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| Ex-lover Troy (Murray Bartlett) returns in the heat of August. |
Sat. 6/18, 9:00p @ Castro, AUGU18C; [watch the trailer]
Jonathan (Daniel Dugan) is happy with his new boyfriend, Raul (Adrian Gonzalez), almost but not quite living together in Los Angeles. (Raul has married Jonathan’s friend Nina to try to get a green card.) One steamy day in the middle of an August heat wave, they get a message from Troy (Murray Bartlett) that he’s moving back from Barcelona to L.A. Of course, Jonathan isn’t quite as “over” Troy as he would like to believe, and Troy clearly wants to start right back up.
Initially, we see Troy as kind of a self-centered asshole, and that perception doesn’t shift much as the story unfolds. Although billed as a story of “What if he comes back?” it read more as “What did he ever see in you??” Daniel Dugan does a fine job of letting us feel Jonathan’s agitation, compounded by his upcoming 30th birthday, but less well at conveying why the decision is difficult, especially when we learn how the relationship with Troy ended in the first place. August is very much a character-driven drama, and the characters are rich and complex, but the story takes too much of the feel of the 100°+ heat wave [near 40°, for you Celsians], enervating the audience. I guess what I’m saying is, it was well done but I didn’t really like it all that much. Recommended.
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