chacrolamqui

I added 'The Fall of Sparta' to my list of the films of 2018 that I hoped would be enjoyable because I found it on a site listing gay films. It's only marginally gay, though, in fact, but that didn't detract one iota from my pleasure in watching it, totally enrapt! How is it that the film has been so ignored? Even finding a copy was hard.

Yet I count it one of the best films of '18 : the acting is splendid, the script is free of clichés and very witty, and the music and photography top class. The dialogue is almost entirely in French (Canadian!) but there are excellent subtitles provided.

Here's hoping this praise inspire a few guys to go to the trouble of digging out a copy!

The film was recommended on none of the "Best Of" lists for 2015 and I wouldn't have added to my list of what to watch for that year had I not been a fan of Michael Pitt. Thank Heavens he led me to it, though! I sat and smiled at the touchingly comic scenes all the way through and, rare for me, want to watch it again. Why don't more film makers realise that people being gentle and tender towards each other can make for a really charming, enjoyable film? The actors all do the necessary underplaying with great skill and seem to relish the odd situations and dialogue - Pitt explaining the outcome of a TV series by gesture alone is a marvel. Don't miss it!

Inspite of the cascade of ads that broke it up (thanks Plex!) I watched the film to the end, me who can't stand inept films. It plays down all personal and family drama as the title warns it will, refusing to make an unnecessary "big deal" out of them as is usually the case. That's very refreshing. The acting is accomplished enough, with the two lads doing best of all, and the plot only has a few implausible or clumsy twists to help the stories along. As to the treatment of the gay characters, it's nicely subdued and there's an unusual twist when one of them needs to be agressive with another. Enjoyable.