Review of I Am Michael (2015) by A.d. O — 30 Jul 2017

I am Michael makes for an unusual and slightly uncomfortable viewing. Based on a true story it tells the tale of a young gay man, Michael and his lover Bennett. Both are movers and shakers in the San Francisco LGBTQ community, involved in magazine publishing and rights issues.

Michael however, begins to have doubts about his sexuality and is increasingly troubled as he finds a path to faith in God. Breaking with Bennett, he goes on to reject the gay life and enrols at a Bible Study college where he meets, falls in love with and eventually marries a young women's he meets while at college.

The central performances are by James Franco and Zachary Quinto are good enough but there's an awful lot of internal navel gazing which doesn't make for the most exciting and engaging cinema and my overall impression was this is a guy who really needs to take a good look at himself and grow up.

I'm perfectly comfortable with the idea of fluid and changing sexualities and know enough people who've gone the other, straight to gay lifestyle to know that this is a journey that many people go through.

But, for me, the whole "Finding God" thing rings a bit hollow and affected. In my experience, this is a mask for people with deeper issues that are more to do with family, tradition and conformity and I think the real Michael probably has a lot more confusions to deal with than are presented here.

Nevertheless, the film did provoke conversation between myself and my partner about this topic so for that, if nothing else, it served a purpose.