Detachment (Films Worth Watching)

Director Tony Kaye’s long-awaited film stars Academy Award® winner Adrien Brody as Henry Barthes, a substitute teacher who conveniently avoids any emotional connections by never staying anywhere long enough to form a bond with either his students or colleagues. A lost soul grappling with a troubled past, Henry finds himself at a public school where an apathetic student body has created a frustrated, burned-out administration. Inadvertently becoming a role model to his students, while also bonding with a runaway teen who is just as lost as he is, Henry finds that he’s not alone in a life and death struggle to find beauty in a seemingly vicious and loveless world.

Kaye has molded a contemporary vision of people who become increasingly distant from others while still feeling the need to connect. Detachment features a stellar ensemble cast, including Academy Award® winner Marcia Gay Harden, Christina Hendricks, William Petersen, Bryan Cranston, Tim Blake Nelson, Lucy Liu, Blythe Danner, James Caan, and newcomers Sami Gayle and Betty Kaye..

Undertow (Film by Javier Fuentes-Leon)

The tragic story of a married Peruvian fiusherman, Miguel,  who falls in love, despite the strict moral code imposed by the church, with another man who has come to his seaside village to paint . The story is both beautiful and heartbreaking and shows the terrible price exacted by religious dogma. When his lover drowns and returns as a ghost, Miguel must come to terms with his own sexuality and is faced with revealing his secret relationship. The cost is high but his happiness hinges on becoming a real man and doing what is necessary to free both himself and his departed lover.

The film is shot on location in Cabo Blanco, Peru and the location is beautiful and the cinematography is simply stunning. You should not miss this film.

Synopsis


Miguel is a handsome, young and beloved fisherman in Cabo Blanco, a small fishing village in the Northern coast of Peru, where the community has deep-rooted religious traditions. Miguel is married to the beautiful Mariela, who is 7-months pregnant with their firstborn, but Miguel harbors a scandalous secret: He is having a love affair with another man, Santiago, a painter who is ostracized by the townsfolk for being agnostic and open about his sexuality.
When Santiago drowns accidentally in the ocean's strong undertow, he cannot pass peacefully to the other side. He returns after his death to ask Miguel to look for his body and bury it according to the rituals of the town. Miguel must choose between sentencing Santiago to eternal torment or doing right by him and, in turn, revealing their relationship to Mariela and the entire village. Miguel is forced to deal with the consequences of his acts and to come to terms with who he really is, even if by doing so he stands the chance of losing the people he loves the most.
With sweeping images of the beautiful Peruvian coastline, UNDERTOW (Contracorriente) is the emotional intersection of contemporary sexuality, confronted by tradition and belief. This sexy and redolent love story is the feature film debut of Javier Fuentes-León and stars Manolo Cardona (Beverly Hills Chihuahua and the hugely popular telenovela series, Sin tetas no hay paraiso, and was also named by People en Espanol as one of its 50 Most Beautiful People in 2005), Cristian Mercado (Che) and Tatiana Astengo. The film is produced by Javier Fuentes-León and Rodrigo Guerrero (Maria Full of Grace, Dog Eat Dog).



 http://movies.netflix.com/WiPlayer?movieid=70129390&trkid=7636966&t=Undertow&pt_request_id=5649980a-e382-49a1-8129-d73f5e21a827-1985627&pt_rank=1&pt_row=4&pt_location=WATCHNOW

Save Me (Films Worth Watching)

This film examines the issue of conversion therapy which has lately been in the news. Can you really "pray the gay away?". Watch the film and decide for yourself. The acting is superb and the characters are believable. There is not much gloss here, and if you watch the film you will have a much better understanding of the issues experienced by men who love other men. Highly recommended viewing.