Akron

2015 "Love now"
6.6| 1h28m| en| More Info
Released: 06 October 2015 Released
Producted By: Towpath Productions
Country: United States of America
Budget: 0
Revenue: 0
Official Website: http://www.akronthefilm.com/
Synopsis

Benny, a college freshman at the University of Akron, Ohio meets and falls for fellow freshman Christopher at a football game. With the support of their families and friends they embark on a new relationship. But a tragic event in the past involving their mothers soon comes to light and threatens to tear them apart.

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Reviews

Evengyny Thanks for the memories!
FuzzyTagz If the ambition is to provide two hours of instantly forgettable, popcorn-munching escapism, it succeeds.
Mathilde the Guild Although I seem to have had higher expectations than I thought, the movie is super entertaining.
Curt Watching it is like watching the spectacle of a class clown at their best: you laugh at their jokes, instigate their defiance, and "ooooh" when they get in trouble.
meaninglessbark If you like made for Hallmark and Lifetime type dramas Akron would be a good pick. If you like more meaningful and well crafted films, skip it.The actors are all pretty good though the moms skew towards TV melodrama characters. The rest of the film's construction is really pedestrian.Even thought the film is bland and the story amateurish it was nice to see a film with gay characters that wasn't about them being gay and especially nice to see a non-caucasian gay male character (though he is, of course, very attractive).
Suradit Great movie primarily because of the actors, especially the two who play the central characters.The plot is a bit contrived though entirely plausible. I don't think it's necessary to look for any deep meaning in the behavior of those involved. Obviously a tragedy occurred and it was bound to have a profound effect on all involved and it was something that would not have been fully explored between parents and the very young boys at the time. Likewise it would have been a painful jolt to all involved when it suddenly resurfaced again as the two young men fell for each other at school. Forgiveness and rational thinking are easy to expect in theory, but far more difficult to deal with in reality. One thought that never seemed to have arisen was whether blame should have been shared between both mothers ... Christopher's mother who was driving the car that struck Benny's brother and Benny's mother who apparently allowed the child to run out in front of the car.We never know how long the relationship between Benny and Christopher lasted. The shared tragedy might have been overcome by love and forgiveness, but it would always be a burden that would weigh on them both.It was a well done bit of drama and romance, but it was not anything from which profound meaning could be extracted.
jm10701 If you saw every gay movie made since 1950, you'd never see one as good as Akron. It's not only the best gay movie made so far, it's one of the best movies period. You have to look at the very best ever--movies like Gone with the Wind and The Godfather--to find any that are better than Akron.Benny and Christopher meet as college freshmen. They get very close very fast. They're both extremely comfortable being gay, loved and fully supported by their friends and families, and they freely demonstrate their affection everywhere they go. It's marvelous to see.There is no homophobia anywhere in this movie, thank God. No bullies, no bashing, no parental disapproval, no coming-out angst. No hiding. No HIV. None of the other "curses" that most gay dramas wallow in. Critics may say Akron is unrealistic, but it's no less real than the negative crap we've already seen plenty of in gay movies.Akron shows a beautifully healthy and positive side of the gay experience that has been completely neglected in movies until now. There ARE families like this--lots of them--we just haven't seen them on screen before. There also is no melodrama in Akron, which is even more remarkable. Nobody overacts or over-reacts. Nobody ever does anything that doesn't feel completely genuine and true and natural and normal.There IS drama, but it's not centered on being gay. It turns out that the two families' paths had crossed in a terrible tragedy many years earlier, and when they discover that connection everything blows apart. The last half of the movie shows how each person in the two families (not just the lovers) deals with the newly-awakened pain.Small, unpretentious movies like this, about human beings relating to each other, don't win awards or sell tickets any more, but they're the only movies worth seeing. If you love blockbusters, you'll hate Akron; but if you love movies, you'll love this one. It's as nearly perfect in every way as a movie can be.
johnfox-56042 As of this writing, I have 2,371 movies in my library. And while having and having watched repeatedly many of the 2,371 movies in my library, I am not a professional movie reviewer. But I believe that I do have an informed opinion about what is good and what is not good in movies overall.The number of low and lowest ratings that some gave "Akron" (2015) surprised me, in part because I have given "Akron" a "10". So when I was recently visiting relations in Akron, Ohio, I asked several of my Latino relations about the allegations that a heavily Latino local church may have organized a number of the church's congregants to write IMDb for the purpose of slamming Akron (2015) because Matthew Frias was Latino and had competently played a gay young man in a very favorable light, within a story line that was very favorable to a gay love affair.One of my relations turned out to be one of the church congregants who participated in this fraud, and then happily detailed just how this fraud on IMDb was orchestrated within the church itself. This relation stated that apparently none of the congregants had actually watched "Akron" or Matthew Frias, or if they had, they had only done so for a few minutes.The moral of this is very simple, as far as I can see. Be very careful when using the ratings assigned to movies that some might find politically charged. And be very, very careful when religious groups target movies like "Akron" (2015) for whatever reason."Akron" (2015) deserves a "10" rating for all of the right cinematic reasons.