Forgive and Forget Reviews

Mixed Messages

I watched this British film after watching Latter Days and Big Eden (not on the same night!). In fact, it’s the first British film I’ve watched for ages. Maybe the contrast was too great.

David and Theo are best friends—have been since school, where David looked after and protected the smaller Theo. David now works as a plasterer for his father; Theo works part-time with him and goes to college to study something vague to do with computers.

Theo meets Hanna. Theo falls in love and moves in with her.

Although we’ve guessed that David’s feelings for Theo are more than just friendship, this doesn’t actually emerge until he starts losing him to Hanna.

If you watch this film for no other reason, then watch it for the performance of Steve John Shepherd. He’s not just a pretty face—although he certainly is this. I’ve never seen such nuance of performance before, and I'm a bit of a film buff. You could freeze-frame this film and watch his expressions for hours. Each flicker of an eyelid, each quirk of his lips is amazing as he portrays this tortured young man. David’s world is one of building sites and football—and you really do have to be British to get just how accurately the building site “ethos” (can building sites have an ethos?) is captured here. It’s rough, it’s rude, it’s bullying heterosexual.

He’s caught in a trap he can’t see a way out of: losing Theo, unable to come out, wanting to be happy.

In the most affecting scene in the film, Theo, afraid he’s lost Hanna, cries on David’s shoulder, asking, “How do you tell someone that you really love them?” I swear you can hear David screaming in his mind, “I love you; I love you.”

This scene is pivotal to the film because David makes a decision that then affects everyone and propels the film towards its conclusion.

It’s very hard to be frank as to whether I could actually say I enjoyed this film without ruining the ending for you.

I do recommend you try and see it. It’s important to support gay cinema, but if I wanted to watch a film more than once it would be Latter Days,Big Eden, Just a Question of Love, Burnt Money or All Over the Guy. But as I say, Steve John Shepherd’s acting is worth getting this film for alone.