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Happy Birthday, Gemini

This film came out in 1980 and is apparently based on a play. So you have to watch the film keeping that context in mind. Set amongst some of the low-income class Philadelphians, its not the brightest movie made. The film can easily be summarized in a good 15-20 short film.

Francis Geminiani gets a surprise visit by his quasi girlfriend Judith and her brother Randy on the eve of his 21st birthday. For being best friends, Francis is not at all happy with their surprise visit and soon we realize it's because Francis thinks he is gay and is struggling with it. The siblings nevertheless get a warm welcome by Francis' father, his girlfriend, their neighbor who has a clumsy asthmatic son Herschel. Judith refuses to believe Francis is gay and keeps telling him they cannot be friends if thats true. Further probe tells that its actually Randy on whom Francis has a crush on. Nothing can come out of it though. After birthday celebrations, things start coming out and the film ends with a very nicely done between father-son when Francis comes out and his father accepts him for who he has. He, in fact, asks him to go follow his friends, live his life and figure out what he wants.

The film is unnecessarily stretched for no reasons. There are many scenes with Francis' fathers eccentric girlfriend. she is OTT and some of the scenes with her are funny but they do not add much to the story. The scene where Randy offers himself to Francis so that Francis can make sure whether he is gay or not was also quite nice. The best is of course the climax. The actors all seemed pretty amateur. The screenplay needed some strong tightening but then I guess for a 1980 film, its ok.

A poignant story about love and acceptance told through laughter; I do not think that people of today's generation will enjoy this film at all. (3.5/10)

Comments

luigi43 said…
At one time or the other , You'll let me know , in secret , how and where do You find out such rarity ! Hugs.
Golu said…
Sure. I only have one goto place, which I think you also know of.

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