"The Books Of John" is a movie that follows the lives of three different people, Frank McLean, Will and Caryn. Frank finds himself alone after losing his longtime partner suddenly and without warning. Months later he finds that his partner had been keeping secret diaries. With the information in the diaries, Frank delves into his lover's past in an attempt to get to know more about the man that he never really knew. Will is a party boy who is a friend of Frank and Frank's late lover John.
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Reviews
Good movie but grossly overrated
Like the great film, it's made with a great deal of visible affection both in front of and behind the camera.
This movie feels like it was made purely to piss off people who want good shows
This is a dark and sometimes deeply uncomfortable drama
Okay, some of the dialog can be a bit overdone, but the thought behind this movie is very good and a welcome sight. Written and directed by David Schweiger, I found this film not as bad as other critics are saying. The only flaw is that I feel there are just too many quick scenes that fade in and fade out. Some don't make sense. I did for the most part like the actor, Jeff Batton, who handled his dialog quite well and was believable. I also like the way the subject of losing one's partner after many years a good choice in exploring. The secondary couples were touched on briefly. Matthew Palmer as a flippant fem type and his black lover played by Bajo Sanubi had little explored in their partnership. The only issue between them was the subject of contacting A.I.D.S. Alesha Willis as the best friend was good in a sympathetic role. And Peggy Brown did well as Grandma with her home spun logic. Bryen Winstead enters into our leads life as a love interest. After much pondering Batton takes him to bed, in some very hot nude scenes, and they begin to form a love relationship which has some twist along the way which I won't disclose. But there is a happy ending and a much needed one after seeing Between Love and Goodbye prior.
If there was an awards committee searching for the most horrendous gay-themed film of all time, this would be the only nomination. There are no redeeming qualities about the script, the acting or the directing. The previous post, giving this film such rave reviews has to be from the director or a friend of the director because even TLAvideo (who gets a pick chunk of its revenue from gay films of varying qualities) can't recommend it.Back to the drawing board for these obviously amateur filmmakers. Better luck next time.
I acquire gay-themed movies and watch them alone. Not because I don't want to watch with other people, but only because everyone knows that most independent films suck. Sometimes you find a real gem, but often you stumble across a real stinker. This movie starts off terribly. The sound editing is just awful. The actors are amateurs, which isn't the real problem. The real problem with this movie is that the story line is preposterous, and the stilted scenes are completely unbelievable. Like when the guy finds out he has HIV, takes ecstasy, spits out the ecstasy, tells his boyfriend, and his boyfriend is like "I'm leaving." His boyfriend does some soul searching, and they screw, and then they're like hunky-dory. They go to tell their friends that the guy has HIV -- their friends are like "oh really? that's too bad. better not transmit it to anyone else!" and then the kids w/ HIV are like "You're right. Hey, so, what's going on with you? give me details about your love-life!" Like, they guy has just been diagnosed with some terrible life-threatening infection, and then everyone's like "ah, well, forget about it. let's talk about my new boyfriend!" And like, the guy he randomly meets at a stream in Alabama turns out to be his dead lover's secret previously unseen son?And like, you live with someone for 12 years and you don't realize he's got daily journal entries from when he was 16 years old?*sigh*just awful.
My partner and I were pleasantly surprised by the entertaining elements of this movie, "Books of John." The music was, in our opinion, perfect. The selections made, added an extra artistic flair that made us melt into the movie even more.To attempt to make a movie that tells a "realistic" story about gay lifestyle, hardships, and relationships - is hard to pull off. Books of John did just that.Every movie has some sort of message that they want, or attempt to portray to the viewer. Books of John has a "new twist" that leaves you questioning several situations in your own life, and possibly others you've known along the way. We won't spoil it, you'll have to find out...
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