Sometimes homophobia is an endless attempt to escape by any means from your own attraction. Dean Francis grew up creatively. Once he was content with only dubious short films and did not know how to express his plans in full. Then I decided on a full-length debut - a road horror about a truck driving me crazy. And now he has made a picture that most people will probably call an hour and a half admiring men's bodies - and some of the "sofa critics" will be right. But only partially.
The method of filming, specifically how Francis presented the story, is unconventional. The torn montage, as if a dozen main episodes were not just scattered over a time period in a mess, completely spitting on the chronological sequence, but also broken down into smaller pieces. You get the effect of constantly jumping from one scene to another, then to the third, then to the continuation of the first, the end of the fourth or the beginning of the fifth. For a long time it is impossible to understand the plan of the director. He just introduces us to the world of rescue guys, at first only hinting that the main character’s problems lie in his homophobic mood for a newcomer to a sports team that can soon turn into something more. And if we were incorrigible romantics, we would rejoice that this man discovers something new and exciting, learning all the charms of homosexuality ... but the film is a little deeper than you would expect.
To put it bluntly, "Down" is a canvas about escape. For all its turmoil, when Francis too flirts with editing and is no longer able to understand which conflict line should be highlighted more than others, the story does not lose its charm. Excellent camera work is combined with the sincere play of the actors, which is why the reliability of what is happening is not in doubt for a minute. When it is impossible to understand which episode was before, which - later, and the brains are in motion to sew one plot flap with another, suddenly comes the climax action, leading to a tragic ending, which has become tragic due to the power of human stupidity, male pride and... yes, the notorious escape - from yourself, from attraction to a friend, from an unusual interest, which for a long time you do not suspect, and opening it, you can not accept. Romance has no place here, because homophobia in many cases cannot be cured - and it is quite capable of ruining people's lives.
After viewing, by the way, comes the understanding that the story all this time was whole - we could not play it well enough in our head, perceiving all the episodes as a scattered puzzle, and not as pieces of a single construction. And let Dean Francis turn the visual part into a selfless admiration of male bodies, which not everyone will take seriously; and let him not be content with specifics, but as if illuminates everything at once associated with the main character, his tragedy and the world of young guys in search of hidden sexuality. However, the film loses nothing from this. Yes, it is not for everyone. Yeah, snort all you want. And I, albeit with a stretch, even with some advance as a too worthy assessment, but boldly praise the director for the fact that this time he achieved very, very good results.
8 out of 10