Gerontophilia (2014)

Lack of good storyline.

Highly Overrated But Still Good

disgusting, overrated, pointless

Fun premise, good actors, bad writing. This film seemed to have potential at the beginning but it quickly devolves into a trite action film. Ultimately it's very boring.

I was extremely pleased with Netflix for carrying this title on its stream. Brave choice. It is ironic that a film shot from the opposite perspective, that of an old man who might pursue sex and love with a receptive much-younger man, would still be considered too taboo to stream on a conventional site. As a gay man who was once courted aggressively at 50 by a 25-year-old, I can attest to the validity of the subject matter.That is what makes this film worthy of an audience. The acting is not its strong point, despite veteran Katie Boland's contribution. Pierre-Gabriel Lajoie as Lake has moments of protagonist charisma, but they come and go. He comes across as more confused than his character's behavior suggests. It would have been nice if his behavior was played as a form of more confident self-acceptance. I can't imagine what it took to get this project funded. So I understand it was a shoestring production. With that in mind, it is amazing to me that it was able to portray the core theme with sensitivity and humor without seeming like a high school play. It was, however, unfortunate that Walter Borden's Mr. Peabody was played to stereotype. This was a constant reminder to me that it was a low-budget indie.

The subject matter may be intimidating to some (a love story between a young man with a fetish for geriatrics, and an 83 year-old man) but this is a heartwarming treat. The dialogue is a little clunky at times but otherwise this is one of the finest road movies, of sorts, I have seen for many's the year. Bruce la Bruce, the fearless doyen of Queer Cinema, veers towards the mainstream in this and doesn't miss a beat. The performances are great, particularly Walter Borden, and the soundtrack is glorious.All in all a fantastic film for all the family, once your family is not upset by the regular sight of young boy on old man action, that is.

This film was so much better than I expected! I saw this at the SF Gay Film Festival tonight. Just hearing the premise, I couldn't imagine it being very realistic but it turned out to be completely believable to me. The young actor was so sweet and his affection/attraction to the older man seemed quite sincere. I could see Mr. Peabody through his eyes and see the beauty and fascination he felt, particularly through the drawings he made and the huge poster of Gandhi on his bedroom wall. I was impressed by the convincing portrait of teenage rebellion portrayed by the young girl who is inspired by female revolutionaries throughout history and by the young man's ridiculous jealousy and drug/alcohol use while at the same time showing the reality of the older man's life. Mr. Peabody was excellent in his portrayal of an older man who is at first resigned to life in the nursing home and then perks up when he realizes this young man is interested in him. He shows how lively he can be once he is encouraged to be his full self. This film has changed the way I think of older men in nursing homes....

Despite its subject matter, 'Gerontophilia' could mark Bruce La Bruce's entry into polite film-making society: in contrast to his earlier works such as 'Raspberry Reich' and 'Skin Gang' it is possibly his most accessible work to date.Lake (no really), a young man in his late teens/early twenties, gets a job in an old people's home. This is close to being all his Christmases rolled into one, because Lake is turned on by the elderly. He becomes especially close - in more ways than one - to 81 year-old Melvyn (when a nurse describes Melvyn as being 'a very sick man' one might think as this is a La Bruce film that's to be expected, but she actually means he is very ill. I think.) Melvyn wants to see the Pacific Ocean one last time before he dies, and Lake tries to make his dream come true. But how will Melvyn fare outside the controlled environment of the home?In terms of storyline, this is an interesting film, told in a linear, non-confusing fashion. And the acting is acceptable: if Pier-Gabriel Lajoie, as Lake, is a little stilted when speaking in English he's a lot more natural in his (I assume native) French; and Walter Borden, as the elderly homosexual, keeps the queeniness on a subtle, unembarrassing level. But let's be honest: what attracts a lot of people to La Bruce films is the promise of nudity: although a lot of it is cinema of the grotesque, there'll usually be some young, firm flesh on display. But there's precious little of it in this film: the very handsome Lajoie provides just one quick shot of his bare backside (and it seems unlikely the full-frontal shots of Borden will excite anyone except, y'know, gerontophiles). So while this may bring La Bruce to the attention of a whole new audience, his old fans may miss the chaotic nature of his previous films, as well as the flesh.