5/5 Tres Romantique
  by Amos Lassen (Little Rock, Arkansas)
"Redwoods"
Tres Romantique
Amos Lassen
"Redwoods" has got to be one of the most romantic gay films ever made as it tells the story of Everett. A guy who finds himself stuck in a relationship that is going nowhere and who meets and falls in love with a writer who was passing through the small California town where he lives.
Beautifully photographed in Guerneville on the Russian River, this is a film that is loaded with heart and soul. Everett (Brendan Bradley) lives with his lover Miles (Tad Coughenour) in a comfortable lifestyle but with no passion. Together the two men are rearing Billy, a boy who is learning disabled and much of their attention goes to him. When Miles and Billy go to visit grandparents. Everett stays behind. Shortly after the departure of father and son, a car driven by Chase (Matthew Montgomery) stops at the house looking for directions. Later Chase and Everett keep running into each other and there is fliratation. Chase is enchanted by Everett and is not about to let him get away.
Together with the rtomance, director David Lewis weaves the real concerns of life. The film shows the difficult choices that are faced when one is confronted with love. In today's age of freedom, we tend to still focus on the issue of marriage and its rituals. We seldom stop to think what happens afterwards. We seem to find ourselves tied to a person who brings home the bacon, changes the tires of the car, cosigns for the house, cares for the kids and worries about life. In the gya community we find that many movies on once the sex cools down. This is what happened to Everett and Miles. Everett has desires to have his passion reawakened and Chance is the one to do that. Miles and Everett share an ill-defined relationship that evidently went bad years ago but when Everett becomes involved with Chase he is torn between responsibility and true love.
Matthew Montgomery and Brendan Bradley give very fine performances and the love that their characters feel for each other almost sets the screen aflame. Their love is tender and we see how they account for the decisions that come with true love. What I found to be particularly interesting is watching Everett learn that many of the stable and seemingly conservative people in his own life have been forced to find passion and love outside of the relationships that they are in. When the affair is over, we watch as Everett returns to the life that he has been building with Miles and we see that a part of him has been changed forever. His affair, the unspoken ritual, did not change his life with Miles. Instead it allowed him to stay and to be the person he needs to be with Miles and with those around him.

3/5 Like a fine Swiss cheese... flavorful, but full of holes.
  by Glenn_from_CT (CT)
Whaddya know... a gay-themed movie where no one comes out, no one is in drag, no one gets beaten up and no one has AIDS. For that alone, "Redwoods" deserves at least a star or two.

The story centers around Everett (Brendan Bradley), a late-20s guy who has found himself in a very comfortable, but horribly static, life in small-town Northern California. His seven-year partnership with Miles (Ted Coughenour) has eroded to that way-too-common place where love (or lack thereof) is expressed by which coupon to use at the store and who will scrub the mold in the shower. The only life left in the relationship is in the form of their son, Billy (Caleb Dorfman), a special needs child who demands much of their attention.

It's clear from the onset that Everett is miserable with the current state of affairs, but his love for Billy prevents him from actually doing or saying anything to the cold and neglectful Miles. So, like many people, he shuts up, puts up and trundles along without rocking the boat.

Miles and Billy leave for a week to visit Miles' parents in Seattle. Right on cue, a handsome stranger appears on Everett's cul-de-sac, hopelessly lost and looking for directions... it's Chase (Matthew Montgomery), a writer from Minnesota who has come to redwood country to get inspiration for his latest novel.

The sparks between Everett and Chase are immediate. Soon, as this is a small town, the inevitable not-so-chance meeting occurs. A friendship grows. Everett becomes more and more conflicted about his feelings for Chase until it all finally uncorks into a fairly well done love scene. Of course, this just makes matters worse for the love-starved Everett... does he abandon everything for true love or do the responsible thing and stick with his existing relationship?

The idea of this film is a tremendous one... I mean, how many people out there have this kind of mid-life crisis, where they question everything they have? And with a better writer (director David Lewis also scripted) "Redwoods" could have been a helluva film.

Unfortunately, Lewis doesn't give us much of screenplay and gets too caught up in the romance of this romance. He expects us to immediately buy into the Chase/Everett affair and not question anything else. And there are a lot of questions here... where did Billy come from exactly? Why is Miles so unaffectionate? If this is such a small town - where everyone knows everyone's business - why would Everett parade Chase around for all to see? Why would he introduce Chase to his family, for heavens sake? How could such a monumental, life-altering, oh-my-god relationship gain full-bloom status in the matter of just a few days? And are either of these guys aware that there's a whole lotta cheatin' going on?

Sure, we can draw our own conclusions, but it would have made for a better film if the characters did it for us. Annoyingly, the script also never really allows anyone to open up and say what's on their mind. Instead we get lots of pauses, lots of drawn-out, ponderous one-line statements, and a lot of nothing being said.

Most of the casting (and subsequent acting) doesn't help. First, Bradley is way too young to play someone in a seven-year relationship and with a ten-year-old kid. Second, he doesn't have the acting chops needed to carry the film. He's likeable - with his cherub face and goofy smile - but most of his deliveries suffer from massive over-elocution, and most of the acting choices he makes are way too deliberate.

Likewise, none of the supporting characters seems to make any sense in this story, and none do anything to really drive things forward. Note to all gay film writers out there: Please, please, PLEASE ditch the straight brother or best friend who uses the word "dude." Please.

The exception here is Montgomery, who is quickly becoming the Meryl Streep of gay indie romances. He knows how to turn in a thoughtful performance and does so here, eking out richness and depth from a script that provides almost nothing for him to work with. Look out for the day that this guy gets a solid script and co-star who can really act.

All this isn't to say that "Redwoods" doesn't have its finer points. Although the analogy between the redwood trees and the theme of the film is insanely weak, the nature footage is lush and beautiful. And if romance is really your thing - and you're the kind of person that doesn't mind chucking reality aside to get your romantic fix - then this film is definitely for you... `cuz kids, this is some serious sweetness devoted to celluloid here. Realists: Run away.

Me, I'm halfway between the two camps. That said, there was one beautifully realized moment in the film that really won me over: while Chase is hanging out with Everett, Miles calls. Everett takes the call and begins chatting, wandering behind the sofa where the patient Chase sits. Absently, Everett puts his hand on Chase's shoulder... a first sign of affection between the two. Everett rubs Chase's shoulder lightly, completely unaware that he's doing it. Why? Because it's the kind of thing he's probably done with his partner of seven years a million times over. This one tiny moment speaks more than any other scene in the movie, showing how comfortable Everett has become with Chase and how absently the two have fallen for each other. Now, if the rest of "Redwoods" was as well-conceptualized, it would have been worthy of a bunch more stars.


4/5 Finally a true romantic film
  by AP (San Francisco)
I saw this film at it's World Premiere in San Francisco. I was very moved by how "true to life" and romantic this film is. The film made me question my own relationships & what value they have for me. Weather you are gay or straight I think you will find some fine emotional kernels to digest here!!!

5/5 What a poignant, wonderful love story!!!
  by D. C. Mappin (South Bend, IN, USA)
Where to start?

First off, this is one of the finest gay films I have ever seen! It is romantic, poignant, humorous, uplifting, sad, involving, and a totally thought-provoking, engrossing film that sucks you in from the first scene and does not let the viewer go until the surprisingly haunting ending!

The main character, Everett, is in a long-term go-with-the-flow relationship with his husband Miles. The two of them are raising a young boy and their relationship seems to be in a rut. While Miles and Billy (their son) are away on a family trip, Through chance, Everett meets Chase, a writer who is lost (in more ways than one).

Like the best of Charles Dickens' plot elements, coincidence plays a part in the two meeting not once, but twice and from there a poignant love story evolves and sweeps us, the viewer away.

Everett, a very moral man, yet dissatisfied with where life is leading finally succumbs to his feelings that have been building for Chase throughout the film.

Where he and Miles are a calm center of a storm, Everett (once he gives into his feelings) and Chase are a passionate hurricane! The film builds to a crescendo and leads to a surprising ending that I did not see coming (make sure you have a hankie ready). The acting and directing is awesome. I think this is now my favorite Matthew Montgomery film. He gets better and better with each movie!

Each moment feels honest and true! If this movie is a low budget film, its honesty and serene setting certainly does not show! The small town setting in northern California is beautiful.. the redwood forests seems the perfect setting for such a wondrous love story.

Needless to say, I cannot recommend this film highly enough. Kudos to the cast, its production crew and writer as this is a nearly perfect love story!

But it now! You will not regret it!

4/5 Recognizing true love as the most powerful force.
  by Bob Lind (Phoenix, AZ United States)
Everett and Miles are a gay couple, raising their learning-disabled son Billy, amid the wooded splendor of the Russian River area north of San Francisco. After seven years, their relationship has become so comfortable that Everett (Brendan Bradley) - while still devoted to his partner - is somewhat bored and misses the early, romantic days they spent together. When Miles takes Billy to his parents for a visit, Everett stays behind to work, but is soon interrupted by a stranger stopping to ask directions. Chase (Matthew Montgomery) is a writer, who left his native Minnesota to get inspiration to finish his book, and check out the giant Redwood trees of Northern California, which have always fascinated him. Everett is likewise fascinated by Chase, and they start spending a lot of time together, eventually developing a sexual relationship. Everett's family meets Chase, and are a bit concerned about the decisions Everett may face. Before Miles and Billy are due back, so Everett takes one last walk with Chase, trying to decide where his true love lies.

Screenwriter/Director David Lewis spins an interesting and highly emotional story, testing the power of love to its ultimate limits. Theoretically, the characters could have easily have been heterosexual rather than gay, but I personally feel the emotion is stronger with a gay couple, obviously not bound by any recognized legal commitment, at least on a federal level. Ultimately, it is both a sad and comforting story, and I give it four stars out of five. DVD extras include deleted scenes, a "making of" featurette, and commentary by actor Montgomery.