While Brokeback Mountain breaks your heart, Beautiful Thing, a tiny English movie without stars, is the most feel-good gay love story ever filmed. It may be one in a long line of coming-out stories, but the romance that unfolds between the central characters is the cure for their unhappiness rather than its cause. The movie acknowledges the difficulties that lie ahead, but it accentuates the positive, and that’s historically unusual and refreshing for gay-themed films. Beautiful Thing finds a powerful voice merely by celebrating the love between two young men. Who can resist becoming absorbed in seeing these two lads land in each other’s arms?
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2 responses so far ↓
1 Mark Kirby // Jul 30, 2008 at 7:45 am
It’s like an Andy Hardy movie with two Andy Hardys! I love it! But what would Judge Hardy say?
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I have this ordered to come in on Netflix soon (after I get back from Hollywood where I will be watching, ironically, BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN on the big screen). Can’t wait.
Love the intros, John! BEAUTIFUL THING can also describe this website!
Mark
2 John DiLeo // Jul 30, 2008 at 11:07 am
Thank you, Mark!
Though Judge Hardy (Lewis Stone) seemed able to talk to his son, Andy (Mickey Rooney), about any problem that came the teenager’s way, I don’t think he was equipped to handle the prospect of Andy giving up the girl next door for the boy next door. The judge may have instantly burst into flames at the thought of it. Then again, the old guy was such a windbag, and so loved the sound of his own voice, that he may have launched into a speech about Adam and Eve, not Adam and Steve. Lewis Stone was such a boring presence that, even if he broached the subject of homosexuality, I might have drifted off in mid-speech.
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