Seen at...
I am Michael
- Director: Justin Kelly
- Writer: Justin Kelly; Stacey Miller
- Producer: James Franco; Vince Jolivette
CGiii Comment
You and your Queer Theory...indeed!
It's taken a while for this film to be released...why? you may ask yourselves...
Well...it's a story that doesn't sit too comfortably in the current climate for equality...yes folks, homosexuality is a solvable problem...so says the main character...
Michael Glatze - a happy homosexual entrenched in a happy homosexual three-way relationship - experienced a few panic attacks and went screaming into the arms of the church, renouncing and denouncing his homosexuality every step of the way. He did not have a health scare, he was not dying...he had a couple of [harmless] panic attacks. Hello God! Bye-bye bum [&] boys!
His enlightened journey took him through the doors of various religious institutions...
Thank god for Buddha...he kicked him and his hateful opinions out! Even some hard-nosed, venom-spewing christians showed him the door!
So...how does this film deal with such a deeply confused, self-loathing, dangerous and untrustworthy man?
Before answering...would it not be prudent to ask whether Michael Glatze is deserving of a film? Well, that depends on - solely - what side of the fence you find yourself leaning against. The ex-in-your-dreams-boys-gays will love it...because, the film does not challenge Glatze in any way. It's a formulaic account of Glatze's very-publicly-blogged journey...that practically ignores the carnage he created along the way.
And, here's the rub...this is fundamentally an anti-gay film that played at numerous [significant] LGBT film festivals, it [curiously & erroneously] opened the BFI Flare festival! Wow...now, that's taking the 'know thy enemy' a little too far!
Justin Kelly has found his niche...making films about unsavoury real-life gay men...enough is enough!
As for James Franco...enough of the gay stuff is never enough for Mr Franco's one-face-suits-all style of [gay] acting.
I am Michael is not a terrible film, it's not a 'gay' film either...sadly, it's a cowardly film that - pathetically - sits on the fence refusing to pass judgment! Glatze passed and still passes judgment...surely, the time was right and ripe to bring this hypocrite down!
Enough is enough!
Trailer...
The(ir) Blurb...
I AM MICHAEL is the incredible true-life story of Michael Glatze (Franco), a high profile gay youth activist who created a national controversy when he claimed to no longer be gay and became a straight Christian pastor. The film follows Michael from his life in San Francisco with his boyfriend Bennett (Quinto), where he pursues political activism, a journalist career at XY Magazine, social awareness, and sexual exploration, to his days of personal self-discovery. After a traumatic scare, Michael is plagued by doubt and paranoia, and begins a religious reawakening. Michael renounces his gay lifestyle, rejects his friends, and endeavors to find his "true self." He explores Buddhism and Mormonism, yet ultimately lands at a Christian Bible school in rural Wyoming where he meets his girlfriend, Rebekah (Roberts), and becomes the pastor of his own church. This powerful new film captures one man's haunting journey through modern concepts of love, denial and redemption.
Cast & Characters
Emma Roberts as Rebekah;
James Franco as Michael Glatze;
Zachary Quinto as Bennett Nycum;
Daryl Hannah as Deborah;
Avan Jogia;
Lesley Ann Warren;
Charlie Carver as Tyler;
Devon Graye as Cory;
Jenna Leigh Green;
Evie Thompson as Nicole