This one is going to be about the last second of the film before the credits. After portraying what could have been a validating experience for someone who, admittedly only found himself being attracted to unavailable straight guys, the main character, Ivan, seems to finally have gotten off that bus two years after the bulk of the film. And then his unrequited love shows up, and for most of those last few minutes of the film, you think that FINALLY Ivan is redeemed from the horrible relationships he'd experienced. But no. While he tells Cole, his unrequited love, that it's too little, it's too late, and that Cole is an a-hole, Cole starts kissing him, without, at first, a reaction from Ivan. Ivan seems to really be "cured." Then, in the last second of the film, all of that is washed away as we see Ivan respond to the kiss, and... credits.
I assume most of the main production of the film was carried out by gay guys, and yet, that last second of film washes away everything that came before it. Cole has found his way back to Colombia to what? I don't know, it's not really clear since he spends most of the movie expressing that he's straight. In that last second of film, Ivan is instantly thrown back to the place he was at the beginning of the film. He's learned nothing. He hasn't REALLY grown as a character. I have the feeling that the director/writer thought that the audience would CHEER at that last second. No, I didn't, and I don't think I'm alone in that. It also vaguely perpetuates the stereotype that gay guys will glom onto anyone that shows them attention, no matter what the history may be. All the editor had to do was chop off the last second of film and I'd have been fine with it. It might have left the film with an unfinished feeling, but as an audience member, I would have chosen to believe that Ivan was a FULL person who had learned something valuable throughout the course of the film, and Cole was turned away to go explore his life elsewhere. And not that it matters, but without that last second, I'd have probably rated this film an 8 or 9. Really disappointing ending.
I assume most of the main production of the film was carried out by gay guys, and yet, that last second of film washes away everything that came before it. Cole has found his way back to Colombia to what? I don't know, it's not really clear since he spends most of the movie expressing that he's straight. In that last second of film, Ivan is instantly thrown back to the place he was at the beginning of the film. He's learned nothing. He hasn't REALLY grown as a character. I have the feeling that the director/writer thought that the audience would CHEER at that last second. No, I didn't, and I don't think I'm alone in that. It also vaguely perpetuates the stereotype that gay guys will glom onto anyone that shows them attention, no matter what the history may be. All the editor had to do was chop off the last second of film and I'd have been fine with it. It might have left the film with an unfinished feeling, but as an audience member, I would have chosen to believe that Ivan was a FULL person who had learned something valuable throughout the course of the film, and Cole was turned away to go explore his life elsewhere. And not that it matters, but without that last second, I'd have probably rated this film an 8 or 9. Really disappointing ending.