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.
