Unconditional (II) (2012) User Reviews

Excellent Film

[bjk1961 · 7/10 · 7 January 2014]

"Unconditional Love", aka "Unconditional", presents the intense story of a severely repressed homosexual attempting to create his fantasy woman from an inexperienced, virgin, teenage boy. Seventeen year old Owen meets the slightly older Liam and becomes dazzled by his attention, fast car, money, and large personality. After an evening drinking and fearful of being rejected by his new friend, Owen allows Liam to dress and make him up as a woman. Liam then convinces Owen to go out on the town as the newly created "Kristen".

Afterwards, Owen attempts to distance himself from Liam, but Liam's threat to disappear for good and his own immaturity cause Owen to reconsider. From this point forward, Liam's fantasy becomes the driving force in their relationship. As the fantasy persists, it grows and becomes fragile. It threatens to crush both of them as Liam spirals closer and closer to homicidal rage because the fantasy fails to transcend to reality, and as Owen struggles to come to terms with burgeoning sexuality and personality before he loses everything.

I have not been so engaged by a psycho-drama in a very long time. I am amazed at the quality of this gay-themed film as most suffer from the dreaded "writer as director" or a tiny budget that mandates starving artists. This film exceeded every expectation I had. Every actor hit every mark, every scene moved the action forward, and the whole exceeded the sum of its parts. Harry McEntire as "Owen" and Christian Cooke as "Liam" gave performances way beyond their years and carried the film beautifully. I can't wait to see them in the future. Definitely worth going out of your way to see this film.

From Owen to Kristen

[Prismark10 · 6/10 · 20 February 2017]

Unconditional concerns two 17 year old twins Owen (Harry McEntire) and his more aggressive sister Kristen (Madeleine Clark) who look after their disabled mother.

Kristen wants some cash and applies for a loan, she is visited by a local loan adviser, Liam (Christian Cooke) who is charismatic and Kristen takes a shine to him.

However Liam is interested in Owen, for a laugh he gets Owen to dress up like a woman and takes him out for the night wining and dining him. This relationship continues but it is clear Liam is conflicted with his own sexual preferences, he does not feel attracted to Owen when he is not dressed as a woman. For Owen, he is finding out about himself and his own sexuality but Liam is volatile and wants unconditional love which threatens to psychologically suffocate Owen.

This is a nice little movie, filmed in the north east and with a raw feel to it. You feel for Owen when he is abandoned at the beach by Liam. An intense performance from both the leads but it works more as a small scale character study rather than a feature film.

Gripping, powerful and emotional

[broekhoester · 8/10 · 14 October 2018]

This movie captivated from the start. Superficially it described predator Liam taking advantage of Owen. But there's so much more to it that that. Highly recommended.

Amazing watch

[carlton17 · 10/10 · 26 April 2017]

This was so very interesting, so touching, emotional and heartbreaking too. Full of moments you could help but feel sympathy towards Liam. Owen was naive and inexperienced but you could tell he had grown in some way through this experience from a young lad to a man. It was truly a must see watch and all the cast, location setting where spot on.

The two leads are amazing in this film

[Kit-Angel · 9/10 · 25 January 2017]

I really enjoyed this film, it has its limitations as the film overall doesn't seem to come together as a whole rather its more a series of vignettes,but wow some of these scenes are very powerful and tense.

The character liam in his early 20's played by Christian Cooke is a deeply troubled gay man who cant express these feelings for another man in a conventional gay relationship. So much so that his feelings and sexual attraction that he has for the 17 year old Owen ( the excellent Harry McEntire ) has to proceed on the basis of Owen dressing as and acting female and becoming Liam's ideal girlfriend.

Owen a naive 17 year old and twin looking after his ill mother with his sister who also likes Liam is coming to terms with his own sexuality, and liam exploits this to the limit via his emotional blackmail and offering Owen a taste of the good life, denied to him in his hum drum life on a council sink estate in the North East of England.

Christian Cooke plays Liam with an ever present and barely concealed rage against family, friends and strangers alike. ( I thought whilst watching Christian Cooke in this role what a wonderful Heathcliff he would make in Wuthering Heights when he's a little older ) He delights in taking out his rage and blackmail on Owen trying to bend him to his ideal, and Owen coming to terms with his new passion for liam returns time and again for more humiliation and mental cruelty,

Overall a film of great intensity with superb performances from the two leads its parts are greater than its whole though.

Idiotic

[arfdawg-1 · 1/10 · 1 January 2024]

Who actually put of the money for this failure? Soros?

It's yet another poorly made garbage movie with third rate actors and somehow stellar reviews! Really?

If anyone here was honest they'd tell you the budget appears to be 20 pounds. The direction is non-existent and the story is just plain stoopid.

Acting? What acting? The main characters in this poorly made film cannot act their way out of a paper bag. The plot is just dumb and the entire cast including directing, lighting and music are dumb too.

So one has to wonder. Who paid for this adn why? Well I think we all know why. Too many groomers in the film business.

..A film like no other...

[corinnerivers · 10/10 · 18 January 2021]

This is usually reviewed as a gay/trans film, a man unable to come to terms with his gay sexuality, or a film about a boy coming of age, but those are smokescreens and it's about something else entirely.

It's about a heterosexual man who is Autogynephilic - a propensity to be sexually attracted to himself as a woman - and his attempt to project it onto another male Host, via friendship and coercion. rather than containing it within him. The 'Babe' character is Liam's female identity, his 'created woman', and the object of his sexual and romantic desires - his narcissistic self.

Liam exhibits all the classic signs of autogynephilia... the ETLE - Erotic Target Location Error.. without autogynephilia, he would be attracted to Owen's sister. His NPD, Narcissistic Personality Disorder and NRA, Narcissistic Rage Attacks.

Projecting it onto a Host, he tries to get his 'created woman' to live off and consume the Host - Owen - not himself.. carrying his obsession forward to a full heteronormative relationship with the object of his narcissistic desire, himself as a woman. As long as the Host maintains the illusion, that is the issue here.

He has no sexual attraction to Owen. When they have sex, it is Liam making love to himself as a woman. When he tells Owen he loves him, he does so only to keep him as the Host, he cannot allow Owen to escape.. his love is unconditional only on that aspect..

Narcissistic Rage Attacks occur when the 'created woman' is dismissed as 'not real' or 'only for a laugh'.. evidenced by the stripping of Owen at the sea, the intense verbal attacks, and in the hotel fight on the floor.. An autogynephilic cannot accept that his 'created woman' is not real. Resenting advances from other heterosexual males and purging of clothes by dumping in a rubbish bin, are other hallmarks of their autogynephilia, both hinted at in this film.

The wedding dress scene at the end is tragic for Liam, as when the wig comes off Owen, the Host has reasserted his own identity and rejected the 'created woman' and effectively sent it back to Liam - it's now his problem again.

Liam is one of the most complex and misunderstood characters ever to be portrayed in a film I think, and brilliantly acted by Christian Cooke, who seemed to understand the role perfectly, although his post film comments suggest he thought otherwise about the characters motives..

The screenplay writer seemed to know all about it.