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Big Eden

Monday, Sept. 10, 2007 @ 7:24 p.m.

I spent much of this weekend hooked on LOGO, the gay/lesbian cable network. I must admit, I've never really seen too many really great gay-themed movies thus far (And no, I'm not talking about porn). Somehow, "gay-themed movie" seems to imply lots of hunky beefy actors built like greek gods, prancing around shirtless in nightclubs, on designer drugs, engaging in plenty of gratuitous (and often unnecessary) sex scenes. Either that, or they're those independent short films that always seem to make me go, "Huh??" at the end.

But I saw a movie on LOGO on Friday that I am now ecstatically in LOVE with. So I'm gonna rant about it for a little bit. It's called "Big Eden", and I seriously could not recommend it enough to everyone out there, gay or straight or bi or martian or whatever. Finally! A simple, nice romantic story that is heavy on the story and doesn't scream "THIS IS A GAY MOVIE!!".

It stars Arye Gross as Henry Hart, a successful New York artist who returns home to Big Eden, a fictitious tiny town in Montana to care for his ailing grandfather. There, he has to face the delicious and delectable Dean Stewart (portrayed by the delicious and delectable Tim DeKay), a high school best friend with whom he's been in (unrequited) love with for over 20 years, and who eventually got married to a woman and had kids... and who was the reason why Henry decided to leave Big Eden in the first place. But this time, it's not just a one-way street: It's a triangle. It is revealed that Pike Dexter (played by Eric Schweig), a general store owner, has in turn been secretly in love with Henry since high school. Pike will absolutely melt your heart. Pessimistic about his chances with Henry (as well as knowing how Henry feels about Dean), he keeps his feelings about Henry to himself, but the things he secretly does for Henry just to make him happy will make you melt. To complicate things more, Dean is now divorced, and is finally beginning to reciprocate Henry's love and feelings for him. I know my synopsis is making it seem like a typical love-triangle "who-will-he-choose?" story, but I swear it's not... it's so much more than that, and you're just gonna have to watch it to know what I'm talking about.

The film is an experiment of sorts by director and writer Thomas Bezucha - Big Eden is a fantastical hokey town where homophobia doesn't exist, and where all the residents in the tiny and tight-knit community love and support each other uncondtionally. It seeks to ask: "If homophobia didn't exist, would the lives of gay people be any less complicated than everyone elses'?" And the answer turns out to be, of course, a big fat no. The production value, the breathtaking cinematography, and the spectacular acting puts "Big Eden" in a league of its own in gay-themed-moviedom... and it is no wonder why it has won virtually every award from every film festival that it has participated in. It really does a great job of tugging at your heartstrings and warming it right up... a superb date movie in my opinion. It got really emotional towards the end, and I was bawling like a baby (and I rarely cry at movies). It had quite a good amount of humor in it too, making it a really well-rounded and well-made movie. And it did it all without a single sex scene, zero Cher/Madonna/Disco songs in the sountrack (it's mostly good ol' toe-tappin' country music), and a grand total of only two on-screen kisses!

I guess it should be apparant by now that I'm absolutely enthralled by the delicious and delectable Tim DeKay (Dean):

WOOF!!!!

There was a certain scene in the movie when Dean finally came to the realization that he loved Henry, but only to discover that things may now be too late (but I'm not giving away who Henry chose at the end!). When he broke down into tears... boy, so did I. What a powerful bit of acting in that scene. Only sanity kept me from screaming out "SCREW IT, PICK ME INSTEAD! I'LL NEVER MAKE YOU CRY LIKE THAT!!" at my TV.

After I saw it on LOGO, I couldn't stop thinking about the movie all weekend long (and no, it wasn't just because of the delicious and delectable Tim DeKay). The story and the characters moved me to the point that I wished that they were real, that Big Eden was real, and that I actually lived in that utopia. The character of Henry and his interactions with everybody was written with such depth, and there was so much that I could relate to. Since I couldn't get the movie out of my head, I went to rent the DVD just to see the behind-the-scenes and all that extra stuff. And, of course, I ended up watching the movie for the second time, and wound up as a sobbing mess again towards the end.

So if anyone of you out there is looking for a good movie the next time you're at the video store, you should definitely check out Big Eden. I honestly think that it'll move you as much as it did me.

Side note: If I were Henry, I would have totally picked the "wrong" guy at the end. I still have a knack for picking the wrong guy... even in a work of complete fiction. It just figures.

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