2by4
USA, 1997, 90min
director: Jimmy Smallhorne
cast: Kimberly Topper, Marian Quinn, Jimmy Smallhorne
If you are one of the lucky ones who
doesn't need to know what a film is about before going to see it, we heartily
recommend you to read as little as possible about this film in advance.
Not because any surprises will be given away, but because the film strives
towards its goal with a raw honesty, captivating the audience. It is a
voyage of discovery of the protagonist about himself, and it is at its
best if you keep yourself from knowing more than the Irish immigrant construction
worker in New York, Johnny Maher. For the rest of you, here is our review:
In the streets of the Bronx by night, an Irish immigrant,
while finding his sexual identity, experiences the re-awakening of old
childhood demons
Johnny is well-respected in his job with his uncle Trump's construction
company, as well as in the Irish community in the north of the Bronx, where,
helped along partly by drugs and alcohol, he parties until the small hours.
He loves his girlfriend, but somehow, Johnny, facing increasing sleeping
disorders, starts to feel uneasy. The new leather trousers seem to be having
an effect on night owls on the dark streets, or is Johnny looking for the
company of other men? One night he witnesses his uncle with a trick on
the building site, which seems only to reawaken old demons. What Johnny
doesn't know is, why.
Attempts to build a relationship with Christian seem doomed to failure
for reasons unknown, and his girlfriend Maria puzzles over the impenetrable
wall of silence surrounding her lover, sinking deeper and deeper into desperation...
-
Jimmy
Smallhorne, director, lead actor and co-author of this masterpiece
of North American independant film, redefines the concept of "raw" with
2 by 4. Everything else we have seen so far pales into insignificance
in comparison. It is not just the incredible authenticity attained by,
for example, the way the film makers have put together a mixture of professional
actors and those with no acting experience whatsoever, and even to the
extent of using the real New York Irish dialect instead of the usual "more-or-less"
accent. It is more to do with the way in which Smallhorne takes the courage
to show things as they are to an unsuspecting public, which cinema on both
sides of the Atlantic has so far never dared. This is not just about addressing
social taboos, gay identity or sexual child abuse, but the horrifyingly
accurate portrayal of the affects of incest on an unsuspecting young man,
the absence followed by the outburst of emotion, and the sweeping aside
of literally every doubt as to the honesty of the portrayal of the main
character.
Whether it's on the subject of the problems of establishing relationships
or communication, nights interrupted by terror or the traumatic break-down
caused by drugs which also enter the gateway to the sub-conscience, the
acting and directorial virtuosity of Smallhorne are unparallelled. If the
Oscars were more than a token of Hollywood satisfaction, Smallhorne would
without doubt have received Academy Awards for Best Director and Best Actor.
2 by 4 is by far the best gay film since Lilies
(in Germany living readers are reminded that at the time of writing
this, Lilies is already almost two years old), probably one
of the three most important of this decade. And this is despite the fact
that 2 by 4 is not aimed spefically at a gay audience at
all and even contains an intense, ambivalent gay sex scene - certainly
more grandiose than any before. For the male-centred abuse film - if such
a genre really does exist at all - 2 by 4 is probably an
even more important milestone.
ki, Park City – Berlin
translation: andrew
picture ©: Electric Head Productions
Germany: ?
US: ?
UK: ?
France: ?
seen during the:
Sundance Film Festival 1998
seen during the:
Deutsche Version
Filmdata:
Official link: None or not known.
copyright:
Queer View, April 23rd, 1998