Scenes from a Gay Marriage (U.S. 2012)

The Gist:

A newly single man, Darren, obsesses over the gay couple who live in the apartment above his, as he tries to sort out his own life.

Comments with minor spoilers: 

This is kind of a low key movie. Which is not a bad thing. Compared to how "aggressive" some movies can be in telling their story, low key can be a good thing. Then again it can be bad if it leads to inaction and dullness. This movie manages to avoid that and keeps the balance of calmness and interesting. The acting is fine, and the story as Darren learns to live his life on his own, is engaging enough.

There is a strange bit though, in that being kept, where one partner in a relationship has all the money and power and "keeps" the other person, is oddly normalized here. A couple of examples are given in the movie and while they are not shown as ideal or particularly healthy, they are not treated as being unusual either. This happens again in another of director/writer/actor Matt Riddlehoover's movies: West Hollywood Motel, where one woman is "keeping" her girlfriend. 

While not the theme of the either movie, it ends up being notable because it contrasts strongly with how not common it is in real life. Well, at least in real life as I've experienced or have knowledge of it. 

Unlike other movies with the words "director, writer, and staring in lead role as actor" this is not a bad movie, and while I would not say that everyone has to immediately go see it, I would say that it is interesting and pretty good. 

Women:

One. It's a fairly limited cast, so not quite as bad it may seem

People of color:

No

Gratuitous nudity:

No

• Director: Matt Riddlehoover
• Writer: Matt Riddlehoover
• Actors: Matt Ridlehoover, Jared Allman, Tashana McQuiston, Carson Nicely
• 83 min
• IMDB

West Hollywood Motel (U.S. 2013)

The Gist: 

A young gay couple with issues of compatibility, a lesbian couple whose issue is that things are not as "hot" in bed as they used to be, two young men with numerous issues who've just met, and a middle aged straight couple who gain an issue when the wife suddenly grows a penis, are all staying at the same motel as a not very good at his job of being an omniscient narrator tells us about how they deal with their problems. 

Comments, with minor spoilers: 

This is a very odd movie. It feels like an amateur student film in some respects, but well, these days things like film development errors do not exist unless intended to. Which leads me suspect that it's all intentional. But does that mean using then quickly abandoning the idea of the narrator as soon as the characters were introduced was a narrative choice as well? Spoiler, the narrator disappears fairly quickly. Does it also mean that the establishing shots mixing up Hollywood and West Hollywood is also intentional? Spoiler, Hollywood and West Hollywood are two different places. 

Aiming to recreate the feel of a weird decaying educational film is a valid aesthetic goal I guess, but it is strange when as viewer you can't tell if something is a mistake, or if it is just someone trying to skillfully and intentionally make it appear as if it were a mistake. In the end the way the story is told is distracting enough that I think it impedes the movie more than helps it. 

Compared to the storytelling esthetics, the four stories, even the odder ones, are fairly straight forward. The two 'reality-flexible' stories, of the penis growing wife and of the incompatible gay couple (that turns into a meta commentary about love as presented in gay romance movies) are the better of the stories. The lesbian affair one should have been interesting but falls flat for some reason. 

Oddly, or not, the least interesting of the four tales was the one with the most gay "eye candy," the story of the two, cute, young, Latino men. Least interesting, because their tale never gets much further past the very basic premise of "two attractive men end up sharing a hotel room because they are broke and... stuff." 

It's not a must see kind of movie, but if you're in a mood for quirky this would fit the bill. 

Women:

Yes

People of color:

Yes

Gratuitous nudity:

No

• Director: Matt Riddlehoover
• Writers: Matt Riddlehoover, Ethan James
• Actors: Matt Riddlehoover, Andrew Callahan, Amy Kelly, Phil Leirness, Cesar D' La Torre, Starina Johnson, Heather Horton, Luis Lucas
• 78 min
• IMDB