Irishchatter I have to admit at the very beginning of the movie, I knew well Everett was going to cheat on his partner of 7 years but like you wouldn't know who it is. Until this handsome dark haired guy asks for directions and 'click' the pair of them have a crush on each other! To be honest I think Everett should've dumped his partner rather then rush off for a while and being back together with him! He should've at least had Chase even as they were so in love. It was so heartbroken that Chase died from an undisclosed illness which was so sad when Everett cried. You know this movie is really powerful by the way it was filmed on a mountain with beautiful views. I would so recommend this to nature lovers and of course anyone that would enjoy gay movies :)

n-b-international2010 This is a brilliant film for its budget limitations. It shows the growing up of this genre of film which focuses on same sex male relationships. But it is just a film, not a "gay film" because it is just about people dealing with life and possibilities and the unexpected. This could be a film with women or man and woman. It is not about coming out or the struggles to come to terms with sexuality and trying to find acceptance. It is just a good story. I am sorry about one element of the end. Would have preferred if they had found a more constructive and intelligent way to deal with the conflicts of a relationship in trouble and a powerful new love plus the autistic child. Maybe too much in one story but then again it is life. Many things went unexplained and unexplored which would have needed a longer film. But as stated it needed a bigger budget.However, I hail this film as a big step up. There are none of the usual clichés related to gay life. Bars, booze, drugs, smoking, hysteria, neuroses, prejudice, rejection, hatred, bigotry, drama queens. There is never the question or feeling that these people are anything but "normal" and accepted and supported by everyone. Possibly unrealistic for the present times but a better message.It gives me hope for the future. I spent my life watching films about men and women, good films, some brilliant films but always a struggle and conflict because of identification models. In this type of film I feel in a world I fully know and am comfortable in. All the characters are kind, supportive and reasonable. Would have loved to have a brother like Shane.I gave it a 9, maybe high but I think such a film needs support. Not a 10 due to its limitations. It could have been a 10 with a bigger budget and more complete and detailed script. The acting was competent and the emotions believable.

MuMu2525 The problem with most gay indie films is that they tend to be low-budget amateur productions. Amateur writing, amateur directing, amateur actors....they often come across as extended student films, but it is sadly the only way that most of these films would ever get made because the big Hollywood studios are still hesitant about "doing gay". Once in a blue moon we'll get a big studio release like Brokeback Mountain, but such films are few and far between.Redwoods is very much a typical gay indie film in that it comes across as an amateur production made for a margin audience that still doesn't have much product in their niche marketplace to choose from. Perhaps "semi-professional" is a more polite term than "amateur", and given its obvious limitations it is by no means a terrible film, but it isn't a good film either. The script could have stood another rewrite or three (particularly to cut down on the number of times where the characters say each others names in their conversations, which sounds painfully false). The director could have rehearsed his actors more thoroughly (though better casting would have been preferable), and also gotten a bit more coverage from his cinematographer for a wider variety of shots to cut to, not to mention looking over his editor's shoulder and insisting on a few more cuts here and there to avoid the often dreary static effect that ruins many scenes. And I am certainly not a prude, but the full frontal nudity in the film was both out of place and completely unnecessary. Whether this was an attempt to titillate or to try to make the film more of an "arthouse" piece remains a mystery, but it was a desperate move regardless - and it shows. Of course, the writer and the director of this production are one and the same person, and so he must take the biggest share of the blame for the film's failings. As all artists should, hopefully he will learn from his mistakes and go on to make something better.However, the biggest problem with the film is that, from beginning to end, it is a shameless rip-off of The Bridges of Madison County. Unfortunately, Brendan Bradley is no Meryl Streep, and making the story between two men rather than a man and a woman does not give this film enough of a distinction by itself. Had the film just loosely borrowed from "Bridges" rather than directly copying it, I might have been more forgiving, but a rip-off is a rip-off. In the film's favour, it at least gave the audience some decent photography of the redwood forests of northern California, though sadly this doesn't save the film from mediocrity. Perhaps it is unfair to be so critical of small independent films such as these due to their low budgets and often inexperienced personnel, although 2007's Shelter managed to rise above its humble indie beginnings and became a minor classic due to the sheer talent of its cast and crew. With better care, forethought and finesse from all involved, Redwoods could well have reached similar heights, but unfortunately it just doesn't make the grade.

thesar-2 For the record, I am tired of calling movies I review predictable. I'm beginning to think all the movies I watch are. So, with that in mind, I cleared my mind to watch a "light-hearted" independent gay-themed, romance film called Redwoods. Heck, I had a feeling, five-minutes in, that this would be, yet another (incredibly) low-budget forced gay tearjerker. So, I shut off the "critic" side of my brain and watched the movie with an open mind.It was cute (as was the lead star, Bradley!) and if you really let yourself go, like I did, you'll fall for this pair of lost souls, Chase (Montgomery) and Everett (Bradley.) And if you loved The Bridges of Madison County, like I did, you're sure to love this. (By the way, it's hard not to compare this to that Clint Eastwood/Meryl Streep classic – it was virtually word-for-word that movie.) Obvious unhappy couple Everett and Miles (Coughenour) begin the movie when Miles takes their autistic son up to Seattle for a week, leaving Everett alone to meet wandering, free-spirit/novelist Chase within minutes. Again, here comes the predictability to their eventual budding romance and Everett questioning on whether he should remain with his unhappy life or take a risk with the drifter.As I wrote, I turned off my analyzing brain and just allowed myself to watch and enjoy the movie. It was really sweet, it had a lot of soft romantic moments and somewhat good cinematography.Once the movie was over, I had mixed feelings (so, I guess the critic inside was awakened.) On the one hand it did have the aforementioned good qualities, but on the other hand, a lot of it felt so, well, forced. The secondary characters were pushing so hard – without barely an ounce of true acting, to enforce "good morals" or "feel-good" spots, that I felt I was watching an after-school special, albeit a nicely gay-packaged, after-school special. The "somewhat good cinematography" for the most part looked like it was filmed as an afterthought and inserted/edited in to the feature. Also, the ending was, indeed, out of left-field, though not 100% surprising. And finally, as much as I admire the filmmakers, writer/director and actors taking on a small independent film with a great backdrop, all I could think of was how many much better-made films I could rewatch.Such as Brokeback Mountain and Big Eden – movies that both contained true romance and real actors playing real (good) supporting roles to further both the story and drama along, and the already mentioned The Bridges of Madison County. Yet, I would still recommend this harmless little picture. Not really as the tearjerker it wants to be, but as a gay themed light entertainment with some good eye-candy. (I am human, after all.)