In Bloom (2013) User Reviews

Gay Drama of a Relationship that is dying

[t-dooley-69-386916 · 7/10 · 28 June 2014]

This indie, gay based drama has been compared to Brit, indie hit 'Weekend'. I can see the comparisons but actually found this to be a better story. It is about two men Paul and Kurt, the film starts out with them meeting at a party and it is clear that they are somewhat 'estranged'; we then go back seven months to when their love was clearly 'in bloom' and find out how they got to this stage.

Whilst Paul worked in a supermarket to pay the bills, Kurt was a drug dealer and got to meet a lot of laid back people – some might say too laid back. A chance encounter then starts the clock ticking on the road to separation. We also have a back story of a serial killer who is targeting lone men. What we then have is the painful deterioration of the two lovers relationship and I have to sat it was done completely convincingly. Things never just end and this was like watching nails being hammered into the coffin of their shared love.

I found this completely absorbing even though it was far from being a 'feel good' movie. Quite the contrary; it dealt with an aspect of relationships that is all too often ignored and that is the breakdown. Director Chris Michael-Birkmeier has made a very good film and has also got two excellent performances from his leading men Kyle Wigent as Kurt and Tanner Rittenhouse as Paul – both of them virtual unknowns but both showing great ability. Not a bedroom fest more a study of a relationship past its best and if you are up for a challenging, intelligent and very human story then you could do a lot worse than giving this one a chance – recommended.

Honest Portrait of a Relationship Gone Sour

[l_rawjalaurence · 7/10 · 22 February 2016]

Filmed in and around Chicago. C. M. Birkmeier's no-budget film centers on a turbulent relationship between Kurt (Kyle Wigent), and Paul (Tanner Rittenhouse). They begin the film with their affair completely "in bloom," as the title suggests; but then Kurt declares openly to Paul that he is no longer in love. Whether that is actually true or not is a moot point; by the film's end, when Kurt is the unwitting witness to an horrific murder, he actually discovers the true meaning of fidelity and loyalty.

The plot is a familiar one, but director Birkmeier reinvigorates it through a suggestive cinematic style. His stock-in-trade is the flat two-shot framing Kurt and Paul as they eat Chinese food, play video games, or sit in bed. This might suggest closeness, but can also denote imprisonment; hence Kurt's desire to escape the relationship. Yet Birkmeier also uses the aerial shot looking down on the two lovers as they lie in bed together. They seem quite far distant from the camera - a fitting metaphor, perhaps, for the state of their affair. On another occasion he films them making love to one another; they are actually lying horizontally in bed, but Birkmeier shoots them from the side and then turns the image through forty-five degrees, making it seem as if they are standing up, having a "quickie" before moving on.

On other occasions Birkmeier uses locations to suggest the sterility of the protagonists' existence. Paul spends his days in a grocery- store filling shelves and exchanging desultory conversation with co- worker Eddie (Jake Andrews). Meanwhile Kurt visits several groups of youngsters to sell them weed; while making a lot of ready money from the deals, he does not seem to enjoy it very much. Or maybe he is just frightened of engagement with anyone, whether boyfriends or others.

Critics might accuse IN BLOOM of giving a stereotyped portrait of a gay community as promiscuous, drug-addicted and hedonistic. This is perhaps a little too censorious: Birkmeier seems more interested in the emptiness of his characters' existences as they move aimlessly from party to party without any real aim in life. This is the main reason for Paul and Kurt's break-up; while they claim to have each other, they both realize that the relationship will not get anywhere.

Just a bit boring

[cekadah · 5/10 · 5 January 2015]

But not an altogether bad movie!

Here we have Kurt & Paul who seem to have developed a life together successfully but from the start the viewer is aware of a tension in the relationship. Kurt sells drugs and Paul seems distant and depressed. Things come to a head when Paul suspects Kurt is 'seeing another'! All the while the background story is there's a serial killer somewhere in the city.

Paul wants a simpler domestic life while Kurt want to go party. You know the relationship is doomed. And at movies end you don't really know if these to actually get back together but a murder brings them back together - if only momentarily.

It's a good story but some of the acting is lacking and the plot gets repetitious at one point.

It feels like it will never end

[ciffou · 2 November 2015]

It was hard for me to find this movie and now I understand why.

First of all, the two protagonists are not good actors...well, "Paul" is not good and "Kurt" is terrible and the worst part is that I guess he's the one we should care about the most since he has more screen time (throwing glasses with a cliché closeup to the broken vase and shaking his shoulders while pretending to be crying).

At the beginning it is stated that some months have past, however if you had not read that, you could never tell because there is no sense of urgency or a better editing (or characterization) to show it instead of saying it. (Even in the flashback to when they had their first kiss they look the same).

I don't get what Kurt is supposed to be afraid of. Paul suggested going to Paris...OK? With what money? It didn't sound like a realistic proposal. Was it the "we do the same thing all the time"? Because Paul said he wanted more than drinking and smoking but they kept bumping into each at every party, so I guess he didn't mean that either. Was it "Kevin"? No, Kurt describes him as a not serious thing. So, why the hell did he want to break up so much to then go back to Paul even though nothing had changed and just a few days later (again, this could have happened many months later but how can I tell?). Another thing is the killer subplot. What a waste of time.

The only redeemable thing was Eddie. That's a far more likable and interesting character in all his creepiness. The character is just weird and the actor playing it does a good job and it's engaging, unlike the leading players. You can feel how the rhythm changes because of him (in a similar way like Penelope Cruz lifting the whole Vicky Cristina Barcelona).

It is not that long, but it feels like it will never end.

Really sad and horrible!

[Irishchatter · 6/10 · 20 December 2014]

This movie really makes your skin crawl. It was heartbreaking that Kurt was dealing with drugs for a living.

Like I would've thought that Paul really should have made the effort to get Kurt out of drug dealing and get him help like it should've been part of the film really. Instead it was like Paul didn't bother his head to help him when he found out what he was doing.

The only part I was glad and relieved in the movie was, Paul helped Kurt with his injuries when Kurt was a victim of being mugged. However I was surprised the bad guy or the police weren't talked about much in this film because I really wanted the bad guy to be caught and explain why he mugged Kurt! This storyline seems to be really rushed to be honest with you. This was with regards in how us audience really want to know much detail what really and clearly is happening with the boys and the film itself!

Not Uplifting

[garretthernandez · 3/10 · 4 September 2015]

Is it impossible for the gay community to make a gay movie that doesn't portray gay people as promiscuous, uneducated, drug-addicted, alcoholics who cannot have a successful relationship? Apparently not. This is just another example of gay people actually advancing negative stereotypes by actually portraying all the gay people in their movie as that stereotype. Gay people are successful lawyers, doctors, and parents. Is that too boring for your movie or doesn't it portray enough of a struggle? The only things the characters in this movie think about are getting drunk, getting high or cheating. Is this supposed to make non-gay people more sympathetic to those different then them, or to re-enforce their already bigoted views? It's embarrassing that you don't even stand up for yourself.

A least it's not formula

[BILLYBOY-10 · 8/10 · 24 December 2017]

A story about a breakup, heartache, confusion, pain, remorse, love, and all the emotions in-between. Very intelligent script, very good acting, directing and production values. Worth my time after watching the same old high school afraid to come out blah blah blah.

a muddling genre-blender

[lasttimeisaw · 5/10 · 29 June 2015]

IN BLOOM, the debut feature from director/writer Chris Michael Birkmeier, a genre mixture tale in Chicago, recounts the ups-and-downs of a young couple Kurt (Wigent) and Paul (Rittenhouse), the former is a drug-dealer, but his clientèle are mostly hipster youngsters, so it is not a swearing, gun-crazy thriller one might expect for this sort of job; but Paul is a clerk in a supermarket, who scorns this line-of-work, yet as long as it pays for the bills, he can just condone it. A looming danger which quite inferiorly sets the suspenseful tone is a serial killer on the lam, whose victims are uniformly young males, which is haphazardly reminded from news flashes on TV and a random enactment. In the midstream, a stimulation to mislead us Kurt is going to be the next victim, until edging to the coda, a final victim would supposedly thrust a revelation for Kurt about the profundity of love, which frankly speaking, is quite a lame strategy to choose this particular object.

Apparently, the central story is an ever-so-common relationship quandary, Kurt is the variant who is frustrated and scared to find out the sexual attraction has dwindled, which for any mature mind, it is a sign that their relationship eases into another critical phase, when passion turns into the form of a deeper love. But as a young blood, he clearly is not that smart, and incited by external temptation from one of his client Kevin (Fane), he breaks off the relationship, but the new lifestyle is not his messiah, when remorse overcomes, can he mend his mistake?

Generally speaking, IN BLOOM looks rather cheap in appearance, especially the night time scenes, amateurish and uninspiring, the storyline awkwardly fatigues although the two leads strives to perk up the borderline insufferable narrative to some extent. By any criterion, it is difficult to pick anything singular for praise, on the whole, the film's sole plausible excuse of its existence is that it enters on a gay couple, otherwise, hopefully years later, when we look back from a time when sexuality will no longer be an irrelevant topic, the movie will be remissly regarded as one of the anachronism from a bygone era, that will be the best scenario ever!

Good plot

[avxva · 8/10 · 11 April 2018]

It is very close to the real life of many gay couples, although the outcome was not expected..

Another gay film dealing with drugs

[larapha · 3/10 · 26 December 2016]

I could hardly say I liked In Bloom. At first for its title: nothing is booming there. On the contrary, the main couple is in crisis. Another film showing gay lifestyle as aimless and linked with drugs. And more concerning: nobody does care that one of the main characters lives of this 'profession' as he goes getting High from one setting to another. The other person for the couple also lives a meaningless live, just working to pay the bills, as it seems. Nothing remotely romantic in the air. To complicate the things, there is a serial murder that is attacking young man, in a subplot never developed. The main characters also didn't convince me. They deliver their lines, for the most part of the flick. I couldn't see passion in their eyes, much less live. Ass a role, I found it a film hard to watch: no bloom, no love, no life.

a good depiction of life's imperfection

[drazenko2312 · 10/10 · 7 October 2021]

Very good movie. My favorite scene was with the paint when Kurt meets Kevin; and the song playing in the background. I think Kevin did a great job of playing the "who*re". Paul and Kurt are both good actors; I could feel their pain watching.

Kurt was so confused about what he wanted, and felt so many complex and painful emotions; emotions he would rather not have. He wanted things to stay the same, and cared about Paul even though he stopped loving him. He did mot want to hurt him but the sad reality set in..it's a good lesson for how life sometimes turns everything upside down. Not everyone can relate to this, but I can.

Paul was just a good guy who loved his partner deeply, and felt so betrayed by someone he thought loved him.

Guess you never lost a boyfriend?

[jkjwvzzzc · 10/10 · 6 December 2021]

This is the gay life turned sad . One guy is solid, the other is an addict and immature. Both are attractive to each other physically. I had this happen and got sober. How about you?

A movie about the changes in Love

[fabiog-26-358885 · 8/10 · 11 January 2021]

I think it's just a story about a couple going through the "infatuation stage" (the first few months in an average relationship) to a "more real love" stage (if they can). Many couples break up at that point, regardless of whether they are gay, straight, or whatever ...

After the movie ended, I figured if one of the leads was a woman (especially the one who worked as a grocery store repositor), the movie would still have worked well.

Some comments say it's another "gay movie, showing a dying relationship and dealing with drugs ..." ... and I think gay and drugs are just a mere context in this movie.

On the other hand, it is a simple film, without many pretentions, but at times moving, perhaps, because of that simplicity.