Angora Ranch

Just saw this film tonight in a one time benefit screening at the Arbor Theater in Austin, Texas. From there it goes to DVD. This is a cute film, really funny in places. It's really heavy on dialog, fortunately it's nicely written. Some of the acting scenes feel clumsy, a few emotional transitions don't feel right. But the actors are all appealing and the rabbits and other animals on the ranch where it takes place are a welcome addition. The film focuses on the two men and their love affair despite an age difference of 20 years and on their relationships with their fathers. This is a pleasant film, often funny, never boring. I would recommend it to gay audiences or straight ones. It is not sexually explicit, pretty tame.

The comments of a number of other reviewers on this site on ANGORA RANCH are worth noting for the issues they raise with some accuracy while missing the greater point of this film which achieves a surprising amount of credibility and satisfaction if you're willing to go with it despite obvious technical shortcomings.

Yes, the fact that it is set in a small town in the state which these days sends the more outrageous bigots to Congress (and presidential primaries) than any other, yet which is unexpectedly accepting of the "exotics" (read gays) in its midst might be presumed to be a fantasy, yet in my experience it DOES happen (and the smaller the town the more likely).

Similarly, the appeal of a thin, fit, handsome older man for another man young enough to be his son would ALSO likely be presumed to be a fantasy to those of limited experience, but the best marriage I know of (although admittedly between two straight people) was a second marriage of 30+ years duration where the bride was younger than her husband's youngest daughter. I've been with my own partner of 33 years (husband of 3) for all these years despite his being 7 years younger than I (we're BOTH woefully out of shape). He still claims I was standing in the way of the man he was really cruising that first night, but he did make the first move.

These presumed fantasies reflect the real world better than many children composing other reviews might suppose and the writing in this film sets these and other issues (the handling of the possible onset of Alzheimer's in a parent or the revelation of a distant parent's own personal secrets) with surprising sophistication and even grace.

As has been noted elsewhere, this film is an early (first?) effort of a group of Texas film makers with a modicum of talent, a high degree of ambition and a remarkable amount of drive. It was shot and marketed digitally on a literal shoestring with a budget smaller than many first rate urban film schools might be able to provide. The budget and lack of experience does show, but if one goes into viewing it understanding that, it may even add to the surprise of the film's ultimate emotional success.

The level of acting from the available cast (the writer/director Paul Bright as the owner of the titular ranch, and his partner/screen father Tim Jones, excepted - they are good by any standard) is not going to be breaking down agent doors for most of those involved, but it should be acknowledged that the actual lead of the film, Thomas Romano as the young advertising agent, gives a performance of considerable more polish than several eventual stars in their first professional outings (does the line "Yonder lies de house of me fadder" ring any bells?).

By the standards of a film intended for merely Festival release and then "straight to video," my "Four Stars" may even be on the conservative side. ANGORA RANCH is not a polished professional release, but it is a decent story remarkably well told under the circumstances and worth checking out if there's nothing more pressing on your schedule. I'd even like to see more from Mr. Bright.

Watch it only if awful gay movies make you giggle. In an awful way, that is. Not in any cultish or artsy sense of the terms "awful gay movies" and "giggle". Just good old fashioned All American (gay) awful. Did i say it's awful? It's awful. Someone should create a special prize for the best turn-off gay movie and not only give it to this one, but name it after it too. Invite your old, lonely, bad looking uncle for a cup of tea and a game of chess instead. Trust me. He won't like it either. And the young actor in the movie don't seem to like it much himself. He's doing his best to pretend that love is what he feels, but then you should see the man he falls in love with to better understand what a poor, poor casting can do to a cinematic love story.

I wanted to like this but it was simply NOT worth the watching time. I've seen thousands of gay movies over the years and while this one is far from the worst. I generally rate all the films I see on IMDb and I checked. This one did make the bottom 50. It's really too bad because there are the elements of a good story here, and that's part of the reason that this one's so bad. It keeps you hanging on (like Charlie Brown hoping that maybe next time Lucy's not gonna move the ball) the dialogue is often cringe-worthy and you actually would feel bad for the actors but its pretty clear that their abilities are part of the problems as well.

One thing that should have clued me in earlier... the director is also the writer and is also the main character. All of those jobs require skill and many truly skillful individuals can handle one or two of those roles but it's the rarest of things to find a film where all three roles are handle by the same person and handled well.

"Angora Ranch" is a sweetly low-key romantic movie that has plenty of animals in it. There are rabbits, goats, horses and chickens (and the cat that managed to sneak into the dinner scene). But the romance is between two men who must overcome a different kind of animal: the paternal kind. Justin (Thomas Romano) is a 20-something cutie working for his father's advertising agency, a self-absorbed manipulator whom Justin can never satisfy. (And Daddy has a few secrets on the side.) Jack (Paul Bright, "Angora Ranch's" writer and director) is a gay widower who has a live-in father, Peter (Tim Jones, the movie's co-writer), that is trying to push "his gay son Jackson" into a relationship before he slips into total senility. A chance accident and a little of Peter's meddling drops Benny the Bunny squarely into the stew and a May/September romance begins in the suburbs of Austin, Texas.

While the movie is certainly not a slick affair (in the extras, Bright and Jones joke about how their budget was in "the thousands"), it does do several things the creators promise:

No tragic gay man dies of AIDS. No screaming queen is running around disrupting things. No men are just straight-acting guys claiming they're gay. And most importantly - All gay male characters are actually played by gay men.

The acting is not going to get any Academy Award nominations, but that isn't why you're going to enjoy this. "Angora Ranch" is a delight for the many things it isn't. Non-hyperactive, not bitter or angry, not political (other than the general wink at gay marriage) and not aimed at the tweaker circuit coming-out crowd. This is the kind of movie I am comfortable showing to friends with dinner, and, I am going to project, feel comfortable with repeat viewings.

And it's worth it just to see a rabbit yawn.

(For those of you who only buy "gay movies" based on skin content, Justin appears naked from the back and the two leads have a love scene from the waist up.)