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LAZY EYE review

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2016
Directed By: Tim Kirkman
Starring: Lucas Near-Verbrugghe, Aaron Costa Ganis and Michaela Watkins


Most of us have a person in our lives whose memory we can't quite shake. No matter how many relationships come and go, questions bounce around in the back of our minds. Where are they? Who are they with? Are they happy? Do they think about me as much as I think about them?

Dean (Lucas Near-Verbruggle) has eye trouble in both the literal and figurative sense. He needs new glasses and he has a difficult time seeing the past for what it was. He is a man in dire need of perspective. 15 years ago he was devastated when Alex (Aaron Cost Ganis) disappeared without warning. The lack of closure has left Dean heavyhearted and emotionally arrested. One day an email from Alex appears in Deans inbox. Almost as quickly as he left, he returns.We slowly find out why Alex left as they spend a weekend together in the Mojave Desert.



The film is shot and performed in a naturalistic way that gives an intimate and at times raw feeling. We are experiencing this weekend with our characters and given very little if any distance from them. Honesty in storytelling can be uncomfortable, it can lead us to ask questions we don't want to know the answers to.

Kirkman doesn't seem overly interested in examing the world outside of himself and I say that as a compliment, it's far easier to focus on the unfamiliar. It's less risky to tell stories about rogue cops, serial killers, and space operas, there is always a distance between the author and the subject. When you decide to put yourself on a 40-foot screen and the audience rejects the film they are in a way rejecting you.

LAZY EYE is the type of romantic drama we don't get enough of these days. The kind of film that sticks around for a couple of days and asks to be seen again.


   
LAZY EYE will premiere in Asia at the Hong Kong Lesbian & Gay Film Festival on Friday, September 23, 2016. It has also been in Frameline, Provincetown International Film Festival, QFlix, Kansas City Out Here Now Festival, Denver Film Society Q Cinema, Kaleidoscope, Reeling: The Chicago LGBT Film Festival, NewFest and many more. The film will be released theatrically in North America November 2016.
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