Denied

I was rooting for this movie, even as my every hope was smashed the whole way through: all the elements of a truly engaging, affecting, sophisticated picture are here, but they are botched beyond belief. Maybe somebody could give director David Scott a bigger budget and a staff and they could try it again from scratch.

The basic premise of the movie--requited but unacknowledged love--will ring true with a lot of queer folk: "You make love to me all the time. Why can't we just be boyfriends?" (That may have been one of the lines, actually, but the sound on this movie is so very dreadful I suspect I caught less than a third of the dialog.) There's no reason this film shouldn't resonate with anyone who's been in the position to rue their beloved's denial of acceptable, respectable, publicly avowed togetherness. And I suppose it does, with those more forgiving of its many distracting flaws. Am I unrealistic in expecting a certain basic level of competence from a movie?

The young actors are not without talent; or, at any rate, they are much better at what they do than the director, who frames extremely long static shots (such as that of Troy and Merrick discussing their issues in the living room) with no visual relief, no character movement, and no particular tension-building purpose. Not to mention the astonishing percentage of frames in the movie that feature Troy's obliquely downcast, unchanging stare-into-the-abyss! (Perhaps we should be thankful that Scott did not devote equal time to capturing the abyss staring back into Troy.) One is reminded of The Brown Bunny, which was built of 8 sentences, a blow job, and 80 minutes of Vincent Gallo alone and looking like he's just eaten a fistful of bear scat.

Our writer-director allows his protagonist the dignity of doing the only responsible thing by the end of the movie: growing up and getting over Merrick. He even permits a cloudy, ambiguous split between them, in which the lingering affection is just as obvious as the need for separation. All this could turn a film golden, win awards, and jerk tears like nobody's business--if only there were the tiniest shard of coherent film technique backing it up.

Denied is worth seeing for it's performances and an intelligent story. We don't often get 'intelligence' when the story deals with love between two young men. More often we get titillation instead of dialogue, and tragic endings where reality would have sufficed.

In Denied, we get both intelligence and reality. Unfortunately we also get a transfer to DVD that is sometimes too dark (but where blacks are not deep and solid black) and sound that is too often muffled. The dialogue in this movie deserves more respect. Canadians have built a reputation in the industry for natural lighting techniques,and location sound clarity - a reputation that suffers here.

The story, dialogue, and performances - particularly Lee Rumohr as Troy - all ring true. I knew a 'Troy'. I know what I'm talking about, and this film does, too.

This is a film with heart and soul. It is flawed, but it is far from unwatchable, and it is a worthy addition to the DVD library of anyone who has an interest in the travelogue of the young gay heart.

I pulled this one off the shelf at the video store without any idea what to expect out of it. The filming and particularly the sound seem amateur - don't look for special effects, or even for particularly revealing camera-work, and there are a few scenes where the dialogue is difficult to make out.

But what this movie is, is honest. Unlike in Hollywood, life doesn't have a script and doesn't always work out to "happily ever after", and the film has an uncertain, occasionally almost disjointed sense to it that reflects that. The lead actors, playing Troy and Merrick, acknowledge it as well; even Troy, who from the beginning seems to know more or less what he wants, doesn't know how to get it, and so is just as uncertain as his friend. The acting is understated and very believable, all the way to the end.

"Latter Days" has some similar themes, and would probably be enjoyed by those who like this movie, but like its setting in L.A. itself, "Latter Days" is at times a little bit larger than life. "Denied" has a down-to-earth, earnest feel to it that for the most part overcomes its technical shortcomings.

I rented 2 DVD's at a local DVD rental store and the 3rd was free so I picked Denied.The plot and description sounded good.I started watching it and realized it was horrible.The picture quality and sound were atrocious.Nobody seemed to be really acting(I could be wrong)but it was like watching someone's home videos of their lives. The picture should have been digitally remastered, the audio or sound should have been done properly,and it desperately needed to be edited because some scenes dragged on way too long and were boring and lame.And then maybe it would be worthy of being released.What a waste! It was painful to watch and I don't know how it even found distribution.The only part I really liked was near the end when Merrick(Matt Austin) admits his feelings to Troy(Lee Rumohr)and they get it on.At least these 2 guys are cute and easy on the eyes.And then Troy decides he's fed up with the head games and living in a small town decides to leave for good.His affect on his best friend was surprising and touching! It is a nice story that undoubtedly occurs but this DVD seems like a very rough cut of what should have been a decent movie if it was remade with a higher budget and done properly.I was surprised to see Stefan Brogren(of Degrassi high/next generation) in such a low budget amateur film.There are some good Canadian films out there and some bad ones,but this one is an embarrassment.

yes i agree with the other reviewer of this movie... on all accounts, especially the directors sparse use of lighting.... i understand realism, but its nice to see the actors sometimes.

plot-wise, i've been in a similar situation as our main character and I understand exactly what he was going through.. and i think its very realistically portrayed on screen.

i'm also glad that the gay boy gets to be the handsome jock this time instead of it always being the straight one.

if you can put up with the shoestring budget, i definitely recommend renting this one... a little slow the first 10 minutes but then it gets going someplace.