Wow 10/10

charlotteadams-93024

Wow. I never give things 10/10 but Looking has to be an exception.

The writing, acting and directing are first class, and it's very funny. The characters are rounded and flawed - you care about them, but they aren't perfect - just like real human beings! They are forced to confront themselves at various points, and find out who they are, which isn't always what they thought they were. Uncomfortable though that is, these are experiences we all have in our lives, and are rendered with integrity and humour here.

All three of the (very different) main characters were beautifully cast. Jonathan Groff was immediately relatable as the anxious, rather naive, nice-looking white boy Patrick. Dom played by Murray Bartlett looked (presumably intentionally) like something straight out of Tales of the City with his tache, a guy on the cusp of early middle age, realising that he needs to take a leap into doing something more solid with his life (workwise as well as sex/relationship wise). And Frankie Alvarez - diminutive in stature but not charisma - was stunning as Agustin, a seemingly confident guy sliding down the path into self-negating oblivion, before trying to rebuild himself.

I really liked that the main parts weren't too Hollywoody. They didn't look like Instagram models. OK, so none of them are exactly ugly, but there wasn't any of that Tom Daley abs stuff that is (at least to me as a straight woman) really off-putting and unrealistic. They had soft bits and hairy bits just like real dudes!

The sex scenes were not overly graphic, but they seemed fairly realistic, and were often romantic and tender as well as funny (just like real-life sex). There were also lots of nice views of the male body and attractive boys making out. (Despite being half the population, women don't often get the chance to view storytelling through eyes other than the "straight male gaze" and it's always a breath of fresh air to have men/male beauty objectified on film. That women can often only find this approach in gay male-themed films is telling, but another story.)

The other characters were also well cast and, as a Brit, it was nice to see British actors such as O-T Fagbenle and Russell Tovey in there (as well as British director Andrew Haigh). I've never been a huge fan of Russell Tovey (didn't like him at all in recent BBC drama Years and Years) but the part of Kevin works for him. Is it because the role he plays is similar to his own character, a working-class gay bloke with a bit of an attitude problem? Not sure.

As a female viewer, I would've personally liked to see a few more fully fledged female characters. However Lauren Weedman was very funny and relatable as Doris, the ballsy and acerbic kind of woman gay men tend to love, and had an amazing chemistry with Dom. You really believed they'd known each other for years.

Otherwise, perfection. Even with Russell Tovey in the mix ;)

score 10/10

charlotteadams-93024 4 December 2019

Reprint: https://www.imdb.com/review/rw5300239/