Awful

Rating: 2/10 (7 March 2018)

Are you kidding??? What is all the hoopla about??? This movie was horrible! After decades of demonizing, hate mongering, smearing and the most vicious negative stereotypes by the movie industry I'm all for positive LGBT portrayals but this was just a terrible movie in every objective sense. The acting by Armie Hammer (Oliver) was awful, wooden, absolutely Shatner-like. Plot and character development were virtually non-existent. The two protagonists were thrown together arbitrarily and for no apparent reason just start acting awkwardly and then for some reason pawing at each other. I never for a moment bought into the attraction between the two. You could see them acting a mile away. I literally could not sit thru the whole movie. This is in direct contrast to Being 17, the epitome of this genre. The photography was simply sublime. The character development was lovingly drawn out in exquisite detail - Thomas' love of the mountains and his defensive loneliness, Damien's scholastic ambition and his growing feelings for Thomas. You could feel the tension and attraction developing naturally between the two. The progression of their relationship made perfect sense. It deserved many more awards.