When Dorian Lagatos (Michael McMillian) declares in the opening minutes of the dramedy “Dorian Blues,” “The first thing you should know about me is that I’m gay,” it sounds so reassuring.
As if Dorian’s assertion might be a promise from writer-director Tennyson Bardwell that his debut feature will go beyond the coming- out verities so many indie films with gay or lesbian content have offered before.
Alas, this is not to be.
“Dorian Blues” quickly gets mired in the coming-out stage.
Granted, even in a world where “Will & Grace,” “The L Word” and “Queer as Folk” have had their time slots, coming out can still be vexing. It can even be dangerous. But, since movies serve the imagination, why not dream a richer world and more stories for gay characters?
It’s too easy to believe this hewing to a well-trod genre is the only thing ailing “Dorian Blues.” But Bardwell’s movie is a lot like another work about family ties: Cameron Crowe’s disappointing “Elizabethtown.”
That film also has a voice-over narration from a lead character who sounds more self-assured than he is. That movie has a death in the family. This movie’s dad, however, is neither generous nor mysterious.
Steven C. Fletcher gives a biting performance as Tom Lagatos. Sitting at the dinner table challenging his sons with rhetorical finesse, he is one of those guys who won enough debate club certificates to make a tome.
An oppressive force on both his sons, he twists their opinions until they conform to his own. Eldest son Dorian he treats as an afterthought. But Nicky (Lea Coco) throws the pigskin well enough to get a full ride at Syracuse. So Dad has bragging rights.
Wife Maria (Mo Quigley) hunkers down in the kitchen rolling pennies.
A big problem with “Dorian Blues” is that Dorian is never convincing as an elder sibling. He may be the more sensitive one, the keener observer, but he is definitely not the first child in this pecking order.
Even when Dorian escapes upstate New York for New York University and begins making friends, letting himself fall for a guy, he still doesn’t seem mature.
“Dorian Blues” has some charm. Leslie Elliard appeals as Dorian’s therapist. There’s a lovely truthfulness in the way he deals with Dorian’s romantic attachment.
One of the sweeter moments comes when Nicky hooks up Dorian with a stripper. It’s younger bro’s clueless attempt at a reclamation project.
Ryan Kelly Berkowitz infuses character Tiffany with heart and hope. And it’s infectious. Not only do Tiffany’s gotta sing/gotta dance aspirations inspire Dorian to try something new – no, not hetero sex – they provide one of the movie’s few surprising moments.
“Dorian Blues” makes me yearn for the day that audiences have become so comfortable enough with this subgenre that a clever director can make a spoof in which many if not all of the conventions get lampooned.
He or she can call it “Not Another Coming Out Movie.”
** | “Dorian Blues”
NOT RATED |1 hour, 28 minutes minutes|COMING-OUT DRAMEDY| Written and directed by Tennyson Bardwell; photography by Taylor Morrison; starring Michael McMillian, Lea Coco, Steven C. Fletcher, Mo Quigley, John Abele, Ryan Kelly Berkowitz |Opens today at the Starz FilmCenter.
