Newcastle

Call me a gay philistine, but this movie has one of the most gorgeous group of young guys in any movie I've seen, and they spend most of the time bare-chested and often nude. But the film, in an effort, I guess, to get a PG rating, plays a ridiculous game of peek-a-boo with full frontal shots. If the film maker had just been casual about it, as films of the 21st century have been for a while, he might have added a bit of integrity and realism that the film could use. And probably made it even more commercially successful. Marketing people have obviously decided to downplay this aspect of the movie: the near constant focus on the guys' physical beauty, their faces, their bodies (especially their asses) and their surfing ability. And nowhere on the website or trailer is there any mention of the one really original aspect of the film: the integration of a gay teen in a group of straight guys: the way he's taunted, but accepted, and the way he finds his way to his first experience of reciprocated sexual affection.

Maybe the filmmaker will release a gay director's cut and test my thesis.

I really wanted to like this movie. I generally like coming-of-age movies, and surf movies, and growing-up-gay movies. But I found the characters in this movie (with a couple of exceptions) a bunch of unlikable louts who spend much of the movie in testosterone-driven chest-butting, and I just couldn't care about them. The loutishness leads to a certain predictable amount of melodrama, and some psychologically simplistic soul-searching on the way to tying up ends. The only likable characters were the protagonist's younger brother (the gay one, who takes a lot of psychological abuse for his gayness), and the sympathetic grandfather (the only guy in the family who seems to show any affection for the younger brother). These are secondary characters. The young brother's coming to terms with his sexuality and tentative romantic exploration with one of the surfers is a minor subplot of the film. On the up side, the young guys (and gals) in the film look great, and the surfing footage is really nice, especially some of the underwater footage. But by the end of the movie, I was not sorry to leave the company of a group of characters that I mostly found unpleasant and unsympathetic.

NEWCASTLE (in Australia) is an interesting take on the very male beauty pageant that is Australian surf culture among teen/20 somethings... and viewers should be aware that the writer/director Dan Castle is a gay film maker. As a result his awareness of the visual aspects of the young male form in surf sand and sex scenes is to the fore of this 'pretty' film. Reminiscent of PUBERTY BLUES (1982) and BIG Wednesday (1978) and a male version of BLUE CRUSH without the surf contest, NEWCASTLE shows the Australian mid coast steel city's glorious beaches and aqua waters with frolicking male beauty and testosterone challenges. It has a reasonably interesting storyline and some surprises and one very startling moment in the dunes, but somehow lacks gravity. The Parents and Grandfather are 'just there' as characters, the girls no more than a distraction from the boy antics, the older brother issues..all just get enough screen time to make them vaguely followable. Visually it is a triumph with incredible photography of almost being in the surf with the guys, and an affection for the male form that only a committed gay film maker could possibly dare to present. The young actors were very game to agree to participate and in the future would be proud of their achievement. Xavier Samuels, the least pretty of the boys ironically has gone onto bigger and better things in the TWILIGHT series. NEWCASTLE is a state of mind, an erogenous zone and a great place to surf. Some terrific scenes at the very surreal Newcaslte ocean pool are almost scenes from A BIGGER SPLASH. It is exceptionally well cast. The star of the film no doubt is the unforgettable photography during the surfing scenes. Overall, there is a lot of near nudity and some completely nude sequences. It must have played to screaming audiences in a packed cinema.

While I've seen some over-the-top homophobic comments of two 'reviewers'. This is not a "gay-themed" film. There's a small, but bright facet that is gay-themed.

Family, sibling rivalry among brothers, loss, teenage high-jinx, and a lot of surfing overshadows the fact that one brother is gay. The few PG moments of sex are between two older teen boys and their girlfriends. If seeing a male butt, (in a non-sexual context), makes you squirm, you better stay away from a ton of "regular" movies and museums too.

Anyway, "Newcastle" is the story of how a tragedy enables a family to overcome nagging internal tensions. There are no villains, just victims of their own fear and disappointment. The performances are all topnotch. A minus for US viewer: occasionally the Aussie accents are a little hard to understand.

Urged by a film director I admire, I decided to attend a 9:30 screening of "Newcastle" by a director new to me, at the Los Angeles DGA theater. I left the screening in a daze. I dreamed about the film and it was the first thing I thought of this morning. I've never met any surfers in my life - although I've seen "Big Wednesday" - but I have the feeling now that I know them and I was compelled and surprised by how much we have in common. The human drama attached to the waves is what sets this film in a category all its own. Unique. Coming of age in another planet, primitive and futuristic at the same time. A stunning cast of unknowns helps the feeling that we're peeping into something really private. The photography and the score contribute immensely to make this a phenomenal experience. Highly recommended.