I was rooting for this movie, even as my every hope was smashed the whole way through: all the elements of a truly engaging, affecting, sophisticated picture are here, but they are botched beyond belief. Maybe somebody could give director David Scott a bigger budget and a staff and they could try it again from scratch.The basic premise of the movie--requited but unacknowledged love--will ring true with a lot of queer folk: "You make love to me all the time. Why can't we just be boyfriends?" (That may have been one of the lines, actually, but the sound on this movie is so very dreadful I suspect I caught less than a third of the dialog.) There's no reason this film shouldn't resonate with anyone who's been in the position to rue their beloved's denial of acceptable, respectable, publicly avowed togetherness. And I suppose it does, with those more forgiving of its many distracting flaws. Am I unrealistic in expecting a certain basic level of competence from a movie?The young actors are not without talent; or, at any rate, they are much better at what they do than the director, who frames extremely long static shots (such as that of Troy and Merrick discussing their issues in the living room) with no visual relief, no character movement, and no particular tension-building purpose. Not to mention the astonishing percentage of frames in the movie that feature Troy's obliquely downcast, unchanging stare-into-the-abyss! (Perhaps we should be thankful that Scott did not devote equal time to capturing the abyss staring back into Troy.) One is reminded of The Brown Bunny, which was built of 8 sentences, a blow job, and 80 minutes of Vincent Gallo alone and looking like he's just eaten a fistful of bear scat.Our writer-director allows his protagonist the dignity of doing the only responsible thing by the end of the movie: growing up and getting over Merrick. He even permits a cloudy, ambiguous split between them, in which the lingering affection is just as obvious as the need for separation. All this could turn a film golden, win awards, and jerk tears like nobody's business--if only there were the tiniest shard of coherent film technique backing it up.

A very well scripted film, wonderfully acted, depicting two young men struggling with their feeling towards each other, in the midst of heterosexual surroundings.Unfortunately, the sound mix is so bad that the dialogs are impossible to follow - and they are essential to understanding what is going on.I found a work-around on my computer: using an equalizer on the audio, I neutralised the low and medium frequencies and enhanced the medium-high frequencies: this made the dialogs followable. Quite amazing that the producers omitted this quality check!I disregard the low light quality criticism. True, many scenes are filmed with scarcely a light from a light bulb, but for me, that enhances the atmosphere, although I would not have minded some more subtle shading at times.All in all, if you can fix the sound, very worth while watching.

I picked up a copy of Denied because it features one of my actor contacts. I didn't know what to expect. Lee Rumohr stars as Troy, a 20-something jock with a torturous attraction to his seemingly straight roommate. For the most part, Rumohr delivers a good performance -- far better than this sophomoric production deserves. Matt Austin is hit and miss in the role of Merrick, the object of Troy's affection. To Austin's credit, he gets saddled with moments of cringe-inducing dialogue the likes of which very few actors could sell. Sarah Kanter, Matthew Finlason (battling demons of his own), Nathalie Toriel and Stefan Brogren round out the supporting cast.The entire piece has a voyeuristic look, almost like seeing through the lens of a low-rent documentarian. For some, the natural lighting and sound will serve as an interesting change from the typical Hollywood fare. Uncompromising realism. For others, it will serve only as a cheap distraction. Additionally, director David Scott lets much of the story play out in long takes--often master shots--either for effect or due to a tight shooting schedule. The end result isn't very cinematic. I couldn't help but think that, assisted by a good dramaturg, this might have worked better as a stage play.Despite its many flaws I'm giving Denied a neutral rating rather than a negative one, if only for Rumohr's sincere effort. Finlason and Toriel are good as well in their respective roles. But when all is said and done, the journey is inconsequential.

I found this film at times spell-binding, with touches of almost brilliance. Anyone who has been love-sick with someone who does not return that love will find aspects of the film very compelling. The scene when Troy uses articles of Merrick's clothing to sniff, out of sexual frustration, is something no one would ever admit to, but some of us have surely done. Throughout the film, Lee Rumohr is highly believable as a young closeted frustrated gay man, trying to be true to himself, but driven to distraction by denied love. While the gay theme of the film adds poignancy, because of the overlay of homophobia and the characters' needs to be closeted, the central theme of denied or unreturned love will speak to all sexualities.Marrick's sexual ambivalence is intriguing and well played by Matt Austin, although the reason for his ambivalence is never completely clear - but maybe that is the point.The sound quality seemed very poor on the DVD I had, and certain lines I missed.All in all, a great film from Canada.