Reuben is an aspiring stage performer but his goal is tested by his anxiety leading to stammering a lot. He meets Derek, a deaf man, in whom not only he finds love but a driving force that helps him reach his goals and proudly embrace who he is. The two soon fall in love, with Reuben learning Auslan and they both meeting each other's families. Reuben has written a script inspired form his life and he finds courage to submit it to a fading actor Gareth. Looking at this as an opportunity to resurrect his career, the new industry mentor betrays Reuben and claims the ideas as his own and gets Reuben to sign the contract. He is heart broken but nothing much he can do with Derek constantly at his side. At Derek's sisters engagement party, Derek and Reuben have a small argument, post which Derek dies in an accident. The vent brings Reuben closer to Derek's family and his mother gives a big check to Reuben asking him to live his dream by creating a stage play from his life honoring her son's legacy.
The film deals with those who live with disabilities – day in and day out. It also deals with the LGBT community. I would not call this film a fay film at all. Yes, the protagonists are from the community and the film tries to focus on struggles but it is one of the many issues that the film is trying to portray. The story had potential and for an independent film, they try to do their best, but if I was to judge the film purely on its merits, then I am sorry but the film falls flat. Way too much focus is given to the fading actor Gareth and his litigator wife and their problems etc. It is almost as if film suddenly focused on showing the evils of film industry and how people are manipulated. It would have been all ok, if the actor were good. But acting across the board is pretty bad to plain average. Gareth and his the girl playing his wife were the worst of the lot. And this scenes go on and on forever. Similarly the forced fight between Derek and Reuben feels quite forced and the sudden change in the family as well. Those scenes and screenplay felt like there was a checklist of things that the script should have and the makers were just trying to hit those. The soul of the film came only in the first 30 or so minutes when the deaf Derek becomes a means and support to help Reuben overcome his speech impairment using Auslan and how beautiful their love develops, thereby showing focus on disabilities within gay community. But besides that the film did not do much for me. As I said, intentions were noble and at least someone tried, but I am just being objective here. (3/10)
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