Beautiful Thing

I first saw this film in 1996 when I was just about to go to university. I remember being taken aback by how much of it chimed with my own life, and how very real the characters and their emotions felt to me. The 'make your own kind of music' scene was no less than gobsmacking. This is a film I have come back to time and again over the years, and it never ceases to be uplifting and life-affirming. It describes itself as an 'urban fairytale', which is exactly what it is. Some people find a disjunction between the realism of the plot (and the magnificently believable performances of the leads) and the fairytale ending, but I think you have to be pretty soulless not to be moved by it. It was so refreshing back then to see a film with gay characters where it didn't end tragically. I don't think the ending is any more jarring than the classic 'riding off into the sunset' ending of Westerns, or the inevitable marriage that closes rom-coms. Art can show us life as we would like it to be - it does not always have to rub our noses in the difficulty of making it so.

This is a really good film that shows just what it like to be young and gay in the 1990's. Almost all of the characters are well acted, and believable, from Jamie and Sandra's son / mother love / hate, and Jamie and Ste getting to know each other, and the relationships between neighbours. One or two of the background characters are a little wooden, but on the whole it's a good standard. The first time I watched it there were so many 'been there, done that' moments that made it almost personal. My only complaint is that it is a little sugar - coated, but it was set 20 years after I went through things like that myself, so I guess times had changed. The soundtrack is superb, and adds to the atmosphere throughout the film. I lost count of the number of times I watched this before I posted it back, and I've now bought myself a copy, which speaks volumes about how I feel about it.

feel good film..... left a big smile on my face may not be the best acting you've ever seen but who cares if it makes you happy...... helps if your gay lol

I was very disappointed by this movie. two guys ,one of them born gay and his neighbor who is more straight but apparently falls for this other guy so easily that it wasn't convincing at all. To make things worse at the end of the movie they hugged and dance in front of everybody even they were scared of the neighbors, coolege students and the family of one of the guys. I found this film stupid and unconvincing.

i realy enjoyed watching this film again i remember it when it first came out a very moving story in some parts and i would watch this over and over again worth seeing a good coming out story worth a watch