There are no redeeming features, critically speaking, in the film.
Ostensibly, there is a lesson stuck in the mud and muck about being truthful to your loved ones. It gets lost somewhere near the end of the film when the only thing it still has going to for it is the tease of another full frontal sex scene between, I´ll admit, two guys who aren´t bad to look at. But even that puerile pleasure can´t overcome a scatterbrained script written by director Christian Calson and equally inept camera work.
As a director, trying to be new and experimental is one thing, but asking the audience to buy rotating the camera as a revolutionary concept is insulting. At least have the production values to back up whatever it is you´re "trying" to do. Here, it just looks like the cameraman got tired with the two actors, pointed the camera out the car window and rotated. Over and over and over again. Until he vomited from vertigo, of course.
Some kind of commentary or interview with anyone involved in the making of "Flirting with Anthony" would have been appreciated. What was Calson thinking when putting the story together, how did the actors respond to the script, why did anyone sign on for this production? There can´t have been any pretension of creating a film which would play in a mainstream theater or get picked up for limited theatrical exhibition at a film festival.
VIDEO:
The 2.35:1 image is unenhanced for widescreen televisions and, if there is a film the anamorphic process is left off of, I guess this one is as good a candidate as any. There´s nothing particularly wrong with the transfer-it actually looks good, the various issues in filming notwithstanding. Early on, the areas of light in a dark room smear over the screen, distracting your attention from what is going on. That is a problem with the way the movie was shot, not the transfer. Otherwise, the video is clear of major problems and turns out to be the high point of the theatrical presentation.
AUDIO:
Well, the audio is a completely different story. "Flirting with Anthony" is saddled with a soundtrack intent on drowning out every bit of dialogue it can anytime a character opens their mouth. It´s the sound mix which is the problem here, considering the actors sound as though they are in a tunnel and no one has heard of looping before. It´s hollow and tin-sounding, not to mention suffocated by a horribly inappropriate techno score. Again, as with the video, this is an issue with the actual sound design in the film, not with the audio mix on the DVD. On that count, the 2.0 stereo track is comparable to the look of the film.
EXTRAS:
And this is where the ball was dropped. A paltry selection of three trailers ("Another Gay Movie," "Beverly Kills" and "FAQS") and twelve promotional shots in the photo gallery. That´s it. If it´s any indication, "Flirting with Anthony" doesn´t even rate a trailer of its own.
PARTING THOUGHTS:
Part of the Guilty Pleasures Collection, "Flirting with Anthony" lives up to the precedent set by "The Longing," the previous entry in the series. There are no redeeming features, critically speaking, in the film. Mercifully short (88 minutes), is the definition of how not to make an experimental film for any niche audience. With zero chance of getting recognized in the mainstream and even less of a chance to garner a devoted cult following, "Flirting with Anthony" might keep your attention because of the boys and morbid curiosity of how much worse it can get.
As a director, trying to be new and experimental is one thing, but asking the audience to buy rotating the camera as a revolutionary concept is insulting. At least have the production values to back up whatever it is you´re "trying" to do. Here, it just looks like the cameraman got tired with the two actors, pointed the camera out the car window and rotated. Over and over and over again. Until he vomited from vertigo, of course.
Some kind of commentary or interview with anyone involved in the making of "Flirting with Anthony" would have been appreciated. What was Calson thinking when putting the story together, how did the actors respond to the script, why did anyone sign on for this production? There can´t have been any pretension of creating a film which would play in a mainstream theater or get picked up for limited theatrical exhibition at a film festival.
VIDEO:
The 2.35:1 image is unenhanced for widescreen televisions and, if there is a film the anamorphic process is left off of, I guess this one is as good a candidate as any. There´s nothing particularly wrong with the transfer-it actually looks good, the various issues in filming notwithstanding. Early on, the areas of light in a dark room smear over the screen, distracting your attention from what is going on. That is a problem with the way the movie was shot, not the transfer. Otherwise, the video is clear of major problems and turns out to be the high point of the theatrical presentation.
AUDIO:
Well, the audio is a completely different story. "Flirting with Anthony" is saddled with a soundtrack intent on drowning out every bit of dialogue it can anytime a character opens their mouth. It´s the sound mix which is the problem here, considering the actors sound as though they are in a tunnel and no one has heard of looping before. It´s hollow and tin-sounding, not to mention suffocated by a horribly inappropriate techno score. Again, as with the video, this is an issue with the actual sound design in the film, not with the audio mix on the DVD. On that count, the 2.0 stereo track is comparable to the look of the film.
EXTRAS:
And this is where the ball was dropped. A paltry selection of three trailers ("Another Gay Movie," "Beverly Kills" and "FAQS") and twelve promotional shots in the photo gallery. That´s it. If it´s any indication, "Flirting with Anthony" doesn´t even rate a trailer of its own.
PARTING THOUGHTS:
Part of the Guilty Pleasures Collection, "Flirting with Anthony" lives up to the precedent set by "The Longing," the previous entry in the series. There are no redeeming features, critically speaking, in the film. Mercifully short (88 minutes), is the definition of how not to make an experimental film for any niche audience. With zero chance of getting recognized in the mainstream and even less of a chance to garner a devoted cult following, "Flirting with Anthony" might keep your attention because of the boys and morbid curiosity of how much worse it can get.
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[release]21245[/release]