“2 MINUTES LATER”–it’s a risque world

“2 Minutes Later”

It’s a Risqué World

Amos Lassen

You may recognize the name Robert Gaston. He is the director of the hit “Open Cam” which was released a few years back and of this year’s “Flight of the Cardinal”. Gaston also made a  thriller, “2 Minutes Later”, a detective story.  As I watched it I found myself being completely engrossed in it.

Lesbian detective, Abigail Marks (Jessica Graham who is quite convincing in the role) gets together with gay Michael Dalmar (Michael Molina) to help find out what has happened to his twin brother, Kyle, who is reported missing and seems to have disappeared.  Kyle is (was) a famous photographer noted for his portraits and as the two investigate they are drawn into a world that they did not anticipate. Michael is able to pass as Kyle and the two investigators learn of assistants who have “designs” on their bosses, clients who are interested in detectives and cold killers who want the investigation stopped.

Abigail is a very hot and very feminine lesbian and Michael is a very butch and macho gay man. Neither had any idea of the kind of world the missing Kyle lived in and they soon learn that Kyle was not well though of and has been regarded as an abusive person and soon enemies of Kyle begin to come forth and of which any might be responsible for Kyle’s disappearance.

There s plenty of eye candy here for the guys—there is a great deal of male nudity. There is also great suspense and some really fantastic dialog peppered with memorable one-liners. For me what emerges from the film most of all is the wonderful relationship between a lesbian woman and a gay male. This seems to be something we do not see very often and it is refreshing to see two gay characters of opposite sexes not only working together but enjoying each other as they work. The two detectives find that photographs do not lie and two minutes can “mean the difference between life and death”.

Even as a thriller there is great comedy and you laugh as you try to figure out what will happen next.

Peter Stickles fresh from his appearance in John Cameron Mitchell’s “Shortbus” plays Victor and gives an amazing performance and he looks great as well.

The fact that he movie appeals to the entire gay community, gays and lesbians alike, seems to be a bit unusual and to me it shows clearly that, if we want, we can live together and work together. So often either group is discounted by the other.

Another interesting aspect of the film was the fact that the twins, although identical, were so different. Michel is shy while Kyle seemed to live for himself alone without regard for others. It is as if we see good and evil in the same character. So many questions in the film stem from sexuality and identity as a result of the two being twins. The fact that Kyle was no longer around permitted Michael to finally come into being as a singular person.

I also felt, to some degree, that with the exception of Abigail and Michael, that the rest of the cast was an ensemble acting together and this togetherness helped the movie tremendously. It is such a pleasure to se a film from our community which not only manages to have a great storyline but god performances as well and we can only hope that Robert Gaston has more movies coming our way soon.