Written by: Carlos Pedraza
Directed by: J.T. Tepnapa
Starring: Charlie David, Richard Harmon, Julia Morizawa, Genevieve Buechner, Timo Descamps, Dennis Bateman and Sean Paul Lockhart
If you've read any of the articles I've written in the past for DoorQ.com then you know how tough I am on gay cinema, especially of the genre variety. It's my belief that as a community we have some amazing stories to tell. Unfortunately, it seems like a lot of the product we put out is less than stellar. In fact, it's terrible.
There are exceptions of course dramas like Boy Culture, which I have called probably the best "gay" movie yet. I still feel like we have a long way go. None farther than gay genre films. We just can't seem to get it right. It seems that producers of genre entertainment value sex over substance, flesh over story and well to put it bluntly they're just terrible almost without exception. I generalize really to make a point: Gay genre entertainment sucks.
I think maybe the tide can start to turn because Judas Kiss is a giant leap in the right direction. I'm not saying that one film can make up for years of less than stellar movies but one movie can open the floodgates and I hope that Judas Kiss does.
Part drama, part sci-fi, part mystery, Judas Kiss is a curious little film about destiny and discovering what can truly shape the course of ones life. The story revolves around a failed filmmaker, Zachary Wells (Charlie David), who returns to his old school to judge their student film festival. After he meets and sleeps with the mysterious Danny Reyes (Richard Harmon), the student who everyone believes will win. Things take a turn as Zachary discovers the truth about Danny and face his own mistakes in order to change both of their lives forever.
Don't worry, I won't spoil anything. That's about as vague as I can be without entering the dreaded spoiler territory.
Judas Kiss caught me off guard. I have to admit to an unfortunate wariness for gay genre movies like I mentioned before but Judas Kiss overcame that almost immediately thanks in no small part to its wonderful cast. Most especially, Richard Harmon who is fantastic as Danny Reyes, Charlie David who does excellent as the broken Zachary, and scene-stealer Sean Paul Lockhart who exudes charm and screams for more screen time, even as he owns every scene is in, as Chris Wachowsky.
The great cast is supported by the spot on direction of J.T. Tepnapa, who some might recognize from his days on Star Trek: Hidden Frontier. He handles this film expertly and should be extremely pleased with what he has done.
Now, I'll say that I really did enjoy this movie quite a lot in fact, but it isn't perfect. There are some clunky bits of dialogue and a couple scenes are a little cliche and over the top but really only amount to a couple missteps in an otherwise good film.
I did want to take a moment to call out the excellent soundtrack. I was blown away by the music choices, especially the song at the opening which was pretty amazing. I wonder if there is a soundtrack available...
In the end, Judas Kiss is a giant leap forward for not only gay genre film but gay cinema in general. It's a deep multi-layered story brought to life by a stellar cast and a very talented director. It proves it can still be sexy, you see plenty of skin in this one, while not sacrificing story, even having a pretty good one.
Currently, Judas Kiss is taking various festivals by storm and will be available on DVD this fall from Wolfe Video.
For more information on Judas Kiss including screening information visit the official site.
Pop Culture Beast Rating
8/10
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