Review of The Dying Gaul (2005) by Winston L — 13 Nov 2005

[font=Century Gothic]"The Dying Gaul" takes place in 1995. Struggling writer Robert Sandrich(Peter Sarsgaard) has written a script called "The Dying Gaul" which was inspired by his lover Malcolm who had died that year of AIDS. The studio is willing to buy the script for a million dollars but there is a problem. As the studio executive, Jeffrey(Campbell Scott) puts it - the American viewing public does not want to see a movie about gay men, so could he change the character dying of AIDS to a woman? Robert stalks off at first but then realizes there are more than a couple of things he can do with a million dollars like put his son through college. Jeffrey introduces Robert to his wife, Elaine(Patricia Clarkson), who used to be a screenwriter herself. At which point, Jeffrey becomes attracted to Robert. Complications ensue...[/font].

[font=Century Gothic]"The Dying Gaul" is at its best when it is a condemnation of Hollywood's refusing to make any movies about gay men and lesbians("Brokeback Mountain" does come out next month.). When it makes a hard turn away from the political to the personal and even the new age, the movie weakens towards a very problematic ending. Peter Sarsgaard and Patricia Clarkson, being two of the best actors around, make this movie better than it should have been.[/font].

[font=Century Gothic][color=#000080]"Three of Hearts" is a documentary about a rather unique relationship and family. The relationship consists of two men and a woman who are all in love with each other - Sam & Steven & Samantha. Sam and Steven were in love first before they decided to add a woman to the mix. At the beginning of the movie, Samantha has just become pregnant for the first time.(And she will also give birth to a second child.) I was surprised to see they all work together at the same wellness center.[/color][/font].

[font=Century Gothic][color=#000080]The moral of the documentary is that we spend too much time self-analyzing. Also, we rely too much on labels to define ourselves.[/color][/font].