Almost Love

By: Amos Lassen

"ALMOST LOVE"
Friends and Relationships
Amos Lassen
Actor Mike Doyle makes his proficient writing-directing feature debut with "Almost Love" which looks at a tight-knit circle of thirtysomething New Yorkers and their romantic foibles. about not settling for less than one deserves.
Adam (Scott Evans) is an underappreciated artist who ghost paints for Ravella, a successful artist (Patricia Clarkson). He's been in a five-year relationship with boyfriend Marklin (Augustus Prew), a men's fashion influencer who tends to unintentionally overshadow Adam and is not yet ready to get married. Adam's best friend Elizabeth (Kate Walsh), has been married to her husband for fifteen years. Their single friends have their own issues. Cammy (Michelle Buteau) is dating Henry (Colin Donnell), who is currently homeless and living at a shelter. Neurotic Haley (Zoe Chao) is tutor to a 17-year-old boy Scott James (Christopher Gray) for his SATs and she is figuring out what her maternal or romantic feelings toward him mean. Everyone is navigating their respective rough patches in life and they are lucky to have each other to turn to.
"Almost Love" captures the mundanities of life that can sink a long-term relationship if both partners aren't putting in the work. Director Doyle's never focuses on the sexuality of Adam and Marklin who are guilty of lacking communication and sometimes make other feel like a straight couple (humor me). When Adam and Marklin, are riding their bikes home after a therapy session, they stop for a quick kiss and are called out for being gay by a passerby but they proudly laugh it off and keep riding. What seems to be a detail is there for a reason. The prime conflicts that arise don't always go where we completely expect but do get taken care of nicely.
The film revolves around the slumping five-year relationship between Adam and Marklin. Adam wishes that he was further along with the paintings that actually mean something to him. Marklin has gone from working retail to running a high-end men's fashion website with a huge Instagram following. The ensemble cast is excellent all around and shares great chemistry. The film comes to us quietly as it steadily unfolds with natural dialogue, moving back-and-forth between joy and sadness.
At its core, this is a film about emotional intimacy: the mundane, ecstatic and difficult parts of loving someone over the long-term. It depicts the lives of gay characters but prioritizes their inner struggles, the way any other pic about a couple would do instead of limiting their lives to only being about coming out or fighting for LGBTQ rights. There are no sex scenes between the two leads and yet there is no sense of sexual repression or an absence of affection between Adam and Marklin. The film delves into a wider exploration of what binds a couple together and what can tear them apart.
But, Doyle doesn't ignore the struggles that gay people face in society, however a shown above. Even though this is a movie about Adam and Marklin, a little more development of the female characters in their friends group would have enriched the story. We know that Cammy "used to edit cookbooks", that Elizabeth hates kids and that Haley is a writer who studied at Brown, but beyond this their stories are only told within the context of their romantic pairings. I wish I had known their characters better by the end of the film.
"Almost Love" is proof that a quiet movie with a relatable story doesn't need hijinks to impact an audience. This is an actor-driven production that gives plenty of room to the ensemble to explore personalities. It does lose focus on the group effort, "Almost Love" has feeling but sincerity certainly supports the story. In any relationship, platonic or sexual, the fear of a sell-by date is of concern to most of us, and "Almost Love" does a great job at exploring that fear and the possible results from it.