Leaving Metropolis

Rating:
Summary: a first rate gay film
Review: This is a lovely film with a complex plot and interesting finely drawn characters,believable dialogue and some sex scenes with beautiful bodies far more erotic than any hard core gay film. It is similar to another excellent gay themed film "Bedrooms and Hallways" Also well worth seeing.
Read the review in this section by reviewer, Grady Harp, who has witten an excellent analysis of this film. The best line...." How could I have drowned in anyone as shallow as you"

Rating:
Summary: The Metropolis Mixer
Review: This movie is so mixed with good points and bad that when the movie is finished you really feel nothing for the characters. The bodies and faces of the actors are beautiful, stunning in fact, but what lies beneath is a heaping mess. David, the gay painter, is so consumed with himself (as his friend is dying) and Matt (the husband) is stumbling with his sexual idenity crisis that in trying to find himself he destroys others in his wake. The only real character that shines, but briefly, is Violet (the wife) who gives us a small glimpse of a woman that is betrayed and caught in a bewildering situation which she has no real way to vent her fustration. Overall the paintings and beautiful people are nice to look at, but the overacting by David and Matt and a storyline that is scant finds one leaving metropolis and heading for the hills.

Rating:
Summary: Far underrated
Review: Two hot-bodied hunks dominate this Canadian gay drama about an artist who falls in love with a married "straight" guy. This independent Canadian drama from Brad Fraser, the writer of Love and Human Remains focues on David, a controversial gay painter in the remote Canadian province of Manitoba. His financial success has brought him fame, money and a dull life. He basically hangs out with Kryla, a straight woman and Shannon, an HIV positive trans woman who is also his roommate. To get some inspiration, he takes a job as a waiter at a small cafe run by a married couple, Matt and Violet. The last thing he expects to do is fall in love with Matt, but that's just what happens. David starts painting again -- homages to Matt, his new love wreaking havoc on the marriage and on David. While Leaving Metropolis feels like an old-style "gay movie" -- poor writing and stilted characters, it does have something to recommend. There are several fairly intense sex scenes, both straight and gay and these two guys aren't shy about showing us their bodies. No full-frontal nude shots, but plenty of underwear and chest showing and these two boys have a lot to look at. After some research we learned that the film is based on Fraser's stage play Poor Super Man which had a whole different premise to it. The play emphasized David's personal feelings toward the comic book hero Superman and how he was just as perfect as his hero. Of course, what the play was showing was that no one is perfect. Unfortunately that storyline has been trimmed down in the film. Just a simple gay melodrama with some sweet skin.