinematographer's close attention to nuances of actions, facial expressions - the eyes of these actors are a marvel of expressiveness. The screenplay is idiomatic and feels very true, really engaging, if sometimes a touch long-winded.

Aesthetically it's also a delight with all the dark, gritty look and feel of Philly, and of the emotionally torn characters who inhabit it; the musical score and songs (many original with beautiful performances by Ryan Shaw) are also a pleasure as is the marvelous poetry of Richard Siken (from his first book "Crush") which is heard towards the end in voice-over - they stand in as the words and soul of main character, Brian, a poet himself, and come as the painful events of the night explode into epiphany, raw, honest and beautiful. (I found myself rewinding the end credits to ID all the music and poetry!)

The story rests tidily within one dark, wintry night with its limited resolution arriving only as the bright dawn arrives; Brian having been exhausted after the night's sexual and emotional exertions - disappointments - is totally exposed and honest so that the ending has an honesty and expresses each of the characters' vulnerability, through Brian, and this seems to me the film's purpose for being. It's a sexy film too, with some intense, brief and harsh, bareback sex, as well as tenderer moments; I think it's unclear what the director's attitude is toward unprotected sex and that's one of the few problems I've got with the film; but then random, unprotected sex is a reality of gay male sexuality these days and, of course, it adds an darker vibe, and undercurrent to the foolish, impulsive behaviour of the characters throughout the night's rambles and the searches for satisfying connection.

This film is a refreshing feat.

Great story, great execution - and the actors brought a lot to the plate. It was nuanced, quiet, reflective and invective.

The casting is spot-on, as the newness-immaturity of one or two really plays into the genuine credibility of the film.

I'd rate this above the forgettable Moonlight, because there's depth to the characters, and the inclusivity and diversity are delivered within the script - and story - which SERVES the film, instead of making it yet another grandstand for the PC crowd.

Excellent work.

The greatest works of art reach a point of stillness, of reaching that moment when temporarily life reaches a staying place, or someone, or just living in the moment, for that is all you have. In Gay/Queer cinema ' Theo and Hugo ' reached that place, and in its suffering so did ' Sauvage ' and by chance I find another such film ' Beautiful Something '. The acting is uniformly superb and to single out a few of the actors would do the rest an injustice. It begins at night in Philadelphia and to call this simply a ' Gay ' film would do it a disservice. It is a film about men who are attracted to men; confused men about their orientation and others who are more sure. Essentially it is a homosexual film, and it has no stereotypes but men needing some point to their existence in a male/male world that can often sexually abuse and refuse either affection or love. One is a young man, an aspiring actor, another a sculptor who is his lover and finally a poet who has run out of inspiration, and needs the kiss from a man perhaps more than the sex. In one night their lives get entangled and there is rage and emotional pain and some sex that borders on brutality, but the sex is plainly filmed showing that it can be ugly as well as beautiful. And when the end of the night comes after the poet has finally written a moving and to be memorised poem, the film shifts into a sort of resolution and a coming home. I have not forgotten a fourth man who is almost central to the scenario; a man who is old and recalls a lost love in a scene that is so finely directed and acted I cried. This is no run of the mill film, but a great one and I thankfully have it to watch again and again, as it dispels despair with the ever tentative attempt to live a fulfilled life. And these men talk, and in some oblique way as intelligently as in a Rohmer film, my yardstick for all cinema that aims at truthful engagement and communication. Ultimately the film is human and what better compliment can I pay to it than that.

Basically the thin plot is just an excuse for sex scenes. At the end there's even a scene with a guy stroking his tattoo, which made me laugh.

Beautiful Something was a pleasant surprise.

The movie reminded me of the experience of going through La Recherche du temps perdu because, like in Proust, the topics of Love, Art, and Time are connected.

What is gay love? The films offers fragmented answers based on the wanderings of a few guys.

The result is an aesthetic and existential meditation on the tormented quest for Ideal and Beauty in the lives of gay men.

I really enjoyed the director's previous work, Strapped. And with intriguing and interesting plot-lines, intertwined stories and compelling character studies, Beautiful Something did not disappoint. Overall, I not only found the scenes believable, but in many cases felt myself drawn-into the situations; that's how well written and acted they were. That being said, there really was a glaringly visible disparity between the polished actors (such as Coleman Domingo) and very amateurs, such as Zack Ryan and Brian Sheppard. Those two actually complemented each other in that Zack comes off as wooden and clueless (I seriously don't believe he has had any professional acting experience or lessons prior), while Brian's overacting was just silly and cringe-worthy (it's almost as if he has a perpetual rage that someone said, "just use it!" for every scene...which really didn't work at all. But if you get past the poorer performances, the overall film is definitely worth watching.