Jonathan (2016)
8/10
Missing the point
5 January 2019
Warning: Spoilers
I liked this movie. Some say it moved slowly, but considering the story it tells, that is appropriate. It is a young man's attempt to know the story about his parents, one of whom he has never known, and the other who is now dying.

Some of the reviews here are complaining that it celebrated homophobia, and/or minimized the gay story line, or that it isn't truly a gay story at all. I disagree. The gay characters might be secondary to the primary character, but it's a gay story in how those secondary characters affect the primary character, and the impact they have had on him. This is about a young man caring for his dying father, who never knew his mother, and doesn't understand why his father refuses to talk about her, knowing that time is running out for him to learn anything about his mother. His reaction and frustration are normal.

This is not celebrating homophobia; it is demonstrating how it impacts people and causes them to do unintentionally cruel actions; it is demonstrating the damage that homophobia does. I thought it gave a realistic portrayal of a man who lived his life in the closet but was determined not to die there. Is it so surprising that his son would be stunned at learning the truth about his parents? This wasn't about the son being homophobic, it was about his very reasonable and understandable sense of betrayal, learning that he had been told lies about his parents, for his entire life... and while his one remaining parent is in the throes of dying. Who wouldn't be shocked and frantic and angry at such a time? This was hardly celebrating homophobia; it was demonstrating its effects.
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