Henry Gamble's Birthday Party

In a landscape littered with tepid, chaste movies about young gay people and the slightly different journey toward sexual awakening they take compared to that of their straight peers, "Henry Gamble's Birthday Party" is a refreshing change of pace.

Stephen Cone's feature opens with Henry (Cole Doman) and his best friend Gabe (Jow Keery) having a discussion about a girl Gabe likes. As Gabe describes an imaginary sexual experience with the girl in question, both young men get hot and bothered. In Gabe's case, it's the thought of the girl that turns him on; for Henry, though, it's Gabe's sexual excitement that carries the charge. With little discussion, and no awkwardness, the two jerk off together under the covers, using a pair of Henry's socks. You get the sense this is not the first time they've done this.

A typical comedy might use this as the starting point for a lot of hand-wringing and sexual confusion; a drama following a more well-trodden path might also make much of the experience. That's not what Cone has in mind, however. Life carries on in its usual grooves, and the only thing that's at all unusual about the following day is that it's Henry's 17th birthday, and a pool party is planned.

Henry's sister Autumn (Nina Ganet) happens to be home from college. The party -- which is organized by Henry's parents, Bob (Pat Healy) and Kat (Elizabeth Laidlaw) -- is attended by her Autumn's friends, as well as by Henry's. The siblings have a lot of friends in common, anyway, since Bob is a pastor and many of their social connections are through their church; these include Logan (Daniel Kyri), whom the other kids look at slightly askance because they think he might be gay, and Ricky (Patrick Andrews), the son of the late pastor whom Bob succeeded at the church, who is probably not going to be allowed back at camp this summer because last year -- or so the gossip has it -- he "might have been aroused" in the showers.

While the teens frolic in the pool (and have slightly contrived-sounding discussions about God, faith, religion, morals, and sexuality), the adults sneak sips of wine from a box, chatter about a sinful world that is surely rolling to its end (not because of resource depletion, mind you, or predatory economic and political practices, but rather because of sexual vices), and trace fault lines of compassion and righteousness (or self-righteousness, as the case may be). Bob and Kat have their own marital issues to work out; Kat and Autumn retreat to a family vehicle, cups of boxed wine in their hands, for a bout of confessional mother-daughter bonding; one (possible) gay teen feels so stigmatized and rejected he reports to bloody self-mutilation, while another manages to sidestep the mines laid around human sexuality by religion and find a path that might lead to happiness.

This is a pretty fraught party, all in all, but Cone mostly avoids the usual pitfalls and lets authentic tensions and concerns carry the film. A young youth minister is quietly judgmental about gays; an older one is much more open-minded. A pair of lesbian teens tease their peers. Adults who have steeped themselves in fear and shame around their own bodies pass that legacy down, or make a conscious choice not to. In one of the film's best moments, a young woman corners Henry, lays a kiss on him, and propositions him for something more; "Can I get back to you?" he asks. (My husband and I both laughed out of sympathy, having had similar awkward encounters in our respective youths.)

This Wolfe Video DVD has a few extras. In one, Cone interviews star Cole Doman after the first day's filming wraps, and then interviews him again, two years later, to get his thoughts. ("I was so young and thin then!" Doman exclaims.) A short film by Cone, "Baby," is also included (two women, one of them pregnant, living with one man; a modern family, or a train wreck waiting to happen?). Cone also narrates a commentary track, detailing his choices and working methods with such earnestness and lack of pretension that his musings are actually quite engaging.

In acting, story, direction, and mood, this movie is a cut above most of its genre, feeling not like a "gay" film but rather a good film with a gay central character.

"Henry Gamble's Birthday Party"
DVD
$24.95
https://www.wolfevideo.com/products/henry-gambles-birthday-party