Gone, But Not Forgotten (2003)
Made on a miniscule budget and shot
on video, "Gone But Not Forgotten" is nonetheless
an engaging and romantic gay film. Filmmaker Michael
Akers is very ambitious here and often his reach overextends
his grasp, but his film has its heart in the right
place and this makes it pretty easy to forgive it
its cinematic and thespian trespasses.
Drew is a forest ranger who keeps
getting into difficult situations at work. He rescues
an attractive man on a hillside during a rainstorm
and the two end up in the hospital. But while Drew
only has a few minor contusions, the other guy has
far more serious problems. Having amnesia and no recollection
of his accident, the man does at least remember that
his name is Mark.
Now, a sidenote: One of my favorite
TV shows this past season was "Everwood" on the WB.
In it, a cute local boy in a small town is in a coma
after an accident. Meanwhile the new doctor's son
falls in love with the boy's girlfriend while he is
in a coma. Once the local boy regains consciousness,
he has amnesia. As he integrates back into society
and begins to try to heal, he and the doctor's son
become friends. The amnesiac struggles to remember
his past while dealing with a family, a girlfriend,
and, in fact, an entire town that already knows him
and expects him to be who he was before the accident.
It is a lot of pressure and we see the amnesiac boy
struggle to placate others while the frustration of
living up to their expectations nearly causes him
to collapse. Needless to say, even though this is
the WB, the two boys, the amnesiac and the doctor's
son, never do fall in love no matter how close they
get. Sigh.
But watching the TV show lead me
into wondering if amnesiacs ever "change" sexual identities
after they loose their memory. After watching "Everwood,"
I always wanted to see a film where a cute straight
boy has amnesia and falls in love with a guy (much
to the chagrin of his girlfriend and family) upon
starting his new life. I think that would be a hoot.
"Gone But Not Forgotten" came pretty close to fulfilling
that wish.
Forest ranger Drew and amnesiac
Mark do begin a relationship but it is fraught with
obvious problems. Some of these problems belong to
the viewer in that we have to suspend disbelief and
accept that no licensed therapist who has a working
knowledge of amnesia is ever consulted or makes a
visit to the traumatized Mark. This is pretty ridiculous
and Akers writes his way around it by completely avoiding
the issue. If this film were set 30 years ago, it
might seem more feasible. As it is, we have to believe
that Drew is allowed to bring Mark home to live with
him and that they fall in love without much annoyance
from the real world.
Much of the dialogue and plot here
can seem labored and campy when analyzed thoroughly
but that didn't really bother me. I could see that
Akers was going for a sort of gay Harlequin Romance
and that some poetic license would have to be allowed.
Much of the film is romantic and much of it does fill
us with a sense of awe and joy. In many heartfelt
ways, it's a lovely film.
Much of our forgiveness is evoked
via the charisma laid on by the main actors in the
piece. Aaron Orr and Matthew Montgomery may not be
the best actors ever to be on a movie set but they
are relaxed, honest and charming. We like these guys
and we want to see them hook up. Orr's stumbling through
a few scenes only makes him more adorable and Montgomery's
natural ease and deep brown eyes has him practically
smoldering in every scene he is in. These guys are
comfortable in the characters and we enjoy watching
them.
Even better, they have real chemistry
together! It's nice to have a gay romance that goes
somewhere we've never really seen a film go before
and does so in a way that is simply fun and idyllic.
"Gone But Not Forgotten" is romantic and has a wonderfully
and fulfilling ending. Who needs realism, good acting,
good cinematography or a big budget? I'll take a love
story that makes me happy any day.
Notes:
Filmed in California with some scenes
shot in Yosemite.
Viewed on 8/24/03 at the Metropolitan
Theater in Austin as a part of Agliff 2003 (Day 4).
Notes on Agliff 2003 - Day 4 - Part
two
Met up with Johnny Oh! and Craig
to view this one. We began talking as both of them
had seen "The Experiment" earlier in the day and I
hadn't. Craig started telling me about it and Johnny,
seemingly to me - out of nowhere - got a bit upset
at Craig and told him that he interrupted him frequently.
He pretended to start reading a book but Craig apologized
profusely and Johnny seemed to forgive him.
As we talked more, I did see that
Craig does talk a lot and does overtake conversations
a lot. But I don't think he interrupts. Craig has
a really high-pitched voice - really, really high-pitched.
So high-pitched that it causes one pause when they
first hear him speak! So I'm sure he is grateful to
be around people he feels comfortable around and to
be able to just talk without being self-conscious.
Maybe that is why he tends to monopolize a conversation
a tad. Still, I thought Johnny overreacted a bit and
I wondered what the underlying motivations for all
the drama was. I eventually had to laugh because after
all that I felt a little uncomfortable.
After the movie started, there was
some talking, tired old queen behind us who thought
his catty comments were amusing. Apparently the dear
old fool didn't realize he was out in public and NOT
IN HIS FUCKING LIVING ROOM. The only thing more obnoxious
than someone who talks during a movie is a tired old
queen who sounds like Blanche Dubois' with a sore
throat talking during a movie. Sheesh. Seeing this
sweet, romantic film with a bunch of noisy, tittering
old homos made me wonder if I should even go to the
gay film festival anymore. It made me so angry and
I started to hate gay people. That sucks.
Scott Dinger, Agliff's Artistic
Director did acknowledge that the showing was sponsored
by the Eye Institute of Austin and then he read a
short e-mail letter from the filmmakers who could
not be in attendance.
Craig and I were staying to see
"The Event" after the film but Johnny wasn't. Between
films we waited in the lobby and Craig said Hi to
a ton of folks. He has a lot of friends. As Craig
and I left to go to the next film, Johnny talked to
Scott Dinger about the opening night film "Girls Will
Be Girls." John felt that perhaps the audience, in
particular the females, should have been more forewarned
that the film had over-the-top jokes about rape and
abortion. He also wondered if any of the females on
Agliff's staff had seen the film prior to opening
night. Agliff Executive Director Sandra Martinez did
tell him she hadn't seen the whole film and that there
was at least one walkout during the opening night
show.
