Defying Gravity

This film was such a wonderful surprise when I saw it in the

theater -- multiple times, in fact. Candidly, I liked it because I could

really identify with the character of Griffin. The chemistry between

Pete and Griff feels very real. Yes, this is a low-budget film and it

suffers a bit in production values, but the performances are strong

and I enjoy it more with each viewing now on DVD. Some have

criticized it for being cliche, but quite the opposite is true: the film is

remarkable because of the absence of stereotypes we've come to

expect in gay-themed art films: drag queens, dysfunctional

families, everyone dying of AIDS, disco music, diva worship,

pot-smoking, musical theater fanatics, "sissies," leather daddies,

the athletically-challenged...there's none of that here. Griff and Pete

are probably the most accurate representation of most gay men

that have appeared on the screen to date. They're just like any

other guys their age, except that their romantic interests are

focused on guys rather than girls. Had this film been made ten

years earlier, Griff would almost certainly have been portrayed as a

nerdy, unlikable, social outcast; but Griff is every frat boy's best

friend. Two thumbs up for this one.

Defying Gravity is a wonderful film. It's both humorous, as well as heartbreaking, and is a film that I look forward to watching again.

Griff (Daniel Chilson) is an all American super jock frat boy. He plays hoops with a Nerf ball in his dorm room, and parties it up while flirting with the girls at football tailgating parties. Griff, however, is also carrying on a sexual relationship with Pete (Don Handfield) behind everybody's back.

After being witness to a gay bashing that leaves Pete seriously injured, Griff is forced to deal with his own sexuality, as well as the conflict of outing himself in order to bring Pete's attackers to justice. Say nothing, and he lets down somebody he realizes truly loves him, and wants more than just sex. Come forward, and he'll have to face his frat brothers, as well as himself and the feelings he's discovering he has towards Pete.

Both Beautiful Thing and Get Real dealt with "coming out" in a syrupy sort of way. This isn't to say those films are bad; Quite the contrary. They are both excellent films that I have seen and own. What I'm getting at is that it's nice to see a film that forgoes the syrup and plays it in less of a fairy tale way.

Given the fact that this was the first role for many involved, some of the acting shows strain, and ends up looking amateurish, but that didn't bother me as much as it usually would, and in fact, I think it made the performances seem all the more real. The relationship between Griff and his best friend Todd (Niklaus Lange) is both convincing and sweet. Todd is truly trying to understand and support Griff, even when he has no idea what his friend is going though. The only major drawback I can pick out is that the relationship between Griff and Denetra (Linna Carter) isn't fully explored, and I was left with wanting to see more.

Defying Gravity is not a glossy smooth production like either of the films I mentioned above, but that's not a fault, and shouldn't be considered one. Occasionally uneven acting aside, this is a wonderful film that truly has heart and I hope everybody will give it a chance.

My grade: A

Griff's a frat boy. So is Pete. Griff and Pete are lovers. Griff still wants to be seen as straight; so does Pete, though Pete is on the verge of coming out. Griff doesn't like being pressured. But when Pete is injured in a gay bashing, Griff is forced to decide on which side of the fence he must ultimately stand.

DEFYING GRAVITY is like one of those moralistic religious shows they used to show on Sunday mornings, mini-soap operas like "Insight" where average people found themselves facing difficult choices. Only in GRAVITY, religion is avoided and gay sex has been added. It is sincere. It is sweetly, naively philosophical in its morality. It is likable, but it is simplistic. It is about a man who wants to do the right thing, but has to muster up the moral courage to sacrifice his comfortable life in order to do it. DEFYING GRAVITY is vanilla, both sexually and dramatically. As Griff and Pete, Daniel Chilson and Don Handfield are boy-next-door handsome and kid brother cute. Their sex is PG rated. They are given a mutual best friend (Niklaus Lange) who is unmistakably straight to let us know that it is all right to be gay friendly. Griff's coming to terms with his sexuality is aided by a lesbian acquaintance (Linna Carter) who is black, to better identify being gay with being marginalized. It is all a bit too predictable.

Yet, the film is sincere and it is well acted, especially by Chilson who underplays his part with the right amount of repressed, middle-class indecisiveness. And the film's most honest revelation is noting that most great changes in life come after slow deliberation and soul searching.

DEFYING GRAVITY is feather weight, though it hardly defies gravity. But as it comfortably sets there taking up space, it is pleasant and inoffensive and delivers it message with utmost politeness. That may make it seem inconsequential, but since most gay films wallow in angry ranting or outrageous camp, GRAVITY's low-key thoughtfulness makes it a little bit different and a little bit special.

Once in a while you run into a movie that packs a wallop not because it is flawless, but in spite of, indeed almost because of, its flaws. I found the first 20 minutes or so of `Defying Gravity' very hard to sit through, and was still uncomfortable halfway through the film. The depiction of frat life seemed all too convincing; how could we have any sympathy for a main character who would buy into such cheesy `male camaraderie' at its most off-putting? (There is a coarse common term for these frat boys and their behavior, but I'll avoid using it here.) Even when the action moved beyond the suffocating atmosphere of the frat house and the tailgate party -- the evocation of said atmosphere being the first sign, perhaps, that writer-director John Keitel knew what he was doing after all -- I had the uneasy feeling I was watching yet another well-intentioned paint-by-numbers Afterschool Special about coming out, especially when the inevitable clichéd gay-bashing (right down to the baseball bats) took place.

But that is precisely when `Defying Gravity' begins to take an unexpected turn, gathering momentum when you least expect it. Once Griff has to face the reality of the consequences of his hiding, this film starts to soar. That's not because the plot ceases to be fairly predictable; it doesn't. What lifts this above most other movies, and certainly many gay-themed flicks, is how squarely and unapologetically it addresses and depicts love in its many forms. There's the true love of friendship between the closeted Griff and the straight, trying-to-understand Todd. (Why is any gay-themed movie with sympathetic straight characters derided as fantasy? Hello! – understanding straight friends and family really do happen in `real life.' Talk about self-hatred …) There's a brief, but extremely potent, display of parental love (kudos to Kevin P. Wright as Pete's father). And above all, there's the belated but knockout realization of the love between Griff and Pete, in the final hospital scene and the beautiful little coda – the most powerful emotional payoff I've seen onscreen in quite a while. In terms of conviction, it all puts the more recent, vastly overrated "Big Eden," for instance, totally in the shade.

Clearly Mr. Keitel deserves credit for turning this movie around the way he does. And then there's the cast. Nicklaus Lange's finely tuned performance makes Todd a real person, not a buddy wish fulfillment. Don Handfield as Pete has a smaller role than one might anticipate but, crucial to the film's impact, he underplays this more grounded character to perfection. "Defying Gravity" ultimately rests, however, on the shoulders of Daniel Chilson as Griff, and boy does he come through: I see something very different here from those who commented on supposedly amateurish acting. Chilson can do more with his face – particularly his endearing, slightly off-kilter smile – than many much more highly touted performers. Watch the extraordinarily nuanced play of emotions across that face when Pete's housemate tells Griff `he really cares about you,' and in the aforementioned final two scenes between Griff and Pete. That's what film acting is all about. Bravo, Daniel! When will we see you onscreen again?

There's a gem of a script here. Clearly the filmmaker is working on a ultra low budget. Many of the supporting cast deliver their lines as if they are in a high school play -- they are painfully wooden. However the idea behind the film is an important one and the film will touch you on multiple levels. I somehow wish this script could get fine tuned and remade as a major production. I feel the film as a lot to say about the pressures of college life -- especially that of living in a frat house on a big ten campus and having to lead a double life.

Some of the material for the story appears to have been inspired by the Matthew Shepard story and the film feels extremely relevant.

In spite of the low budget nature of the film, see this picture!