Shelter

I am gay, but I dislike most of the gay movies out there. There are only a few exception: Brokeback Mountain, Borstal Boys and Beautiful Thing. All other gay movies are always victims to one of the followings: being too sensitive, or too chatty, or too corny. This is certainly an exception: no drag queens, no drugs, no gay bars, no AIDS victim, no party boys. And it's thoroughly refreshing. Enough good thing have been said about this movie, which is now in my very short list of favorite gay movies. A lot of reviews give credit to Trevor Wright for his excellent performance. Credit well deserved. However, I think director Jonah Markowitz deserve the most credit for putting together a movie in which everything feels so natural and real. The best part of this movie is the dialogue: It's short, precise and yet powerful. For example: the dialogue on the patio after their dinner: Shawn: "I admire what you are doing for Cody. You don't have to." Zach: "Yes. I do." Shawn: "It's a choice, Zach." Zach: "It's family." Zach: "The only one left." Shawn: "You get that from your mom." Zach: "Yeah, I know." Zach: "Lucky me." This is a simply love story. Even though the word "Love" was never said in the movie, there was never one moment of doubt how much they were in love. There are lots of little things in the movie that you will recognize if you were ever in love. When Zach was driving away after his first night with Shawn, a little smile slowly crept up his face, and he just couldn't hold it anymore, and scratched his head for getting a little embarassed on the silly happiness. Shane Mack also deserves high praises for the songs he wrote for this movie. When Zach couldn't fall asleep, flipping back and forth, the images of him with Shawn were flashing through his head. The moment wouldn't have such an emotional impact without Shane Mack's "More Than This" playing in the background. The negatives I can think of is that for someone who's never been with a guy, Zach was quite adept in stripping off Shawn's cloths that night. Also, Gabe would have seen Zach's truck outside when he barged in, and he's not the kind of person who wouldn't say anything about it. Sorry, I know I am nitpicking. But if you are like me watching this movie 10 times in the first week, you would be too. :-) I do have one issue with the cover of the DVD. If I hadn't read its review first to know what the movie is about, I would have easily dismissed it as another soft-core gay porn that's dressed up as a movie. There could be a hundred moments in the movie that would be a better cover than this bed shot. I have to believe that it wasn't picked by the director who has handled everything so tastefully without losing the erotic force. Thanks to AfterElton.com that listed it as the #3 of all time greatest gay movies, I didn't miss now-my-favorite gay movie that's not a tragedy (BBM and Borstal Boys) or a fairy tale (Beautiful Thing). In my opinion, David Wiegand from SF Chronicle has the best review on this movie: "Sometimes a film that otherwise relies on stock storylines and even skirts the fringes of old-fashioned melodrama can rise up on the strength of other elements. In the case of writer/director Jonah Markowitz's feature film debut, "Shelter" rises very high indeed, thanks to a superb performance by Trevor Wright in the lead role, a strong supporting cast, very good cinematography and, most of all, emotional authenticity." Update on January 2015: One last word: Jonah Markowitz needs to get to work. I have been waiting 7 years for his next movie. And I am about to give up hope. :-)

"Pure being," a friend of mine once said enviously of the surfers riding the waves along the Southern California coast some thirty years ago. Though there was a strict demarcation between the gay section of the beaches and those parts that belonged to the surfers alone, even then a few surfers hung out at night in the Breakers or one of the other gay bars along Highway One, especially in Laguna. There, what seemed so easy a life out in the Pacific, just following the next big waves one after another, became less obvious and more conflicted. Stories about coming out have so dominated many gay films that the theme has developed into an archetype, a genre of its own with endless variations: from dark into light, from secrets into revelation. In Shelter, Zach is a young artist who has turned down a scholarship at CalArts in order to stay home to care for his nephew Cody. Zach has inherited the family gene, from his mother he says. All the concerns and nearly all the love the five year old Cody should find in his mother, Zach's sister Jeanne, he gets from Zach alone. Zach has had a long time girlfriend, but everything about their relationship is tentative, on hold. When he meets his best friend's older brother again after several years, they surf together, just as they used to. But Shaun is an openly gay man who has published a novel which Zach has read. Shaun's sexuality is no secret to Zach, but Zach's is to Shaun--as it may still be to Zach himself, at least in the sense that he has never before been with a man (or in all likelihood a woman; his responses to his girlfriend are mostly tepid, except when his real longings frighten him). What Zach wants more than anything are family and love. After a night during which he and Shaun kiss, Zach is happy but its meaning is still uncertain. He rides the waves, paces the deck of the house he shares with his sister and nephew in what he calls San Pedro's ghetto, then drives back to the family house on the beach where Shaun is staying to recuperate emotionally after a boyfriend has dumped him in L.A. What follows between Zach and Shaun is stunning in its impact upon both men. Their coupling, however, is not filmed as soft core porn, all or nearly all about the physical alone, but as love scenes. What matters most is the feeling shown through their eyes. All the acting in this emotionally profound film is superb, but the love beyond words Zach and Shaun manage to express just with their eyes has almost never before been seen in movies, not even, say, in Brokeback where to some degree it was often having to be hidden by one or the other man. What follows in Shelter is Zach's coming to understand what that love means to him for the rest of his life. Part of this is the usual problem of coming out to his friends and to his sister, though nearly all that effort is accomplished for him; they know before he tells them. But he must also come to see himself better; he must change, too, as he tells Shaun later. Part of that transformation is his discovering more fully who Shaun is. Shaun has been criticized by some viewers for being too patient with Zach. But patience is part of love, one of the virtues that help people abide all the messes we make or almost make out of our lives. When Zach learns that Shaun has mailed his application and portfolio to CalArts, he sees, quietly, the man's generosity. In a way, Shaun has shown that he loves Zach as kindly and patiently as Zach loves Cody. Zach's and Shaun's erotic communion is intense. But this is a love that is also caritas, deep, perhaps abiding. It is his recognition of that possibiity, if not certainty that leads Zach back to Shaun, especially after a talk with his girlfriend in which he says his only regret (about being gay) is that he wanted to make a family with her. In this moment between them, it is her goodness which allows her to encourage Zach to return to Shaun, to the different family he might find now through Shaun and with Cody. At least, she says, he should try. Near the end, after Zach and Shaun drive to the house to pick up Cody from Zach's sister who is moving to Portland with her rough boyfriend, Zach turns to Shaun and takes his hand in his. It is a gesture of love between them as telling as any more passionate embrace. The seemingly unencumbered lives both men had known together surfing when younger--Shaun the master, Zach the pupil in a running joke between them--has grown into a love that is in every sense good. I think this is one of the best movies ever made about gay men, searchingly decent and generously spirited about love without any loss in erotic force. It is also wonderfully realized, except in a few of the songs on the soundtrack, in both the director's eye and the hearts of all the performers, even those in relatively minor roles (Gabe is as perfect a surfer dude as one can imagine, but with more than the usual soul). But Trevor Wright as Zach gives to his character an especially touching complexity. Zach is in some ways still a kid, talking in the lingo of surfers, tagging buildings, riding his skateboard. But he's also emotionally older than everyone else in his life, already committed to a way of living many people never come to. His coming out is more painful to himself than it is to others perhaps because his need for real communion is already so great. Yet he finds it. This is emotionally complex work for so young an actor. But every gesture he makes, everything he expresses is true; no moment ever feels false or contrived. What the movie leaves one with is a sense of both the hopes and ambiguities of moral being, a far more difficult, yet greater life than merely riding the waves of one's youth.

While watching "Shelter," a rather sweet-natured story about a good-hearted, self-sacrificing young man dealing with the realization that he might be gay, I was reminded of the the Otto Preminger film of 1962, "Advise and Consent." In it a young but influential senator, now happily married and with a small child, had had sexual relations with a man while in military service who, now in poverty, is attempting to he commits suicide rather than suffer exposure, an effective if extreme solution to his problems. CAUTION -- the next paragraphs contains spoilers to the plot of "Shelter."contact the senator for money and threatening to expose his past. The senator becomes so distraught with the situation before him that This film makes one realize the distance we have (hopefully) traversed in 50 or so years. In "Shelter" an artistically gifted young man, Zach, played by Trevor Wright, is helping to support his sister and her little boy, Cody (Jackson Wurth), and their ailing father, and, as a result, has given up his hopes of attending an art academy. Zach's boyhood friend, Gabe (Ross Thomas), who is straight, has an older brother, Shaun, (Brad Rowe), who had taught them both to surf a few years before and is known by his brother, Gabe, to be gay. Shaun, who has returned to the area and is living at the family residence in a much nicer part of town, reestablishes an acquaintance with Zach and a friendship begins to develop between them. As time goes on this becomes more than a friendship as Zach comes to terms with his sexual feelings and gradually falls in love with Shaun. Zach's sister, Jeanne (Tina Holmes), is planning to leave the area with her dolt of a male friend and intends to leave her child in Zach's care for a considerable period. Zach's relationship with Shaun becomes known to her and she initially doesn't want her child anywhere near Shaun, but gradually comes to realize that Cody, who is very attached to Zach and now to Shaun as well, would be better off under his and Shaun's care than with her and her male friend who isn't particularly fond of Cody. The film ends with Zach, now having broken up with his girlfriend, Tori (Katie Walder), and his little nephew now living happily with Shaun who has seen to it that Zach will get to attend art school after all. The film was skillfully written and directed by Jonah Markowitz. The brief final scene of Zach, Cody and Shaun happily romping on the beach was apparently added some months after the film had been considered complete as both Trevor Wright and Brad Rowe are here seen having long hair. The cast is generally excellent and the developing relationship portrayed between Zach and Shaun, a bit rocky at times due to Zach's uncertainty and hesitancy, being all the more captivating for that reason. This is a dramatically and visually pleasing, well-made if rather short film about a character portrayed as being gay who does not necessarily end up as a victim of a mental breakdown, suicide or murder. There are several scenes in this movie that are quite affecting, most notably the two scenes in which his two straight friends -- his ex-girlfriend, Tori, and his boyhood surfing buddy, Gabe -- each in their way help put Zach back on the right track toward his relationship with Shaun, his obvious true love. Zach is, of course, the central character of the story and all of the other characters are defined by their relationships to him. There is essentially no scene in the film in which Zach doesn't appear and the title could easily have been "Zach's Story." How the title of "Shelter" was chosen isn't exactly clear to me. Trevor Wright and Brad Rowe, both straight actors, bring a degree of warmth and believability to their characters that is quite amazing. Incidentally, in the commentary track, director Jonah Markowitz erroneously refers to the suspension bridge in San Pedro, shown several times in the film, as the Saint Thomas Bridge. The correct name is the Vincent Thomas bridge. UPDATE -- 7-11-14: Well, I held off for as long as I could and finally gave in and bought into the imported region-free Blu-ray of "Shelter." I had some trepidation. "Shelter" was originally shot as a 16 mm negative, blown up to a 35 mm print, so I expected the possibility of seeing little improvement with Blu-ray. Not so at all! The improvement in detail and contrast is apparent from the first frame. The sound is DTS optional for 5.1 and 2.0 stereo and is an improvement over the DVD version in that respect as well. And there was no compatibility problem. Only disappointment -- it doesn't include the commentary track available on the original. But I have the DVD version tucked into the same case with the Blu-ray, so no big deal. Worth every cent.

I bought this film without reading any reviews because I liked the coming of age and coming out story line. But I did not know what to expect. I've bought a lot of Gay oriented films but most of the time have been extremely disappointed by the amateur feel of the film or the terrible writing or acting or both in many films. So I really didn't know what to expect. After watching this movie it felt like one of the best films Gay or Straight I've ever seen in my life! It was not only professionally done, but the casting was fantastic. the writing was fantastic, the acting was superb and the direction and production extremely well done!! I've rarely ever given a review of a film I've bought but this film was so good I can't stop talking about it! The screen play and script along with the great casting and acting made the characters come alive. Their interaction was not only believable but but you felt the definite connection between them. The story was so good, the acting was so good, as was the direction and production, that the audience cannot help but become emotionally involved. So many Gay oriented films end in tragedy. This film ends with an uplifting spirit of heartfelt hope that love can conquer all and win in the end. This is a beautiful film, a beautiful story, wonderful acting and fantastic cast, and great direction and production. It is so good that immediately after watching it I went online to buy another copy of the film to give as a gift to a friend. This is one of the best films I've ever seen!! It should have won many Indi awards and I wonder why it didn't? I highly recommend it to anyone, Gay, Bi, Straight... it doesn't matter, this film is that good! I can't say enough about it!

Shelter doesn't rise to the level of great filmmaking but it's a really nicely made movie that's heart-warming and ultimately enjoyable to watch. To be sure, the script has too many "dudes" and "bros" and lots of guys catching waves. But it's no more a surfer movie that Brokeback Mountain was a cowboy movie. Surely that's part of the storytelling vehicle, but it's the human interactions that matter. The other downside is that director Jonah Markowitz could have made a sexier film without crossing the line into soft porn. Shelter is tamer sexually than it needs to be. Honestly, would two guys who'd made love all night wake up together the next morning wearing underwear? I occasionally found the music soundtrack somewhat distracting, even though some of the songs were good. Still, Shelter is well-made film with a fairly good script, fine performances and excellent cinematography and film editing. The surfing and ocean scenes were beautifully filmed and edited. So what if it has a somewhat predictably happy ending? Not every story of gay men ends with tragedy or heartbreak. This film deals with subject matter about which I'm personally familiar - dealing with your own sexuality and trying to decide your own future while playing father figure to your sister's offspring. Zach, played by Trevor Wright, is caring and sensitive while being tough at the same time. His art and his surfing are his escapes from the realities of every day life. Shaun, played by Brad Rowe, has returned home to lick his wounds after the breakup of his relationship but finds himself falling for Zach, the best friend of his younger brother Gabe. Shaun taught Gabe and Zach to surf and its surfing that brings Shaun and Zach together. The movie shows how conflicted Zach is about his sexuality. There's the moment when after a night of drinking together he allows Shaun to kiss him, only to wake the next morning running away from what happened. He returns the stares of another surfer in a beach parking lot, but turns away when he becomes uncomfortable. He becomes standoffish with Shaun each time he gets questions about his sexuality from his sister Jeanne, with whom he lives and whose he is father figure. He initially gives in, but backs away when he's unsure of how to deal with all the pressures in his life while loving another man. Shaun is patient, but I don't believe overly so. There are moments when Shaun pushes for what he wants but backs away when he realizes he's pushing too hard. Overall, I see places where some improvements could have made this good movie into an excellent one. Still, it is a good, very enjoyable movie and one worth adding to your DVD collection.

The outpouring of positive feedback for this movie is obviously well deserved. It is well paced with great sound and picture quality, impeccable direction, a lovely story, and a cast of actors perfectly suited for their roles. Three of the main characters here (Zack, Jeanne, and Cody)are a family living together in a very humble section of San Pedro, CA which is in Los Angeles County. A beautiful, selfless young Gay man, Zack, has put his life on hold to look after his adorable nephew Cody whose mother, played by Tina Holmes, is an irresponsible, self-centered alcoholic with deplorable taste in men. But his compassion and love are well rewarded when an older gorgeous hunk and surfing buddy, Shaun, reunites with him and eventually becomes his mentor, his "rock", and his lover as well a wonderful role model and support system for his little nephew. In real life, Trevor Wright("Zack") and Brad Rowe("Shaun") are both heterosexual and are actually 12 years apart in age. If Brad Pitt makes you drool, so will Brad Rowe, and if you love a perfectly beautiful young man with the face of an angel and a smile that lights up a room like a Christmas tree, you'll love Trevor Wright. Also, if you like Tina Holmes, I would suggest you check out another great movie, "Edge of Seventeen" in which she appears as a teen in love with her male "BFF" who comes out to her as gay. It would be a grave injustice to dismiss this wonderful movie as just another "coming out" film. It's a tribute to the power of love that can be enjoyed and embraced by all open-minded audiences who appreciate a feel good romance with a happy ending. From my vantage point, having a collection films about love and romance without "Shelter" would be like having a collection of classic cars without a vintage Pink Cadillac. Along with "Beautiful Thing" and Jean-Claude Schlim's "House of Boys", "Shelter" is one of the three films that I consider the all time best and most beloved trilogy of gay-themed movies.

Along with "Beautiful Thing" and "Yossi and Jaeger," Shelter takes its seat as a likable and pretty love story. This is the second movie about gay surfers I have seen along with the Australian flick "Tan Line." In what is considered a predominantly straight world, surfers, both of these movies explore the possibilities of gays among the ranks of these members. There seem to be a great deal of reviewers with huge amounts of information about the movie so I am going to be brief. The movie is about the love that develops between two surfers Shaun (Brad Rowe) and Zack (Trevor Wright.) Zack comes from a dysfunctional family with a sister who is a single mother and her son Cody. Zack pretty much plays a father role to Cody and babysits him a lot. Shaun comes from a rich family who has a house by the beach. They both grew up together but Shaun being older than Zack. Shaun's brother is Zack's buddy. Zack discovers he is gay after one night of drinking with Shaun. Shaun has just returned from LA who just broke with someone and was waiting to get a new place. Shaun kisses Zack and the turmoil begins. Jeannie, Zack's sister, decides to move to Oregon with her new boyfriend. She dumps Cody on Zack. Zack finally comes to grips with his sexuality and decides to become a family with Shaun who adopts Zack and Cody. Zack is a very talented artist who gets accepted to an Art College with a full scholarship. Shaun is a writer for Hollywood. And Jeannie abandons her son. That is the movie in a shell. I like how Zack is portrayed as a caring, selfless, loving young man. The movie also projects that a men gay couple can be loving parents, that is definitely a plus. This a good movie and a great love story. The men look very masculine, with Trevor Wright having that beautiful rough exterior. Wonderful cast and super job for the director.

I'm so jealous of young gay men today! They get to go to the movies and see gay characters that are three dimensional and well-developed; homosexuality is just one aspect of their personalities and not necessarily their defining characteristics. Gone are the campy clowns, ubiquitous drag queens, and tragic AIDS victims that were required in the movies I grew up watching. In movies like "Brokeback Mountain" and "Shelter", the story is about two people falling in love who happen to be gay, which results in a much more realistic movie, and one which a wider audience can, I think, appreciate. The photography in "Shelter" is absolutely top-notch. I used to live in L.A., and I have never seen so many beautiful sunsets in my life! The surf photography makes you want to run out and buy a board immediately and the footage while the actors are driving makes you feel like you are in the car with them. I think there is enough creative camera-work to keep any fan of independent films happy. Watch for how the shots of "Zach's" art transition smoothly into shots of buildings in the film, underlining the the title. I was also pleasantly surprised with the quality of acting in this film. Whenever I see a movie in which the gay characters are portrayed by straight actors, I must admit I watch with a critical eye, but Brad Rowe and especially Trevor Wright, do an excellent job here. They really portray the intimacy between their characters, not just the lust. My favorite scene is when they are just lying in bed talking, and you can see in Zach's eyes how this relationship has become "shelter" from the stress of his life. I also love how Trevor Wright appears 16 when he is happily looking at Brad Rowe's character, but looks like he's pushing thirty when burdened by the weight of expectations from others. Tina Holmes also does a terrific job; somehow you feel sympathy for her character despite the terrible choices she makes. I guess I'm biased, because this film is now one of my all-time favorites! I could, and will, watch it over and over again. A critic quoted on the DVD package calls this film an "instant classic", and I am in complete agreement because I believe gay men 10 years from now will be able to appreciate it just as much as we can today.

..bellissimo!

日英ともに字幕がなく、自力のつたない英語力で見るしかなかった。 他の作品との比較をする場ではないが、今までみたゲイ作品では個人的に、一番素晴らしい、感動できた作品だと思っている。 人間関係が面白く、主人公が愛してしまう彼は友達の兄、姉も「ねじれた人」で、男や酒に溺れ、シングルマザーなのに子供より男という人物。その息子は主人公を父親視している、とねじれた人を描いている作品でもある。 姉が後半主人公をゲイだとなじる箇所は、「貴方に言われたくない」と思ってしまった。 ゲイだとなじられるシーンって必ず出てきますよね？汗 悩んだ主人公が最後に選択した自分自身は、心を打たれて涙したし、本来「彼女的な存在」の主人公が「彼」と手を繋いで[引っ張って]、姉貴の前に暗に彼を差し出した想いは、「よくやった!!」と心で叫んでいた。 彼ら三人家族の行く末は、子供の精神成長が心配だが、きっと上手くやって行く筈だと信じている。

This is an excellent movie that portrays the angst of a young man and his life. He has many pressures on him and he is battered about what he wants for himself and what he feels he needs to give in life with regards to his family. The roles are cast beautifully and the issues of sexuality include all the characters in the story. A sister who puts her needs over her young child, a brother that is abused emotionally by his sensitive nature and a friend and his brother who stand up for him... weave an interesting tale. This is not a "gay" movie with tantalizing sex scenes. This is an honest story and a film you will want to watch many times. Highly recommended.

Para mi gusto, Shelter es una de las historias de amor más bonitas que jamás se hayan filmado... Ojo, está en Inglés.

I don't have complains with the product itself, packaging is substantial and the quality of the footage is great. The only downside is that there are no subtitles. In terms of shipping, it took a while to process and send but it arrived on time and the shipping packing was alright.