Verdict
Summary
An under-the-radar ensemble drama with a rock solid cast, Handsome Harry is an ahead-of-its-time film that has an underlying theme of repressed homosexuality and shame, and yet it has a redemptive quality to it that might be inspiring to some. Filmmaker Bette Gordon’s approach to masculinity and sexuality is carefully handled, although it goes pretty hard with its flashbacks and melodrama, turning the film into a bit of a “lesson-of-the-week” type message movie. I enjoyed the performances, and while the film doesn’t really stick the landing, it’s worth seeing for some solid acting.
Plot:
A Vietnam vet makes a vow to an old comrade to make amends with a fellow friend they wronged during the war.
Review:
Harry Sweeney (Jamie Sheridan) is a Vietnam Navy vet who lives a quiet, private life, struggling with his distant relationship with his son, whom he rarely sees. He has a daily routine of going to the same coffee shop, going to a band recital he enjoys, and fending off the advances of a waitress (Karen Young) who clearly would date him if he’d only ask. When he receives an out-of-nowhere call from an old Navy buddy (played by Steve Buscemi), the call snaps him right back to a fateful moment – a turning point, really – in his life when he and a group of Navy buddies severely beat another one of their comrades nearly to death. The friend who reached out only has days to live, and his deathbed wish is for Harry to track down the man they nearly killed (played by Campbell Scott) and ask him for forgiveness for what they did. Though he doesn’t want to, Harry agrees and makes a pilgrimage to each of the friends (played by John Savage, Aidan Quinn, and Titus Welliver) who participated in the beating all those years ago and trying to get the long-buried story straight before Harry finally makes his way to the one they wronged … and asking him to forgive them. But there’s also a long buried secret that Harry is going to have to come to terms with before he’s able to face the truth about himself.
An under-the-radar ensemble drama with a rock solid cast, Handsome Harry is an ahead-of-its-time film that has an underlying theme of repressed homosexuality and shame, and yet it has a redemptive quality to it that might be inspiring to some. Filmmaker Bette Gordon’s approach to masculinity and sexuality is carefully handled, although it goes pretty hard with its flashbacks and melodrama, turning the film into a bit of a “lesson-of-the-week” type message movie. I enjoyed the performances, and while the film doesn’t really stick the landing, it’s worth seeing for some solid acting.
Kino Lorber’s new Blu-ray of Handsome Harry comes with two separate audio commentaries – one with the director and one with Sheridan – and there is also a behind the scenes feature and the trailer.
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