Michael MacLennan — Playwright (2)

Movie

Ice Men (2004)
Ice men WikiData IMDb TMDB Douban
other title: 冰人 / Ice men …
When the movie first started, it seemed a little slow moving in terms of character development and it felt like some of the lines were contrived and just weak. I found myself thinking, ho hum...is this going to be another mediocre film by Wolfe Video? (Not all their stuff is bad, but some of it is terrible.) Fortunately, after a few minutes, the stories of the characters begin to unfold and we begin to get a sense of identifying with each of them, who they are, and why they have come together. I say "each of them" because I'm a man and can see a little part of myself in each of these characters (whether now or in the past). I won't give any of the story away--there are some very tense scenes; however, they are well done. The bright spot is that this film is an insightful look at how men interact with each other sometimes, they way we think as men and hide things...not just from women, but from other men as well as from ourselves, even to our own detriment. Deep down, all men are searching for acceptance. While I wouldn't call this an uplifting film, it's also not a downer either. We are left with good feelings. Admittedly, I do think there could have been a bit more character/story resolution in the end with some of the characters. We're left hanging in some ways...but then again, life is also like that at times, ie: sometimes, things in life happen that we as humans are just not able to resolve, and again, as men, our way of resolving them is just to bury them and not talk about them. While not the next big Oscar winner, I definitely found this a good, solid, watchable film, and would recommend it. Great performances by all the actors, but Ian Tracey really shines as Trevor. His outstanding performance throughout really helps bring the whole ensemble together. I could not imagine this film working as well as it did without him as Trevor. A+

Movie

Prom Queen: The Marc Hall Story (2004)
Prom Queen: The Marc Hall Story Douban
★ 6.8 5 ratings
other title: 毕业舞会
在外国,高中的毕业舞会对所有学生都有着极其重要的意义,想想QAF中的场景,赞呐...不过那是在美国,加拿大的高中生Marc想带自己的bf参加舞会,因为gay的原因,遭到了所在教会学校的拒绝,他决定争取自己的权利向家人come out,得到了父母的支持,在学校也得到同学的支持,为其开设网站,上了报纸,逐渐获得了越来越大的影响,但学校仍然坚持己见,然后有律师上门帮Marc免费打官司,将学校告上了法庭....