Movie Review – Defying Gravity (1997)

Quality 4.0 / 5.0 (recommended)
Gay Content 4.0 / 5.0
Gay Positivity 3.5 / 5.0

The movie derives most of its drama from the protagonist’s difficulty in accepting his own homosexuality, and from the fag-bashing of his boyfriend, bringing the Gay Positivity score down.

Taking a hit on the “Positivity” scale doesn’t mean the quality of the film was bad. It’s just that most images of gay people in the media (movies, TV, and books) are negative, involving discrimination, beatings, disease, death, and other tragedies. That is not to say these things don’t happen in real life, but the sheer volume of these negative images, in my opinion, reinforces the already strong but false notion that if you’re gay, it automatically follows that either bad things will happen to you, or you ARE bad. The “Positivity” scale is intended to indicate to the potential viewer where the movie falls in this spectrum.

This movie has a sweetness to it, and ends well, so I would say it is more positive than not, but it is nevertheless one of the pool of movies that focuses on the negativity of being gay (the trauma of accepting, gasp, oh my god, how horrible, I might be gay! as well as a vicious assault on a gay person).

The acting is a bit wooden at points, but there’s an earnestness to the performances (especially the protagonist Griff, portrayed by Daniel Chilson) that make the characters endearing and engaging. In fact, despite the heaviness of the storyline (this is no comedy, folks), the script is relatively low-key in its presentation, and the film rarely falls into melodrama.

And as I mentioned, there is also a tenderness to this movie that makes it very re-watchable (I’ve seen it two or three times now). Also, although I personally tend to prefer happy gay movies (rare though they are), I recognize the importance of telling stories like this one.

I particularly enjoyed the scene when Griff (Chilson) and his best friend are on a mountaintop reflecting – the bonding between the friends, Griffs positive self-realization, and the tantalizing and brief flashback create a thoughtful scene that exceeds the sum of its parts. These factors give the film most of its points in the “Quality” category. Otherwise, the movie is a bit more pedestrian – decently scripted, directed, and acted without being truly standout.