Saturday, January 1, 2011

THE LOST COAST

2008, 74 min
Synopsis

A night of hot gay sex in a tent is the source of tension among a trio of twenty-something friends when they reunite for a San Francisco Halloween parade in this moody indie.

Review

Artful and melancholy, The Lost Coast is a distinctly American take on a European art film. Taking inspiration from Antonioni, Truffaut and Godard, director Gabriel Fleming has created an intimate film overflowing with emotions. Friends since childhood, Mark (Lucas Alifano), Jasper (Ian Scott McGregor) and Lily (Lindsay Benner) are now in their mid-twenties with their identities shaped, yet they still retain plenty of rough edges. Buried in their past is a high school camping trip where Jasper and Mark had some hot nighttime tent action. Jasper now identifies as straight and wants nothing to do with even the memory of that night. Gay Mark remembers the night fondly and holds it close to his heart. Mark’s roommate Lily just wants the trio to deal with it. Getting together for a San Francisco Halloween parade on Castro Street, the trio enters a world of wildly costumed crowds and sexual confusion as the story resurfaces and emotions are laid bare. The tension builds and the three old friends decide to find some Ecstasy to break the dark mood. It is during this search that the reminiscing takes the trio down a path from which they can’t return.

Shot with elegance and precision, Gabriel Fleming’s artful film will reverberate in your soul.