Q (Jared Wayne Gladly) and Amari (David J. Cork) are a gay, African American couple living in a downtown high-rise. During a 24-hour period, they are confined to their apartment and are forced to go into the depth of their relationship in ways that could enhance it, jeopardize it, or both. Gladly and Cork are powerful in one of those rare films that are two-people only and generate a lot of passion with depth, courage, and a variety of moods. One of many intriguing situations is how Amari's character has polar opposite outlooks about mornings at the beginning and the end of the film. Director/writer Ashton Pina has created a powerful story which will hopefully be adapted to a stage play one day. RATING: 9 out of 10 OUTSTANDING ACHIEVEMENT: Screenplay by Ashton Pina.

Nana's Boys(480P)

source: Nana's Boys

source: Nana's Boys

source: Nana's Boys

Q and Amari are a black gay couple in love. Amari has been drifting aimlessly since being downsized, but successful divorce lawyer Q is full of plans - for today, Amari's 30th birthday, to the rest of their lives together. What was unplanned for is being locked down with no electricity or cell service, after an explosion that was initially suspected of terrorism. Until the next dawn, they are forced to be together, and find out secrets and express feelings that make their relationship wobble. I do like the simplification of their other family relationships, by both of them being raised by their Nanas alone, which also gives a feel of the black experience.

Breaking up is hard to do (or so they say). In any event, that's something no one would get from watching this largely improbable offering about an African-American gay male couple whose relationship is teetering on the brink. When a sudden and massive explosion not far from their New York apartment unexpectedly throws the partners into a mandatory lockdown, their confinement leaves them to confront one another, a process full of revelations that accelerates their assessment of their circumstances and hastens a decision about how to proceed. In all sincerity, it's a story that seems to have its heart in the right place, but, unfortunately, the writing is so implausible and unconvincing that it's difficult to believe that this is a couple potentially on the verge of collapse, despite the alleged sensitivity it's trying to convey. The characters sound more like they're reciting scripted dialogue than engaging in believable conversation, and they often behave more like they're on a date than wrestling with the course of their future. In many ways, this comes across like a more dramatic, reworked gay version of "Scenes from a Mall" (1991), only with fewer characters and staged in a more confined space (and about as compelling and credible as its more comedic predecessor). Writer-director Ashton Pina's debut feature truly plays like a first-time effort, one sorely in need of a hefty dose of realism, not to mention a little less overacting and a soundtrack that doesn't sound like it was pulled from a made-for-cable TV movie. Sadly, situations like this are often messy and ugly, and their depiction shouldn't be glossed over with the kinds of polite, make-nice tropes that riddle the narrative and screenplay here, painful though that truth may be.

Trailer—Nana's Boys