This independent production is a real sleeper and should be required viewing for young gay teens. Coming out is a tricky thing and every single individual LGBT person has a different family dynamic to deal with.
In this case Harry Shrum feels he can't do it at least until he's out of the house and on his own away from strict Christian parents Joan Chen and B.D. Wong. Shrum feels he also must stay to take care of his younger brother Booboo Stewart who has Asperger's Syndrome and doesn't really socialize well.
But Shrum is killed by a hit and run driver early on in the film and the rest of the film is how his family and friends deal with his passing. The focus is on Stewart who looked up to his big brother as his protector in this world. Everyone learns about Shrum's sexual orientation after his demise and the family is hit hard.
Especially Stewart who as an Asperger's individual commits things to heart and it's hard for him to unlearn what he's been taught to think about homosexuality. Harder still to learn that Shrum's lover was his alleged heterosexual womanizer Gregg Sulkin.
In the old days what Sulkin did with peers of the female gender was use them as 'beards'. That was an expression for women who hung out with closeted gay men so no one would suspect. Sulkin also comes out and his family dynamic is quite different from Shrum's and Stewart's.
Watching this with Disney actors Stewart and Sulkin I can just see the American Family Association having yet another conniption. But both deliver fine performances.
Recommended highly for gay teen audiences.
In this case Harry Shrum feels he can't do it at least until he's out of the house and on his own away from strict Christian parents Joan Chen and B.D. Wong. Shrum feels he also must stay to take care of his younger brother Booboo Stewart who has Asperger's Syndrome and doesn't really socialize well.
But Shrum is killed by a hit and run driver early on in the film and the rest of the film is how his family and friends deal with his passing. The focus is on Stewart who looked up to his big brother as his protector in this world. Everyone learns about Shrum's sexual orientation after his demise and the family is hit hard.
Especially Stewart who as an Asperger's individual commits things to heart and it's hard for him to unlearn what he's been taught to think about homosexuality. Harder still to learn that Shrum's lover was his alleged heterosexual womanizer Gregg Sulkin.
In the old days what Sulkin did with peers of the female gender was use them as 'beards'. That was an expression for women who hung out with closeted gay men so no one would suspect. Sulkin also comes out and his family dynamic is quite different from Shrum's and Stewart's.
Watching this with Disney actors Stewart and Sulkin I can just see the American Family Association having yet another conniption. But both deliver fine performances.
Recommended highly for gay teen audiences.