The Picture of Dorian Gray

Being a great fan of Duncan Roy's "AKA", I was very excited to see this work at the Miami filmfest. Sad to say, I was pretty much embarrassed to have brought my friends to "Dorian Gray." Where to begin? The film was plodding and in great need of editing. The dialog was unnatural & postured..even to the point of being silly. And plot...was there one? The split screens effects were interesting at times and more gimmicky at others. Even cute eye candy could not make you care about the characters or this sophomoric, unoriginal endeavor, for that matter . Most of the audience started shifting around & checking their watches halfway through the film...their thoughts mirroring mine of "when will this be over?!"

Duncan, please go back to narratives

At the Outfest screening in July 2007, the director told us "If you haven't read the book, this picture will make no sense. For those of you who have read the book, I sincerely apologize." He also said "This is a difficult film." We thought he meant difficult to make, but after seeing it we realize he meant difficult to watch. He said his intent was to remake "The Picture of Dorian Gray" with the gay undertone highlighted. For whatever reason, he chose to throw out conventional film narrative style and make an experimental film. The result is dream-like, confusing, and disjoint. It's a hard film to make sense of, even if one knows the story well. If you aren't already familiar with the story, you'll have no idea what is going on.

The film does succeed in making explicit the gay subtext of the story and previous adaptations, but don't expect a conventional film.

Just saw this picture at Outfest and I absolutely loved it. Don't have a clue what the folks here are talking about. But as they say an opinion is like an ass, everybody has one and there are too many pretentious ones here who believe to be the worlds film critics. The film was eloquent,lyrical, poetic and very artistic. I saw and loved Duncan's previous work AKA and thoroughly enjoyed it. I have seen several versions of Dorian Gray and found this one to be original, entertaining and disturbing. I applaud the filmmaker for his innovative choices and I know, not hope, that this film will get distribution and released in theatres for I happen to work for a film distribution company, so most other distributors would be doing us a favor if they choose to go with the other negative comments here. I'd be more than happy to bring this version of Dorian Grey to screens. I look forward to Duncan's future great works.

I saw this movie at a film festival in Cardiff and i have to say that i really enjoyed it. Duncan Roy has done an amazing job of updating the novel to present day while remaining true to Wildes story. David Gallagher is great as Dorian. He is suitably pretty and wide-eyed as the more innocent Dorian at the the beginning of the movie but is even better as the dangerous and crazed Dorian that he evolves in to towards the end. Chistian Camargo (from TV's Dexter) gives a stand-out performance as Henry Wotton. Probably one of the best Henry's i have ever seen. While some actors of the past have had trouble making Wildes lines flow naturally, Camargo delivers the lines with ease. Rebecca Wisocky as Henrys wife also steals the odd scene. And Noah Segan gave a heart-felt performance as a love-lorn Basil Hallward. The movie had a cool and edgy look. Everything from the clothes to the make-up to the sett pieces were a great mix of the very modern meeting the very classic. Giving the movie a sort of timeless feel. All together i had a great cinema experience watching this movie and i would recommend it to everyone.

I agree with the first poster. I was also in the audience last night and expected far better than what was shown. If the director hadn't said the film took place in 1990, one would have never known. (Besides, the art scene in Manhattan was over at that point, having peaked before the market crash in the late 80s). And to equate AIDS with getting old is an insult. The acting was uneven and some of the musical choices weren't inspiring. It was just plain dull! I think the applause was polite, out of respect for the director and actor in attendance, but I agree it was a mad dash for the exits..... Certainly not a movie for the multi-plex or the art houses, but one to go straight to DVD.