MOVIE REVIEWS : Striking Portrait of People’s Need for ‘Love’

Edgar Michael Bravo believes that his “I’ll Love You Forever. . . Tonight” (at the Monica 4-Plex) is the first American gay feature film to be written and directed by a Latino, and he may well be correct in that. Made on a low budget, it also served as Bravo’s UCLA thesis film. Most impressive of all is that it’s such a good picture.

In so many ways “I’ll Love You Forever. . . Tonight,” shot by Jeff Crum in crisp, uncluttered black-and-white images, is a notably mature work. It’s as if Bravo had brought a David Hockney swimming pool painting to life and revealed that the uniformly good-looking young men taking in the sun, the kind who aren’t supposed to have any problems, are just as vulnerable and needy for love as everyone else. He does this with a maximum of compassion and a minimum of sentimentality, and through the succinctness and skill of his writing and direction, he persuades us to care about them.

Economy is the hallmark of Bravo’s effortless, deceptively casual style: What interests him is his people’s need for love--as distinct from sex--and he therefore doesn’t weigh down his story with gay issues that are actually extraneous to it. The words gay or homosexual are never spoken; these men know and accept what they are, even though they may still be struggling to discover who they are. Although few straights are likely to see this film, those who do ought to be able to see their own need for love in Bravo’s characters.

Paul Marius stars as Ethan, a young Los Angeles photographer, apparently making it in his profession yet haunted by a traumatic childhood experience. There is a certain aimlessness in Ethan, who is wary of emotional attachments.

It doesn’t take much persuading on the part of his best friend, Dennis (Jason Adams), a bartender who works nearby, to get him to go to Palm Springs on a brief vacation, where they are joined by a group of men, including, unexpectedly for Ethan, his ex-lover Peter (David Poynter). It turns out to be an instance of a miserable time being had by all, yet the emotional tug-of-wars that erupt over the course of several days have the salutary effect of propelling Ethan into a long-delayed confrontation with his father and, above all, himself; watching others thrash out their emotions makes Ethan realize how crippled his own are.

All of Bravo’s talented actors--which include Miles Wilshire, Tom Janes and Steve Bollinger--are, to use the cliche phrase of the gay personal ads, “straight-appearing.” Professional to the core, Bravo never asked them about their sexual orientation when casting them in “I’ll Love You Forever . . . Tonight” (Times-rated Mature for language, adult themes and situations).

Also on the bill is John Midby’s arty short “A Kiss in the Dreamhouse,” a kind of feminist dance fantasy in which a young woman (Katherine McGregor) creates in her daydreams an object of desire (Robert Kemp).

‘I’ll Love You Forever . . . Tonight’

Paul Marius: Ethan

Jason Adams: Dennis

Roger Shank: Steve

David Poynter: Peter

A Headliner Productions release. Writer-producer-director-editor Edgar Michael Bravo. Cinematographer Jeff Crum. Costumes Robert Velasquez. Music Robert Cairns. Production design John Edgar Bledsoe. Set designer Lisa Kelly. Sound Mitchell Guttleman, Bill Beck. Running time: 1 hour, 20 minutes.

Times-rated Mature (language, adult themes and situations).