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All The Rage

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Dibyendu Paul reviews the movie All The Rage

Apparently it may seem that All the Rage is pretty shallow. But the most interesting part is that movies like All The Rage are really hard to present. It reminds me of a few lines by Vikram Seth:

And yet with half my heart
I wish I were- that we,
Knowing that we must part,
Could share this equally.”
And
“You wrestle for reserve
And its keen dignity.
Now is the time to serve
Eviction upon me.

Chris (John-Michael Lander) is an English guy with a sculpted physique, strong jawline, high-paying occupation as well as high-rent apartment which is the dream of every guy in town. Chris is pretty much obsessed about it as well. He keeps the contacts of every other guy he brings to his apartment in a black little box just for proof. He doesn’t even feel like looking into them again. Those all are just like fags. On the other hand, all the guys he has come across till date are either after his perfectness or his materialistic appeal or his money. So just for a justification I guess, this very act of considering guys as fags doesn’t really make Chris a bad guy! So guys bump into him at gym, in Office, in the bar, in restaurants and where not! There is always another guy around. It’s no big deal for Chris! But deep inside his heart there is always a feeling of getting a guy who he can probably call as Mr. Perfect or so, who he can bump onto! Soon, Chris begins falling for a guy named Stewart(David Vincent); he is cute but not really gorgeous on general terms, he doesn’t go to gym regularly and is a little bit shy, still he starts falling for him with all his imperfections! Some of the friends of Chris are quite surprised about it but most interestingly, no one is more surprised than Christopher himself. Until this all was well, but things started getting complicated then after.

Chris comes across a guy at gym who is all the way perfect bed material, irresistible, and the guy all the way starts bumping on him. One dark night turns the whole stream and its flow to a total different direction. He ends up losing Stewart. The story hobbles by the elaborate and stagey performances with interesting monologues of Chris in between, here and there with the exceptional appearance of David Vincent. But according to some critics the plot “comes out nowhere” though I do differ with that. The movie is more wide then it seems from outside. It’s something beyond just being gayish. Yes, some parts of it are too materialistic, but I think that’s how we are. Aren’t we?

The whole storyline is punctuated all the way through by subtle confessions of Christopher in creative black & white frames. Chris addresses the viewer and muses about himself, he tells about his desire and narrates what all he wants in his guy and sometimes he also criticises himself. Yes, you can think that these interludes are nothing but a simple trick to garner the sympathy of the viewer for the character. It also somewhere reflects the shallowness of Christopher, but the confessions add a different flavour to the portrayal of Chris’s character.

You may feel unsatisfied once you complete watching All The Rage but I’m sure it is worth enough to leave a trance all the way. No point of recommending it in the first place but I can say that the flick was not a bad catch. Rather, it sends a completely different note which compelled me to watch it till the end:

I see my younger grief
Accusing with your eyes.
I cannot give relief
Nor can you give me lies.
But do not say I’ve wrecked
Your peace and caused you pain.
I’ve done that, I suspect,
But won’t do so again.
Gaylaxy
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