- Witty, knowing and immensely entertaining, Dorian Blues is a delightfully off-kilter coming-of-age tale from debut writer-director Tennyson Bardwell. Adolescence is proving a pain for Dorian (Michael McMillian). He s an outcast and the butt ofmates jokes at high school, and his football hero brother (Lea Coco) is constantly rescuing him. But everything finally begins to make sense when he realizes
Witty, knowing and immensely entertaining, Dorian Blues is a delightfully off-kilter coming-of-age tale from debut writer-director Tennyson Bardwell. Adolescence is proving a pain for Dorian (Michael McMillian). Hes an outcast and the butt of classmates jokes at high school, and his football hero brother (Lea Coco) is constantly rescuing him. But everything finally begins to make sense when he realizes that hes gay. Before his archconservative dad (Steven C. Fletcher, in a hilarious role) can throw ! him out of the house, hes off to NYU where he encounters a new world of cafes, sophisticates and handsome men but this life proves just as frustrating as his world back home.Like
That 70's Show and
Napolean Dynamite, director Tennyson Bardwell's debut feature,
Dorian Blues, stylishly contemplates the hellishness of high school in the '70s, but through a gay protagonist. Dorian Lagatos (played by Michael McMillan) is raised by Nixon-loving conservatives, and his manly brother is star of the football team, so it's difficult for him to admit, even to himself, that he is gay. Coming-out scenes construct a picture that is wrought by fear made into dry comedy. Dorian cries to himself in the middle of the night, gets beat up in the school halls, falls in love with his male therapist, talks to a dummy in order to practice breaking the news to his father, and tries to learn how to fight his brother when he finds out that Dorian is a "sissy." When Dorian leaves f! or New York, he meets his first boyfriend, and befriends a viv! acious l esbian named El. Scenes in S&M clubs, coffee bars, and New York lofts show Dorian slowly coming to terms with his true identity. The film's opening and closing shots take place at the cemetery during Dorian's father's funeral, accentuating not only the hatred Dorian feels for this stubborn man, but also the anger and fear Dorian harbors for himself. Ultimately, he must obliterate this order to find real happiness.
Dorian Blues is a study in self-confidence, made funny by familiar scenes that teenagers struggling to fit in will know all too well.
--Trinie Dalton