Particles of Truth
By: Mark Runyon | Category: DVD Archive | 08/03/05 | 09:09 PM
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 Grade: C- |
Genre: Independent Drama
Summary: There are times Particles of Truth does connect, showing sparks of promise, but they are too few and far between to make this work worth the wait.
With Queer as Folk marching towards it's series close Sunday night (look for the review), I thought it would be a grand idea to see what life after Folk might look like for some of our favorite cast members. Gale Harold, best known for his playboy ways as Brian Kinney, takes the starring role in the recent indie DVD release Particles of Truth. Particles is really the baby of writer/director/lead actress Jennifer Elster. Harold seems to be onboard to lend the film some legitimacy, his familiar name and fan following. Unfortunately, he's little more than a pawn in this artsy, overly complex human drama whose poor aim overshoots the mark more than it hits.
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Lilly Black (Elster) is an artist readying for her first gallery show. Her personal walls couldn't be higher or more rigid as she keeps everyone at arm's length to protect herself from feeling. She grew up with two strung out parents who deal with overdosing friends over infidelity and steal neighbor's TVs to raise funds to support their unquenchable habit. Her glance crosses with Morrison Wiley (Harold) who is a germophobe, spending his days tucked inside his BMW SUV, chronicling the thoughts of strangers he spies from the safety of his automotive sanctuary. He's published a popular selling book appropriately named Thoughts from a Car. Morrison isn't the self-confidant, cocky Brian Kinney by any means. He's shy, reserved and structures his padded life around not having to come into contact with germs, thus people. It's nice to see Harold branch out to fill another screen life.
While Lilly and Morrison are the stories central focus, six other characters fill out the space to provide a fresh set of neurosis to generate curiosity. Lilly's roommate is a Bible thumping girl always preaching salvation to Lilly while oblivious of her violent, scumbag boyfriend. Morrison's parents are well to do socialites who neglect him and try to explain away his eccentricities through pointless psychobabble. Lastly, there are Lilly's parents who are seen mostly in flashbacks of her childhood. It paints the pain and heartbreak that varnished her childhood. When we sweep forward to see them at present, her father is slowly dying of AIDS, and her mother is bombed out in a daze from a lifetime of drug use. This is a carnival of psych-ward escapees. Every character has serious issues that seem to compound when they interact with the other characters wielding their own weapons of mental instability. You have eight inner childs screaming to be loved, but not allowing anyone close enough to do it.
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| Particles of Truth |
Starring: Jennifer Elster, Gale Harold, Susan Floyd & Larry Pine
Director: Jennifer Elster |
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As for a general plot and story, there doesn't seem to be much of one. The film takes place over the course of two days. Day one seems the setup while day two falls into chaos. Our two leads meet and awkwardly fall for one another via his novel and her musical tastes. The beginning of the film is very artsy in composition and threatens to turn the viewer off with its "I'm being artsy for artsy sake" vibe. Lucky, it pulls out of that impending tailspin before we are forced to kick out through the escape hatch. The film does try to develop the characters and get them to state where they are able to exist on a relatively healthy plane, but the problem is they were so inexorably screwed up to begin with that any progress can only be incremental. Maybe we're just supposed to be content that they have all stumbled across the pathway to their salvation, and its up to us to decide if they keep walking down it.
The title refers to the truth of these character's lives. There are only small degrees of truth that they are willing to reveal to one another as well as the hidden measures of truth they are able to accept about themselves. The overall theme of the film seems to be connections or more so the inability to make them. Each of these characters approaches each other with the wrong key and becomes dangerously frustrated when they can't get it to fit. This leads to an overwhelming sense of isolation that hangs over this film. The few moments that the movie really shows promise are when the characters manage to bust through the door and force the connection. Unfortunately, it's not a cure all as this device can seem forced at times.
At the close, this film presents a host of compelling characters, laid against the gritty New York backdrop, but fails to do much with them. There is a lot of emotional charge built up here that never finds its outlet and is mistimed. The most interesting segments prove to be the flashback sequences, watching the little girl attempt to take in the drug-fueled chaos that surrounds her. She draws her pictures of butterflies, trying to fly away to a happier existance. Also, it is interesting to see Gale Harold taking on a character outside of the Folk universe, though he won't catch any director's eye with this marginal performance. In all fairness, this script doesn't give him a chance to flex his acting muscles. There are times Particles of Truth does connect, showing sparks of promise, but they are too few and far between to make this work worth the wait.
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