The Delta

Ira Sachs is undeniably a filmmaker who knows precisely what he wants to say and how he wants to say it. He's a masterful storyteller, and I'm kicking myself for not discovering this film sooner, especially considering I fancy myself a dedicated Sundance Film Festival follower.

Shot on 16mm in 1996, the film's visual texture is not a mere affectation; Sachs chose this format because it perfectly complements the narrative's raw and intimate nature. The grainy, dreamlike quality of the 16mm footage evokes a sense of nostalgia and longing, mirroring the emotional landscape of the characters.

Thanks to Mubi, this remarkable queer narrative can be enjoyed in a high-quality transfer. It's a film that shouldn't be missed, especially while it's readily available on the platform.

"The Delta" is a coming-of-age story set in the languid heat of Memphis, Tennessee. It follows the journey of Lincoln, a young man grappling with his sexual identity and the complexities of desire. Sachs's direction is both sensitive and unflinching, capturing the raw emotions and unspoken yearnings of his characters with a delicate touch.

The film's performances are uniformly excellent, with Shayne Gray delivering a breakout performance as Lincoln. His portrayal of a young man caught between societal expectations and his own desires is both heartbreaking and hopeful. Thang Chan, as Minh, the Vietnamese-American man who becomes the object of Lincoln's affection, is equally compelling, his quiet intensity and vulnerability drawing the viewer into his world.

The film's languid pacing and atmospheric cinematography create a sense of timelessness, allowing the viewer to fully immerse themselves in the characters' lives. The soundtrack, a mix of blues, gospel, and ambient sounds, further enhances the film's emotional resonance.

"The Delta" is a film that speaks to the universal human experience of longing, love, and the search for self-acceptance. It's a testament to the power of cinema to explore the complexities of the human heart with honesty, compassion, and a touch of poetic grace.

This movie provides a sleepy, dreamlike experience. The director shows you many places, relationships, and conflicts. He sets moods, but doesn't judge his characters. Refreshing enough. It's up to you as the viewer to determine how you feel about the people and their conflicts. And it's up to the viewer to decide how things end up because everything is not explained. There was a lot of heart in this film. Some of these reviews seem to miss that. Watch this on an overcast Sunday afternoon and fall in love with Shayne Gray and The Delta.

If you have time, watch it again with the Director's commentary. The director, Ira Sachs, shares a lot about himself and his experience making this film. He is very honest about what he was trying to achieve, the scenes with which he was pleased, and those with which he wasn't. I would like to see more of Ira Sachs's work.

The handsome "Lincoln" (Shayne Gray) has a decent life, plenty of money and a girlfriend "Monica" (Rachel Zan Huss) but he also has a secret. When she declines to put out one evening, he heads to a cruising area of Memphis where he initially encounters a daddy figure before meeting "Minh". He's a Vietnamese man who is almost the antithesis of "Lincoln". His mother quite recently arrived in the USA, his father was an American soldier - they split up and he's now living with some fellow Vietnamese. They two men chat but "Minh" isn't so keen to go straight for the sex; he wants to get to know his new friend a little. To that end, they take his father's boat and a different kind of cruise on the delta; have a beer and set off some fireworks. It's that latter activity that annoys the police and sends "Minh" feeing into the forest. Has he something to hide? Well the tail end of the film enlightens us a little to the true nature of this man. I did like the concept here, but I'm afraid the acting is pretty nondescript and for a film that relies heavily on conversation, the audio mix makes much of the dialogue inaudible and that proves quite irritating after a while. I think it might have made for a better short feature. Condensing it's more potent aspects into an hour or so might have given it more punch, but as it is - it's too slow and thinly strung out.

Story about handsome hunky Lincoln (Shayne Gray) who has a girlfriend and lots of great guy friends. He also likes having anonymous gay sex secretly. He meets John (Thang Chan) a Vietnamese gay guy--and things happen. Notice I didn't say interesting cause NOTHING interesting happens in this!

Slow, murky, dark and very uninteresting story about a destructive relationship. The low production values really hurt this. Also the story takes forever to get started...and ends up going nowhere! It just stops with no resolution at all. A lot of people seem to like this because Gray is so handsome. He IS handsome...but not much of an actor. I've seen worse but I've seen MUCH better. Chan was better than Gray but (understandably) seems unsure of how to play the character. Pretty dull too.

Slow, murky, unsatisfying. You can skip this one. I give it a 4...mostly for Gray's looks. Also why did Chan do a nude scene and Gray didn't?

OMG i can't believe this John guy he talk an Engrish that i can clearly understand, and he look and act exactly like my gay friends in here, in Vietnam, the director did so good about that, i'm so glad to see a Vietnamese in a gay film, we did make some gay films here too but it too little... about this film, i can tell that why things happened in this film, prob it not a love story, just another lonely and sad one that make me feel so bad, it good itseft, but it just so.... realistic.