decidedlyodd

Tonight, I went to see Save Me at the Harvard Ext as part of the Seattle Lesbian and Film Festival. When I looked through the program the other day, this film didn’t really interest me so I didn’t buy a ticket for it. However, some friends were going and convinced me to buy a ticket yesterday. This movie was one of the “centerpiece galas” which means you pay a higher price for the ticket and get admission to an after film party.

After waiting in the long line and finally getting inside, I had to go to the bathroom and afterward couldn’t find my friends. I didn’t even know if they were saving seats for me or what, so I ended up sitting by myself in the balcony. After suffering through the film and sitting in the warm balcony for about 2 hours, I didn’t feel like walking across Capitol Hill to jam into Chapel (a bar) with all these people again for the party.

The film started out with the delays that accompany a full house. In fact, the show was oversold. Apparently, they reserve a certain number of seats for pass holders who don’t need actual tickets to get in. They’re let in first, then the normal ticketholders are let in. If a lot of passholders show up and you’re at the back of the normal line, you don’t get in which seems unfair. A staffer asked volunteers and staffers to give up their seats to let paying ticketholders in, but I’m not sure if anybody obliged to let those 6 aced out people see the film or not.

After people got settled, Robert Gant went on stage to talk for a couple minutes. Whoever the MC was did a bad job of introducing him. I had no idea who he was when he was talking. Up in the balcony, I couldn’t see him very well. I realized he was one of the actors in the film (and that guy from Queer as Folk) after I got home and looked him up in IMDB.

For me, it wasn’t worth the $17 and 96 minutes of my time. The rest of the audience was laughing at the lame, hackneyed jokes, but maybe I just didn’t get it or expected more. It starred several fairly well known actors–Chad Allen (as the lead), Judith Light and (as already mentioned) Robert Gant. On the plus side, the acting was good and the film was well made. Sadly, the story just wasn’t compelling to me and the whole thing seemed trite. I felt like I’d already seen the film before since it was so predictable.

It was a disappointing start to the film festival for me, but hopefully the other stuff I’ve bought tickets for will turn out better.