Plot Details: This opinion reveals minor details about the movie's plot.

Little Ashes (2008) Directed by Paul Morrison

"Remember me when you are at the beach and above all when you paint crackling things and little ashes.  Oh my little ashes!  Put my name in the picture so that my name will serve for something in the world."  Federico García Lorca to Salvador Dalí

This is the story of two men, the poet Federico García Lorca (Javier Beltrán) and the artist Salvador Dalí (Robert Pattinson) and their love for one another.  These young men met at the University of Madrid, and discovered that each was a genius, and each was concerned with immortality, in the way that only the young, with a life time of nebulous possibility stretching before them, can be.  They also were very much attracted to each other.  How much they discovered this fact is a matter of debate.

While it sounds like a biography of three famous men; (genius film maker Luis Buñuel, portrayed by Matthew McNulty is the third musketeer.  Politically daring and rude where the other two were artistically bold, they cut quite a swath through the troubled society of Spain.) it is in point of fact the story of the young men they were, not the men they became.  And while it is popular with gay men, and sold from catalogues dedicated to "Gay film" it is not.  It is a picture into the lives of two young men, their world, and the forces that shaped each of them.

This is fortunate, in as much as Salvador Dalí was a genius, in his youth, he quickly grew to be an oddity, the face of the surrealist movement.  Then, sadly, he grew older, and became little more than a caricature of himself.  He fancied himself a fine brandy, gaining more layers of intrigue with maturity, but sadly was like a banana, only becoming more spotted and flawed with age. 
Their world was wide, but really only had four people in it, themselves, Buñuel and Magdelena (Marina Gatell) who may be the world's first fully functional faghag.  Buñuel was a contradictory mix of homophobic, and jealous.  Magdelena is just as complex, a woman experimenting with strength, who none the less sells her self-esteem for the dream of affection.

Ultimately, of all of them, the most conservative, the most traditional, the least avant-garde, Federico García Lorca is the one who lived the boldest, facing his love for another man and working to build a better world, instead of merely mocking the one they had.  He was, of course, martyred by Spanish Fascists in 1936.

The film understands the joys of anticipation.  Touted as a gay film, it does not deliver even a single bare tushy, though it does give us Robert Pattinson checking his reflection in an (almost) full length mirror.  Ironic in light of his performance as Edward Cullen the undead love interest of the Twilight series, conceivably the one character called gay more often than Oscar Wilde, this role proves that Pattinson can act, given a script that calls for it.  And while their relationship remains unconsummated (on screen, certainly, off camera probably, in real life, we will never know) it does understand the delicious thrill of being young and wondering is it going to happen?  That is the essence of romance.  Past this point, it is all fumbling and bodily fluids.

Gays say they want acceptance (and we do) yet many criticize this film as not delivering the goods.  Nothing could be further from the truth.  It may not deliver hot sweaty sex, but it delivers an honest portrayal of men in love, and what the lack of honesty on one of their parts did to their relationship.  And that is a truer depiction of being gay than any hot fantasy with Robert Pattinson could be.

This is entered in Captain D's Good Movies Write Off.

Gay Movies:

La Mission***Burnt Money***8: The Mormon Propo$ition***In The Flesh***The Sensei***The 24th Day***Wrangler: Anatomy of an Icon***ZMD: Zombies of Mass Destruction***East Side Story***Dorian Blues***Creatures From the Pink Lagoon***Satyricon***Ice Men***Richard O'Briens Rocky Horror Tribute Show***Prom Queen***The Kids are All Right***Between Love and Goodbye***The Mudge Boy***That Man: Peter Berlin***A Single Man***Almost Normal***Outing Riley***Outrage!***Law of Desire***Love is the Devil***Cowboy Junction***Horror in the Wind***Bedrooms and Hallways***Cut Sleeve Boys***Big Eden***For A Lost Soldier***Midnight Cowboy***Redwoods***The Massuer***Boy Culture***Breakfast With Scot***The Fluffer***Flesh***Little Ashes***L.I.E. ***Dorian Gray***9 Dead Gay Guys***Shank***I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry***Beautiful Boxer***Bangkok Love Story***Schoolboy Crush***Shelter***Back Soon***Dog Tags***Theft***The Mulligans***The Velvet Goldmine***Swashbuckler***Smoke Signals
***C'Thulhu***Milk***The Picture of Dorian Gray***Brideshead Revisited***Notes on a Scandal***RocknRolla***Mamma Mia!
***Priscillia: Queen of the Desert***The History Boys***Brokeback Mountain***The Broken Hearts Club*** Yaji and Kita: Midnight Pilgrims ***Surge of Power ***In & Out ***Mambo Italiano ***Touch of Pink ***To Wong Foo, Thanks For Everything, Julie Newmar ***Wolves of Kromer ***Rocky Horror Picture Show ***Taboo ***Deathtrap 


Gay Themed Series:

Spartacus: Blood and Sand
Dante's Cove
Hex
Carnivale Season One
Carnivale Season Two
Rome Season One
Rome Season Two
True Blood
True Blood: Season Two
The Book of Daniel: The Complete Series
Torchwood: Children of Earth
Torchwood: Season One


Gay Animation:

Pirate's Booty***Sensitive Pornograph***Loveless: The Complete Series***Loveless: Hope on the Run***Loveless: Soul of Chains***Loveless: Lost and Found***Embracing Love: A Cicada in Winter***Embracing Love: Cherished Spring ***Stonewall & Riot***Drawn Together Movie: The Movie***Drawn Together: Season 2***Drawn Together: Season 3

Recommended: Yes

Viewing Format: DVD
Video Occasion: Fit for Friday Evening
Suitability For Children: Not suitable for Children of any age