A Heaven For Queers

The makers tried to make a simple low-budget film that could address a few issues at the same time - homosexuality, coming out and Christianity. Unfortunately it was quite bad. This film would have been ok had it come like 20 years ago but it came out in 2011. Agreed it is slightly dated but 2011 was still quite upbeat, not just in technology but also about script writing and other aspects.

Matthew and Brandon are best friends and form a part of trio. They are all teenagers. When Brandon discovers a gay magazine in Matthew's room, they both come out to each other and confess their love. Unfortunately, Matthew's father sees them together and forcibly sends him to a mental institution. A few years later both the boys are sent to gay conversion camp, where they try to obey the rules as much as they can. When the camp ends, Brandon decides that he cannot pretend anymore and is thrown out of home by his mother. He is 18 now but Matthew is still few weeks short of 18. Despite this he also decides to leave home to be with Brandon. After being homeless for a few days and being very sure that they are not going to hustle in a gay bar, they meet an older man Tommy who gives them shelter and food at his home expecting nothing in return. Eventually Brandon gets a job at the bar and enrolls in college and Matthew starts training at Tommy's saloon. The film ends on a sweet note where Brandon proposes to Matthew for marriage and to be together always.

As mentioned, this film was shot at a very low budget but thats the least of my issues with the film. A lot of time transitions in the film are shown through animation and musical numbers which test your patience. I was just rolling my eyes and fast forwarding the movie to reach to some meaningful point in the film. Each and every dialogue was unnecessarily stretched. The unnecessary long musical numbers were getting on my nerves. The acting was below par but that I blame on the director. I feel the boys had potential. The way the dialogues were being said felt as if some reading session was taking place. Also, a film that on one hand is trying to give a message about coming out and still being a true christian had these out of nowhere sexual dialogues between the two boys which felt totally out of place.

The film needs some serious editing and cut it short to 30 minutes and it would be barely watchable then. Till then, it is completely avoidable, unless you are bored out of your mind and have nothing better to do. (2.5/10)