LONESOME, Australia, 2022. Starring Josh Lavery, Daniel Gabriel, Anni Finsterer, Ian Roberts. Directed by Craig Boreham. 97 minutes. Rated R (High impact sexualised violence, sex scenes and nudity)
An Australian cinema perspective on gay men and gay issues. Attitudes have changed over the last 50 years but gay men, many experiencing this in their teens, have encountered ignorance, being disowned by families and their communities, condemnation, often from a religious standpoint. This film dramatises these issues.
The government classification office indicates that this is considered Restricted material, more from the treatment of the themes rather than the issues themselves.
The treatment is frank and explicit, especially in the first 20 minutes. Some audiences may have difficulty with the male body, cinema traditions making it is still something of a taboo. It is not taboo in Lonesome.
Clearly, Lonesome is a film for the gay community. But it offers a story, not necessarily new or unfamiliar, of a young man who has a relationship with a married man in his small New South Wales country town. He is denounced and disowned by his father, leaving home for Sydney.
An encounter introduces him to a young man, captive, who allows him to stay in his unit, share some jobs, carrying furniture, gardening work. The sexual activity leads to something of a relationship, some happy moments at the beach, but misunderstandings and clashes. And Casey, blaming himself for the past relationship, (over dramatising it in the telling) leads to his lowering his self-worth.
And, again, wandering the city, checking the dating sites, this leads to a graphic experience of self-loathing, introduction to a dominator sado-masochistic group of older men that could entrap him.
The gay issues are still very current. Concerned parents, concerned teachers, counsellors, may find Lonesome offering keys to their concerns.
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