Rating: 
Summary: Urbania = Urban Legends = Urban Fears!
Review: They say that urban legends are created by people trying to deal with fear and anxiety - like the gruesome fairytales from the Brothers Grimm are supposed to help children work out their worst nightmares. In Urbania, we watch Charlie (brilliantly played by Dan Futterman) stumble out of his sleepless bed into a series of seemingly unrelated vignettes: some of these tales we know (the dog in the microwave number, for example), some of them our hero is living through at the moment - or is he? He is after something - or someone, but what? Could it be that beautiful and sexy man on the street?
We meet through him friends, lovers, strangers - all with a tale to tell - but what exactly is Charlie's tale?Sounds confusing? Well, it is, and it's supposed to be, and it's wonderful. You get lost in a fever-dream, beautifully written, directed, filmed and acted. When you wake up from the dream, the surprise is substantial. An urban legend that has something to say for itself. Bravo!
Rating:
Summary: great
Review: I thought this movie was great. It kept my attention 100% of the time.
Rating:
Summary: One of the greatest movies ever
Review: From the opening scene in which a man loses a kidney simply because of a sexual urge to the closing credits, this movie is awesome. What can I say about a film that turns my stomach in the first scene and yet compells me to keep watching. This movie brings out the question of whether a glass is half empty or half full. While some reviews call this movie "dark", depressing and disburbing, I saw something totally different. I saw a beautiful love story--an intense and almost obsessive LOVE story and there really isn't anything dark or depressing about love. The visual aspects of this film and the story have so many layers and so many "stories". The question "what's real and what isn't" can be asked throughout the film. The bartender, the homeless man, and the main characters are all stories within stories within stories. There is great mystery as the stories unfold as to who or what the new object of Charlie's really is. Is he the man Charlie fantasized about while still with his lover? Is he the man Charlie wants to pursue to take his dead lover's place? Little by little the so called truth is revealed. Cutting back and forth between the grassy field and the "white" apartment builds the intensity of the film as we learn the final fate of the killer. This entire film is about love and the lengths a person goes to in order to honor that love and move on. I saw this film 7 times while it was in theaters and it was the first movie on DVD I purchased. This is the type of film I want to watch over and over to catch every little nuance because for some reason I believe this movie is so well made and the story so strong and therefore there are valuable lessons to be learned.
Rating:
Summary: Beautifully moving
Review: Having spent alot of time viewing gay themed films recently, I found it depressing that so many were based around 2 dimentional charactures who chuck smart one liners to be liked. I had my reservations about Urbania, but decided to rent it anyway. What I discovered is a powerful, heart breaking story about love, obsession and loss, told with understanding and originality. Jon Shear has created a visual requiem, with charatures who are complex and real. Take a chance with this film.
Rating: 
Summary: Arty, and that ain't good.
Review: This is the brand of arty bilge that leads breeders to think gay men have either a smarmy, campy sense of humor or absolutely none at all. Fortunately, staight audiences will probably steer clear of this so-called gem and thus effectively kill the true urban myth--that we're all bitter, death-and-sex-obssessed creatures teetering on the brink of sanity. Oh, and that we all live in New York, or want to. I guess the DVD transfer is good. Good enough to cause eye strain, actually, because the graininess of the original film is elevated nearly to the level of Impressionism. Hey, maybe it's art after all.
Rating:
Summary: Mysterious and mesmerizing film
Review: What an excellent piece of gay cinema! Dan Futterman is extraordinary. And the climax and ending of the movie are not obvious. A great film that deserves to be watched over and over to catch all the clues that you missed the first time.
Rating:
Summary: A compelling and disturbing tale of redemption...
Review: This film is one of the most moving films I've seen in the last couple of years. Dark, edgy, surreal, mythic are all words that could describe Urbania. While sometimes disturbing and uneasy, I found myself drawn into the journey. The main character, Charlie, wanders the night searching for revenge on the man he holds responsible for destroying his life. He meets an entire range of interesting and bizarre characters before finding his target. With revenge nearly in his grasp - Charlie discovers what he is truly made of.
Rating:
Summary: a disturbing film but definitely worth seeing
Review: I really liked this movie as I left the theater when I first saw it, even though it left me feeling a bit disturbed. What I really liked is that the film works on many different levels. Perhaps the screenwriter and director had a specific interpretation in mind, but I found myself wondering how much of what I was seeing on the screen was supposed to be "real" and how much was a depiction of the protagonist's inner psyche. Viewed as largely the latter, this film is an excellent exploration of the grieving process. Yes, the film is confusing at times -- particularly at the beginning. But I honestly cannot understand how someone can denigrate a film because he/she is too impatient to take the time to understand it. Does everything need to be blatantly obvious, like a made for TV movie? The only aspect of this film that really didn't work for me is the final encounter between the separated lovers, presumably in heaven. I found this scene trite and not very well written or acted. Still, this is one of last year's best films, and one of the best "gay genre" films I've seen (though I think this film is much, much more than a "gay film", and it really deserves a larger audience).
Rating:
Summary: Worth the extra cost for the dvd, you will rewatch...
Review: Worth the extra cost for the dvd, you will find new layers to the plot with each rewatching. Detailed filming and editing make this slightly morose tale haunting long after viewing it. Highly recomended for anyone whom has considered revenge on an unsympathetic world. Every character is well witten, and multifaceted, making each revelation of the plot painful, but honest.
Rating:
Summary: deeply disturbing and haunting
Review: This movie is indeed one movie you must see, to watch Dan Futterman, go through the emotional upheavals after the incident is thought provoking and you ask yourself what would you do in his place? Alan Cummings does an outstanding job but that is what he does in everything he is in. It is not a movie for the faint of heart it grabs your emotions and twists them, it grabs your heart praying for Chris to get it together. The ending leaves you knowing that things will be better for him. If you see any movie this year this is the one to see and ask yourself waht would I do if it happened to me.
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