Gregory is a young 18 year old boy who belongs to a lower class working family. Thankfully he is gifted and is family's only hope to win scholarship to get in a medical school. Although secretly he wants to be a photographer. He has been raised with ethics and morals by his very loving granny. His life spins out of control when he meets James. James is a successful middle age business owner who is in his marriage just because of his daughter. James initiates friendship and and career and life guidance for Gregory but there are strings attached. One weekend at the beach house, the two guys get physical and now Gregory is even more confused. Not only he is dealing with career choices, now he is also questioning his sexuality, and all this while having to face the burden of doing the right thing for his family. Gregory asks James to leave him alone but for some reason or the other, the 2 keep crossing each other's paths. Finally during carnival time, when men cover themselves in blue paint and do a symbolic dance to flirt with evil, Gregory mistakenly plays the devil himself and ends up killing James in a fit of anger. Life is not going to be the same again for Gregory.
The relationship and the interaction between James and Gregory is shown developing in a very interesting manner. James starts as a mentor, becomes a friend and ultimately becomes a lover. Its hard to say if James had genuine feelings or was he playing with Gregory's sensitive persona. I feel it was former since he says at one point that he has more to lose with everything that is going on. Having said that, it was also weird that James cant respect Gregory's need for privacy and inserts himself into Greg's family life. The lush landscape of Trinidad foregrounds the well-paced, beautifully shot, and brilliant drama. I really wanna visit there now. The ending is a bit disturbing yet poetic. Gregory and his best friend, covered in blue paint, come to the edge of a lake after their long trek after murdering James, wading far out until their heads are submerged by water. Gregory's character was pretty complicated. He is intelligent, sensitive, artistic where people around him want him to become a man by doing it with a girl or man-ning up to actions, stop being 'soft' etc. Gregory's rejection of James is not to do only with sexuality. It is also because of his uncertainty of removing himself from his family, the small town and the hidden artistic sensibility. As an actor Gregory is spot on. He expresses Gregory’s growing turmoil in every glance and gesture. When he tells his grandmother that his father will never be who she wants him to be, he’s also talking about himself. The film towards the end beautifully shows the carnival festival.
This is a beautiful, absolutely must-see film for people who are craving for something meaningful, poetic yet dramatic. It brings you in a world that you may have not seen otherwise and you are thankful to the filmmakers to take you through this journey. My rating is probably higher than what you may feel, but hey, I am entitled to my opinions. :) (PS: The english is really hard to understand in a lot of places because of the very strong accent.) (8/10)
Comments
May be saddest but more real , for the islands . A story of a social climber . Of course this is just my humble opinion.