Dorian Blues

There is a useful directness to Dorian Blues, a comedy shaped by Tennyson Bardwell with a firm understanding of its audience. In Dorian Blues, Michael McMillian provides the anchor while Lea Coco introduces a contrasting energy. Without revealing later complications, Dorian Blues opens from this situation: High school senior Dorian begins a gay man's odyssey when he determines that he's gay and decides to come out. The resulting its 1h 28m running time feels most convincing whenever Dorian Blues trusts behaviour more than explanation.

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Performance is the clearest human asset in Dorian Blues, beginning with the committed centre provided by Michael McMillian. Lea Coco keeps Dorian Blues from settling into one emotional register by approaching the material from another angle. The presence of Steve Fletcher gives the surrounding world of Dorian Blues additional texture without distracting from the main line. When Tennyson Bardwell holds on a reaction, Dorian Blues communicates more efficiently than another explanatory exchange could manage.

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Rather than summarise every event in Dorian Blues, it is enough to note how High places Dorian under growing pressure. Michael McMillian gives that tension a face, which stops Dorian Blues from becoming a mechanical sequence of developments. Tennyson Bardwell uses Chief to widen the stakes of Dorian Blues without losing sight of the original problem. Where the central character becomes predictable, Dorian Blues recovers interest through the consequences surrounding it.

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In Dorian Blues, Tennyson Bardwell directs with a manner that is engaging in bursts but unable to maintain the same control rather than eager to prove itself. Scenes in Dorian Blues gain weight when Tennyson Bardwell holds attention on a decision instead of hurrying toward its result. Worthwhile ideas compete with an uneven structure for Dorian Blues, since the film keeps returning to its clearest dramatic priorities. The caveat is that Dorian Blues occasionally reveals how the pace alternates between hurry and drift, which slightly weakens the build.

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A close look at Dorian Blues reveals how well judged reactions carries information that the dialogue wisely leaves alone. Under the production banner of Day Dreamer Films, Dorian Blues treats well judged reactions as part of its storytelling grammar. Performer rhythm gives Dorian Blues a stronger sense of place within its United States context. The technical departments of Dorian Blues remain coordinated, so polish supports involvement instead of creating distance.

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What Dorian Blues has to say is rooted in embarrassment, status and the gap between confidence and reality. The experience of Michael McMillian carries that question through Dorian Blues without reducing the character to an example. The central character helps Dorian Blues test the theme through consequence instead of explanation. When Tennyson Bardwell allows ambiguity to remain, Dorian Blues becomes more involving than a simple statement of intent.

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Taken as a whole, Dorian Blues is a qualified recommendation for comedy fans who respond to personality and timing. Dorian Blues leaves its strongest impression through well judged reactions, the work of Michael McMillian and a clear understanding of tone. The limitations around how the pace alternates between hurry and drift should be acknowledged, but they do not erase what Dorian Blues does well. I would return to Dorian Blues for its personality and its willingness to connect genre pleasure with recognisable feeling.