Between Love & Goodbye [Import]

In a DVD interview, director Casper Andreas says, "It is not all good times being in a relationship." He says he wanted to explore what happens when the passionate love you thought would last forever does not, and the love goes away. I understand his point and, I think I view this film differently than those reviewers here who clearly hate it. I've often said, "A relationship is always wonderful until it isn't anymore." A friend of mine says, "the opposite of love is not hate. Hate is merely love standing on its head. The opposite of love is indifference." One thing is certain; lovers Kyle and Marcel (Simon Miller and Justin Tensen) are never indifferent to each other. Andreas captures this complex dynamic, and how we often love and hurt each other simultaneously; with pinpoint, often heartbreaking, accuracy.
French Marcel marries his lesbian friend Sarah (Jane Elliott) so he can stay in New York City with Kyle. Marcel and Kyle move in together, while Sarah gets Marcel's old apartment down the hall. This imperfect, but satisfactory, arrangement is thrown off balance by the arrival of Kyle's trangendered sibling April/Cole (Rob Harmon), who comes with endless emotional issues and baggage.
This independent drama was, astonishingly, shot in seventeen days; primarily in an abandoned New York City apartment building. I think the condition of the apartment building serves as the perfect metaphor for the crumbling relationships within.
Essentially, we watch Kyle and Marcel's relationship disintigrate; which is extremely painful to watch (this may be why many viewers find the film disturbing and even distasteful). Kyle and Marcel are torn apart by forces from within (both admit to one-night stands with strangers) and from without (April/Cole is an extremely toxic person who exacerbates the vulnerablities in Kyle and Marcel's relationship in order to break them up).
I know many reviewers hate this film, based on the low ratings, and I am in the minority. I don't believe this movie gives gay cinema or gay characters a bad name. Heterosexuals often display the same behaviors and have the same tragic things happen to them. Think of this as a "relationship movie." I can tell you that watching this movie, I felt like some painful wounds inside me were being ripped open. The whole movie rang sadly true and honest to me. I could not stop crying. The drama often reaches near operatic heights. The climax is a disturbing scene of domestic violence; while the conclusion, I think, makes the entire movie a tragedy of Shakespearean porportions. I highly recommend this adult drama, but not without a box of kleenex.

I agree that this film is not a typical feel good movie. But for the people giving it a low rating, I think you missed the point. Life isn't always pretty as it happens, and the way that life happened in this film was pretty real.

I watched this movie in its entirety just because I HAD to see how it turned out. I was not disappointed: the ending was as unbelievable and disagreeable as the rest of the film. Films like this give gay cinema a bad name, not to mention gays in general. It is a portrayal of the most self-centered, thoughtless, hateful group of people, who happen to be gay, you have ever seen on screen or off.

The story centers around a young French gay actor who wants to stay in the US with his lover. He does so by marrying a lesbian friend, but to no avail. Their relationship, superficial and trite at best, is poisoned by the interventions of the American's sister, a transsexual who has switched sides surgically and mentally several times too often. He/she can't stand it that his/her brother loves someone else and tries everything to destroy them.

The bulk of the film is devoted to the increasing nastiness of all parties towards one another, and is nothing more than a series of hateful outbursts and recriminations followed by abject apologies. It culminates in what might be a last reconciliation, as the American boy finally realizes the true nature of his sorry sibling and what her machinations have cost him. But fate, alas, is not with him, and everyone loses big time. Especially the viewer.