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Defying Gravity

1999, Movie, NR, 91 mins

Defying Gravity: Review

DEFYING GRAVITY
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Set in the all-male world of college fraternities, this film's premise sounds more like the set-up for a porn flick than a sensitive coming-out drama: John "Griff" Griffith (Daniel Chilson), a deeply closeted college student, harbors a secret crush on his frat brother and best friend, tall, blond hunk Todd (Niklaus Lange). Todd, Griff and the rest of the boys of Lambda Kappa Tau share overcrowed bedrooms, shower together and accuse each other of using up all the Vaseline. But Todd has a girlfriend, and so does Griff — or so he leads his homophobic fraternity brothers to believe: Griff's "she" is really a he, a former fellow Greek named Pete (Don Handfield) who now lives off-campus, where he and Griff can tryst without arousing suspicion. Pete wants something more than no-strings-attached sex with Griff, but Griff can't even admit to himself that he's gay. After a disastrous attempt at a date, Griff leaves Pete in the parking lot behind a local gay hang-out, where he's later found beaten half to death, obviously the victim of gay bashing. Griff is faced with a difficult choice: Go to the police and reveal what he knows and, by extension, his relationship with Pete, or keep quiet and allow his lover's attacker to go free. The dilemma is interesting, but it's hard to maintain an engaging level of sympathy with Griff for very long, especially when life in the "straight" world of Lambda Kappa Tau seems so unappealing. But what really undoes writer-director John Keitel's admirable intentions is the general lack of artistry on virtually every level: The acting is generally amateurish, the writing shrill ("You're nothing but a big fat liar!" is a characteristic retort) and scenes appear to end whenever the actors ran out of lines or the camera ran out of film. leave a comment --Ken Fox
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