Dog Tags (2008) Written and Directed by Damion Dietz

 

Andy (from the shower): You want to join me?

Nate: I'm not sure if I should.

Andy: There is no should or suppose to, it's about what's Nate wanna do.

 

This story is about two confused young men, how their lives crossed, entangled, and in the process, sorted each other out.

We first meet Nate Merritt (Paul Preiss).  He is a young man in a world of women, preparing to join the Marines.  They aren't white trash, but they are just a step or two above.  There is a little touch of the truck stop waitress in both his mom (Candy Clark) Deb, and his fiancée Trish (Amy Lindsay).  As the movie starts, Trish is shaving his head so the recruiter will know he is serious about joining the core.  In fact, as the family dynamic unfolds, it certainly seems the women in his life tell him what he is going to do, and that he is probably going to fail in the doing of it.

Next we meet Andy Forte (Bart Fletcher) and his friend Chris (Chris Carlisle) who is taking Andy to a friend's house party, trying to boot Andy back on the market.  He is infinitely full of advice; don't wear the eyeliner.  Don't talk about the marine you are still hung up on.  Don't talk philosophy.  Try to loosen up.  Flirt. Two martini limit. Yaddada yaddada da.

The party offers up the gratuitous full frontal male nudity and casual sex that seems to be a necessary evil to get a gay movie off the launch pad.  At least it does two things right; one, it offers up this sort of stereotypical lowest common denominator as part of the problem that Andy has with his life, and two, it uses really top flight hot bodies for the gratuitous nudity.

Nate is hoofing it from the base into town when he is picked up by a friendly fellow (Barry J. Ratcliffe) who has an idea about how Nate can earn a couple of hundred dollars towards buying the engagement ring Trish wants.

This is where Andy enters the picture.  Uncle Sam is a pornographer, and he want to mix and match the rawboned marine with the broody little Goth boy.  The boys both get the heck out of dodge.  Nate gets Andy's car running, and earns a ride back home thereby.

What follows is a sort of a road trip between the two boy's houses.  Each has mother issues;  Deb Merritt doesn't want her son meeting his father.  Louise Forte (Diane Davisson) is an agoraphobic former film star.  Each has father issues; Nate desperately wants to know his father.  Andy IS a father, though he really does not know how, or desire to be one.  His baby boy is named Travis.  He only sees Travis as an impediment to finding his life's calling.

The face lies, deceptions, sins of omission, infidelity, betrayal, let down, loss, and eventually, solace in each other's arms.

The Analysis.

Often Gay movies are very low budget affairs with a rough unfinished feel to them.  I don't know what the budget was here, but it feels very polished and well done.  The cinematography is very nice, and while there is a mundane real world feel to things, it doesn't come across as Blair Witch hand-cams.

But the real draws here are the story, which is a delightful exploration of the process of growing up and coming of age, and two boys tender and caring relationship which blooms into something more, and the actors.  There are no poor performances.  Each one really captures the characters, warts and all.

Furthermore, the psychology is very on target.  There is no faery tale ending, nothing unrealistic occurs.  This is the real world, not Hollywood.  (Well, actually, Andy does live in Hollywood, but you know what I mean.)  This is a story about two boys striving to become men, who love each other along the way.

Like Nate, this review is Lean-N-Mean, at a concise 666 words.

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Recommended:
Yes

Viewing Format: DVD
Video Occasion: Fit for Friday Evening
Suitability For Children: Not suitable for Children of any age