tlavideo.com

Amos Lassen wrote on 02/22/2012:

“The Books of John” is not a new film and in fact it was released in 2007 and I reviewed it then. I went back to have another look and found my opinion had changed. It seemed very amateurish to me when I first saw it and it is to a degree but I have mellowed and saw things that I missed back then. Aside from that, I have always felt it was the job of a reviewer to encourage so hopefully this review will do just that.
The film follows the lives of three different people in the South. Frank McLean finds himself alone after the sudden death of his partner; Will, a party boy and friend of Frank’s is in an open relationship and he cannot understand why Frank has taken his lover’s death so hard and Caryn who has lost her love to Jen, Frank’s best friend because she did not come out to her parents and Caryn realizes that he has made a mistake by letting her get away. Then we have Trevor who is living in small town Alabama with his grandmother and he is her only family. Trevor’s mother died years before.
These lives all come together in the hopes of finding happiness and love. The actors are all amateurs and they deal with a really foolish storyline but I was touched by the efforts they put into the film even though some of the plot is ridiculous. Now I have read some really scathing reviews of this film and I want to say that it is not that bad. Some of the dialogue makes one groan and the scenes are very quick but by and large I found the film entertaining in its own way. It made me think about my life and where I am going and I won’t say anymore about the plot so as not to spoil it. Give it a try--- I do not think you will be disappointed.

JB wrote on 11/24/2008:

Frankly, don't bother!
This is a dreadful film - a mish-mashed plot has been poorly scripted, badly edited and equally poorly acted. Sound quality is appalling
The one high point for me was Grandmother whose delivery of her lines reminded me of Edith Massey from John Waters films! Maybe this too will become a cult in years to come?? I somehow don't think so
What I would expect from a student film maker

Conner wrote on 10/10/2008:

My partner & I pre-booked this movie through TLA, and we were not sorry, that we did. It is a very touching story, with a happy ending. I love happy endings! Especially, when it deals with people falling "in-love". As was the case of the two men in this movie.

The movie begins on a sad note, which I won't tell for the sake of those who haven't seen the film yet, I found the plot very easy to follow, and I enjoyed how the movie moved along.

The ending was touching, and it leaves one feeling "happy/good", or should I say in this case......"GAY"!!! As they say; "Love is a many splendid thing"!

Marty wrote on 10/06/2008:

Decent script and acting that suffered from technical difficulties - very often the dialog was lost. Will have to watch again to hear what I missed.

Good story. Sometimes overacted - my guess (as in many other indie films) is that the extra push you need on stage comes across as overdone on film.

Willis wrote on 08/17/2008:

There is something to be said about watching an entire movie before making general statements about it.

I had a chance to catch this movie at its screening and I will tell you that it is a very good movie and the direction was very good. When a movie will deal with real life situations and not be afraid to go out on a limb, you must give them credit.

Most gay movies seem to be plagued with sexual content and no substance and I found that this movie actually had substance and a really good story.

I think that the production company put this movie out on a low budget and there were a few acting bumps but, to strongly recommend against seeing the movie is an injustice act toward this production company and others who may be willing to go out on the limb for the gay community. Shame on this website for such strong words against a very good gay movie. But then again, I do notice that most of the gay movies that this site recommends are plagued with bad acting and constant sex. Hmmmmm!