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Written by Greg Archer
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Wednesday, 07 May 2008 |
'Tru Loved'
A straight teen with two sets of gay parents moves from über liberal San Francisco to a more conservative area in Southern California and suddenly the world looks and acts quite different—especially at school, where peer pressure and trying to fit in become much more difficult to master than any final exam. But that’s only the beginning of 16-year-old Tru’s dilemma in the movie True Loved, written and directed by Stewart Wade (Coffee Date).
This surprisingly inviting indie film, which screens this week at the Santa Cruz Film Festival, has already generated national buzz for its smooth storytelling and how well it illuminates a variety of compelling issues, primary how rampant prejudice can be in the high school arena. Wade crafts a solid tale here and manages to evoke enough interest in his main character, Tru, played to winning ends by Najarra Townsend. Better still, and perhaps a coup for an indie filmmaker, is the bevy of notable costars who pepper the movie with a nice balance of humor and emotion to keep the audience invested in the film’s outcome: Bruce Vilanch, Jane Lynch, Alec Mapa, Jasmine Guy, Nichelle Nichols (of Star Trek fame) and many others.
The heart of the tale revolves around what Tru does after befriending two boys at school—one is a closeted quarterback; the other an out and proud teen. When she sees and hears disheartening comments about homosexuality from a group of friends, she decides to boldly take on a major endeavor. She organizes a Gay-Straight Alliance club at the high school.
Vilanch, who co-stars as a teacher in the movie, was inspired by the message in Tru Loved. “When people come together and see these issues presented in movies it makes those issues more accessible to them,” he says. “You realize there is a truth beneath it that people might not want to address on the news. The fact that it has been humanized by this movie, makes it so much more accessible and people can say, ‘You know, I can see a parallel to that in my real life.’”
Lynch, who’s been a strong advocate for the LGBT community, says she was drawn to the project because it showed the issues many LGBT students in America face. It also brought to light a unique family dynamic.
“The best thing about the film is that kids will be exposed to a really normal child that comes from a family they have never seen before,” says Lynch. “I think kids don’t think like we do, in terms of social significance, so it will hopefully give them something that they can get into.” Writer-director Wade, who will be in attendance at Saturday’s screening, worked with many LGBT organizations prior to shooting the film in order to better understand what LGBT students face out there. At the film’s core, though, he feels that “what the story says about family is that there is no one ‘real’ kind of family. There are literally hundreds of thousands of children in America being raised by gay parents, but you virtually never see or hear their stories.”
Until now. And by the looks of things, more and more audiences—especially young audiences—may get an opportunity to absorb some of the deeper messages found in Tru Loved. A recent decision by the Los Angeles Unified School District to screen the films at various high schools through the month of June may trigger other districts nationwide to follow similar suit.
“We want audiences to walk away invigorated by the joys of possibilities,” notes Tru Loved producer Antonio Brown. “Tru Loved explores serious questions in a light-hearted way that we believe connects with people while provoking thought and conversation. We want to get the discussions started and encourage people to think about the world that we are creating and how we can make it the world that we want it to be in terms of creating respect for the many kinds of people who make up our communities.”
Experience ‘Tru Loved’ at 6:30 p.m. Saturday, May 10 at the Riverfront Twin. Take note: In celebration of ‘Tru Loved,’ the SCFF is tossing a soiree at Club Dakota, 1209 Pacific Ave., Santa Cruz. (The following night, look for another after-screening party for the LGBT film Pageant with the film’s star Alina Maletti.) For more information, visit truloved.com or santacruzfilmfestival.com . |
Greg Archer |
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