Review by gayforplay
By: gayforplay
It is difficult to rate this film properly, because it was not possible to figure out what was actually happening in the film most of the time. There is a major problem with the volume levels, which required that we turn the volume up to its maximum...
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It is difficult to rate this film properly, because it was not possible to figure out what was actually happening in the film most of the time. There is a major problem with the volume levels, which required that we turn the volume up to its maximum levels, and yet we still couldn't hear dialogue clearly. Not only were the characters mumbling most of the time, rather than speaking clearly, but they also all spoke with thick Irish accents. While the DVD cover claimed that the disk had English subtitle capabilities, this is NOT the case: there were NO subtitles available, not in ANY language.
Apart from the auditory problems, the actors were all quite capable. But for the most part, it was difficult to sympathize with the characters and for the life choices they had made. And it was very hard to fathom any rationale for their more erratic behaviors.
I purchased this DVD with great expectations, but it was a MAJOR disappointment. Spare yourself the frustration.
Review by Very sensual movie
By: Very sensual movie
I don't know why the actors agreed to their roles if there were NO sex scenes between them. The actor who played Colm did not even show his hairy chest. If there are so heterosexual image-conscious why do they accept such roles. We need actors who ar...
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I don't know why the actors agreed to their roles if there were NO sex scenes between them. The actor who played Colm did not even show his hairy chest. If there are so heterosexual image-conscious why do they accept such roles. We need actors who are totally uninhibited and show their genitals freely and courageously and use them without any fear. At least 10 to 15 torrid sex scenes are required,
Review by Amos Lassen
By: Amos Lassen
"RIALTO"
Finding Comfort
Amos Lassen
Colm (Tom Vaughan-Lawlor), a dock worker, is in his mid-forties, married, with two teenage children. He is still grieving the death of his father, he struggles with his relationship to his own son, ...
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"RIALTO"
Finding Comfort
Amos Lassen
Colm (Tom Vaughan-Lawlor), a dock worker, is in his mid-forties, married, with two teenage children. He is still grieving the death of his father, he struggles with his relationship to his own son, whilst at work a recent takeover threatens his job. Unable to share his vulnerability with his wife (Monica Dolan), Colm's world is falling apart around him. In the midst of this, Colm solicits sex from a young man called Jay (Tom Glynn-Carney). His growing infatuation with Jay has a deep effect on Colm because he finds in Jay what no one else can provide.
Monica is worried because her hubby is going through a rough patch. His domineering father has recently died and, at work, a merger with a Dutch shipping firm looks likely to threaten the job he's had since leaving school. Colm climbs to the top of the dock's highest crane to scream his frustrations and is self-medicating with cheap Polish lager. During all of this, Colm decides to begin experimenting with his sexuality for the first time. He picks picking up a 19-year-old hustler, Jay. Their first encounter in a shopping mall men's room doesn't go well. Colm's wallet is missing and this means that Jay knows both his address and place of work and that he can use these for his financial advantage.
What is not clear is whether either man would identify as gay. Both are in loving, if strained, relationships with women, with whom they have children ? Colm has two teens roughly Jay's age, and Jay has a newborn.
Director Peter Mackie Burns gives us a movie about a life in free-fall. The mood is blunt and very realistic, with scenes playing out in half-conversations. At work and home, Colm struggles to connect with the people around him as his lies about the young man who's been seen visiting his work pile up. With Jay, though, he's carved a safe space. "There's no lies between us," Colm suggests during one of their clandestine hookups.
The camera often hangs back and frames Colm's unease as he paces his suburban garden or observes the character at distance as he runs between shipping containers from far-off countries that he has never thought about visiting. The film is most alive during Colm's nighttime wanderings. At one point, he staggers along the docklands, walking into the sea at low-tide, sinking to his knees, totally devastated that the water is too shallow to drown in.
Confrontations that might have generated high drama in other films are either subverted or consigned to off-screen. This is a film that is too quiet and contained to accommodate destabilizing melodramatic moments. "Rialto" is a nuanced journey into emotional containment, belonging and identity. It creates an unlikely safe space in the relationship between a teenage sex worker and a father whose life in spiraling out of control. Colm's very existence is of the fabric of the containers he cares for. The containers are themselves symbolic of a life lived while trapped in emotional seclusion.
Following the death of his controlling father; a man he could never please. Colm's life begins to change. His strained family relationships are dealt with while drinking. Meanwhile, the potential risk of becoming controlling like his father was increases his sense of social detachment and crisis.
Seeking a moment of risk and expression, he arranges a secret rendezvous with a hustler. His intention was to finally allow himself to experience pleasure and purpose. However, the meeting was filled with fear and apprehension and was lost among apologies and regret. With the young hustler in possession of the wallet. Jay has the opportunity to scam Colm for money, sensing Colm's secrets. Nonetheless, the relationship between Colm and Jay who he pays for emotional honesty and tentative desire grows. Jay ultimately becomes an unwitting therapist as Colm speaks about his past and present. The secrecy of their encounters that allowed honesty becomes a great risk.
"Rialto" is an intimate character study of a man on the verge of emotional and social collapse. His family and work life collide with the suppressed needs of a life lived in the shadow of others. His need for escape and emotional connection finally finds a voice with a teenage hustler.
Both men's sexuality is less important than the need for male belonging and attention. Both Colm and Jay's home lives are equally dysfunctional due to lies and emotional suppression. Colm is internally screaming for escape (despite a loving wife) and Jay wants to be allowed in to the life of his girlfriend and new born daughter.
The result for both men is a confused relationship of mutual support at a price. The relationship between the two men avoids the need for sexual release against the greater need for unconditional male companionship and love.
Burns gives us a look at the veneer of a man's life peeling away from the inner emotional reality. The film's final scenes never try to conclude the journey started, as secrets are aired between Colm and his own son. Their father/son relationship changed forever with anger. The financial reality of Colm's relationship with Jay leads both men to separate from their therapeutic relationship of confusion.
Rialto leaves its audience hoping that Colm will find the inner peace that he needs to rebuild his life. However, the reality is that the turmoil of the events proceeding the final scenes have only just begun to play out in Colm's future.
The film is raw but it never gets too gritty. It just approaches the mark but doesn't pass it and there are no frills. It ends abruptly and would have been very satisfying to see what would have happened just after the film's final scenes. However, we understand why it ends as it does. Here is a mid-life crisis brought on by the death of a parent, repressed sexuality and a touch of alcoholism that is beautiful handled and a film achievement.