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The Bargain Nexus - Parallel Sons
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List Price: $24.99
Our Price: $13.94
Your Save: $ 11.05 ( 44% )
Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
Manufacturer: Strand Releasing
Starring: Lawrence Mason, Heather Gottlieb, Murphy Guyer, Josh Hopkins, Graham Alex Johnson
Directed By: Wendy Jo Cohen
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Average Customer Rating:  
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Audience Rating: Unrated
Binding: DVD
EAN: 0712267982127
Format: Closed-captioned
Label: Strand Releasing
Manufacturer: Strand Releasing
Number Of Items: 1
Publisher: Strand Releasing
Region Code: 1
Release Date: 2005-09-06
Running Time: 93
Studio: Strand Releasing
Theatrical Release Date: 1995
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Spotlight customer reviews:
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Customer Rating:
Summary: great movie
Comment: I really thought it was a great movie, but I really needed to see more penis. I had to think about a lot of different cocks to get off usually that is not a problem.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Really???
Comment: Completely unbelievable story. The characters were completely opposite of each other and never would have attracted in real life. If you have nothing else to do I say watch this movie.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Color-Blind Love
Comment: "Parallel Sons"
Color-Blind Love
Amos Lassen
Not many gay films have black actors in leading roles and to finally have a good film that does is almost reason to rejoice. "Parallel Sons; is the story of Seth, a youth with artistic leanings and a fascination with Black pop culture, living in a village in the Adirondack Mountains. He has a friend, Kristin with whom he alternates sensitivity and brutality. One night late as he is closing the café where he works, a young Black tries to rob him at gun point but faints from some kind of illness. Seth takes the man whose name is Knowledge and is a prison escapee, to a family cabin where he takes care of him. An intensive friendship develops between the two. When the sheriff discovers that Seth is harboring a criminal there is a confrontation.
The plot is like an old-fashioned fairy tale but unlike a fairy tale, there is an authenticity to the characters and to the town. There is an overriding feeling of depression, despair and alienation. It is an old-fashioned story with a modern sensibility and the gay biracial twist to the story plays only a secondary role to the feelings and emotions portrayed.
The parallels in the two men's lives are based on several fundamental issues--growing up gay in a hostile society, racism, firearms, adolescent independence. When the appearance of a Black criminal shatters the town's calm appearance, things begin to happen. The criminal had escaped from the state mental hospital and he gives Seth an outlet for his deepest yearnings. Knowledge's escape brings the two together in both a cultural and sexual bonding.
When the movie ended I heard nothing but silence because the movie struck so hard. The movie is a year ahead of its time as it deals with important issues in a very natural way. The film is full of ideas for thought. Gabriel Mann as Seth gives an amazing performance and Laurence Mason as Knowledge is powerful. It is the acting that allows the film to be so understated. The supporting cast is also excellent as the film moves toward an ending that devastates.
The themes of the film are handled with great subtlety. The primary message seems to be that the consequences of homophobia are tremendous harm and the meaning in the film is not lost on the viewer.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Unrealistic
Comment: I bought this title because of some good reviews on Amazon, but found it generally contrived and hard to take seriously. The production values were decent and the setting was quite beautiful, but the direction was lacking and the characters were very underdeveloped. I really had to stretch myself to not see most of the characters as cliches or unknowns. I'd have to be really bored to watch it again.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Exceptional in places, shaky in others
Comment: This is an interesting and somewhat fresh look at race and gay love done with some flair and ambition. The casting and editing are pretty good and this is a stong effort overall.
However, I can't get past the story that claims that a young boy, white but mostly Black-identified, falls in love with a convict, prison-escapee Black man, who falls in love with him. Now I'm a romantic, but it was real hard for me to believe, and this film does nothing to make it seem real. (We are expected to accept that with one look, the white boy falls headlong in love with the Black man and will risk everything for him.)
Add to that this nagging feeling that the film-maker wants to make a film crossing the gay race lines, but that it backfires, in my mind, because the white boy only loves the Black man because he's Black. (At least we're given no evidence to the contrary.) So, the racism that the film might be trying to combat is actually ever present in the film.
Overall, it's original, covers some delicate ground, and moves along well. It's worth seeing to decide how you feel about it, but I can't really give it a recommendation.
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Editorial Reviews:
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An intelligent and haunting depiction of sexual passion and the interplay between desire and identification, John G. Young`s first feature is a festival favorite that`s been three years waiting for a release. Set in a redneck, upstate town, it`s about a white teenager who`s totally black-identified - does his blond hair in dreads, plays hip-hop, makes the Autobiography of Malcolm X his bible - although he`s never met a black person. His life takes a turn when he falls in love with Knowledge, a young black man who`s been wounded escaping from prison.
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