Touches You

Just perfect...

Fanciful, disturbing, and wildly original, it announces the arrival of a fresh, bold voice in American cinema.

At first rather annoying in its heavy emphasis on reenactments, this movie ultimately proves fascinating, simply because the complicated, highly dramatic tale it tells still almost defies belief.

Amazingly Dorothy Parker said of a young Katharine Hepburn:"She runs the gamut of emotions from A to B." Luckily Ms. Parker died before Charlie David gave acting a shot since his gamut doesn't stretch that far.Unfortunately in this film he played the lead character, Zach Wells, and could only over-act one emotion, petulant drama queen. Most of the younger actors turned in reasonably good performances, but Charlie seemed to cast a creepy pall over every scene in which he appeared.As another person who reviewed the movie mentioned, it was refreshing to have a film with a gay presence that didn't focus on someone coming out or coping with all the baggage of being gay in a hostile world. That saved this sophomoric effort from being a complete waste of time, but the stiff, uncomfortable performances by almost all the older actors and their constipated dialogue delivered in a preachy, robotic manner made most of the movie a painful experience.Hopefully the actors who played Danny, Abbey, Shane and Chris will be able to build on what I assume was the start of their acting careers and hopefully Charlie David and the others, who spent the film performing like they were reading their lines for the first time, haven't given up their day jobs.

The fantasy/sf genres are replete with stories of people going back in time to correct their mistakes or give advice to their past selves in order to have an effect on the future.But the problem with advice is that the smart don't need it and the stupid won't use it – and, as Booth Tarkington famously wrote in The Magnificent Ambersons, "Let me explain a little: I don't think he'll change—at twenty-one or twenty-two so many things appear solid and permanent and terrible which forty sees are nothing but disappearing miasma. Forty can't tell twenty about this; that's the pity of it! Twenty can find out only by getting to be forty." Philosophically, I am against this type of story because, in the end, we are defined by our choices. Danny Reyes/Zachery Wells doesn't have the courage to live with the choices he's made and build a better future having learned from experience. The idea of going back in time to talk to your past self and inform him of all the ways in which you screwed up your life is pure folly and an abdication of personal responsibility.However, I prefer to read the film as one generation of gay men giving valuable, fatherly guidance to another. An older gay man says to the twink, "Watch out, kid, gay life can be a minefield. Here's how to navigate it." Though the script provides a few cringe worthy moments in the first act, the solid direction and uniformly good performances make up for it. Sean Paul Lockhart proved to be a tremendous surprise; though his part was small, the former adult star turned in a performance with great emotional depth and sincerity. The kid isn't just a pretty face.This is one of the best gay titles I've screened in years.

I stumbled across the film and didn't know what to expect. I certainly didn't expect to be so enthralled. I absolutely LOVED this film. I can't even describe it as a "gay film". It's a film about universal themes where the characters just happen to be gay. Don't we all wish we could be given the chance to tell our younger selves that we're on the wrong path? Of course, as this film so beautifully portrays, our young selves don't want to be told what to do by some weirdo older guy who knows way too much about ourselves and seems to be plotting to destroy our brilliant career. Fantastic script. Fantastic acting. Fantastic cinematography. And some wonderful twists. This film deserves to be seen by a much, much wider audience.

I saw Judas Kiss at the Rhode Island International Film Festival in August, 2011. Aside from some technical issues on the festival's part, I really enjoyed this film and am looking forward to getting my copy. I can't help but believe that I will pick up on more symbolism each time I watch it! It was also great to see a piece Of work from Gay Cinema that could break the boundaries of the genre and work well in mainstream film festivals like RIIFF!The characters were entertaining and thought provoking, and the writing made me snicker and laugh throughout while still keeping me enthralled during dramatic poignant moments. The cinematography was gorgeous, rich in color and well composed.I'm not always a fan of magical realism, as many films don't do it justice, but Judas Kiss ranks up there with Across the Universe in my mind! Unlike the later, it was based more in reality (or perhaps alternate reality), which created a great escape without going too far outside of the boundaries as we think of them.Great soundtrack as well!