Rock Haven (2007)

Rock Haven is a well-meaning movie that is difficult to dislike. This beautifully shot film, which promised to be a heartfelt story about a young man coming to terms with his inner truth while struggling within the confines of his religious upbringing, ultimately fails. Young Brady is a conservative, studied young man who moves to a seaside town with his devoutly religious and slightly over-bearing mother. He quickly meets his young neighbor, Clifford, and the two young men couldn't be more opposite. The reserved Brady is at first put off, if not a bit intimidated by the outgoing and confident Clifford. He even has a tough time talking to Clifford at first. Over time, a friendship develops and pretty soon, an emotional connection is made. But Brady, who is in conflict with himself due to his burgeoning feelings for Clifford being at war with what he has been taught to believe, cannot easily accept Clifford being so demonstrative in his affection. This relationship is what the entire film rests on. The movie seems to be screaming, "Come out, come out!" but never in the entire film do either of the two male leads say the word "gay." Never in the film do the two male leads say "I love you" to each other. And once one of the characters has the courage to do what he needs to do, he still doesn't quite get the words out. If the movie is about coming out, shouldn't someone in the movie do just that? It certainly shouldn't be done half-way with innuendo, averted eyes, never really saying the words. Unfortunately, this is the fatal flaw of the movie. I think another turn at the typewriter would have done this story some good. The ending, quite frankly left me cold. It's a shame, really and a missed opportunity. All the other elements were in place.

Considering the small budget this film must have had, all-in-all I found it to be a true delight. I now hold it as my second favorite after "Latter Days." Sean Hoagland turns in a masterful performance as Brady, the confused Christian lad with a heart of gold and a tortured soul. He brought the movie home for me and I found myself tearing up at the end. Sure, I wanted both of the boys to go off into the sunset hand-in-hand, but the actual ending was more realistic and illustrated the consequence of failure to be true to one's self. I can't say enough about Sean Hoagland, a truly talented young actor who completely suspended my disbelief with his performance of the naive, sweet, introverted and sad Brady - he will go far. The brief nude scene only intensified the implied love making. If the two boys were seen grinding in bed, the movie would have turned into soft-core. Instead, the act of revealing their bodies to each other in the way the two actors did told you everything you needed to know and was not gratuitous. The kissing scenes were the hottest part to me as there was real passions being expressed. In conclusion, I think it's very interesting that people seem to either love or hate this movie. Count me as one of the ones who loves it.

I just finished watching this film. I really liked it, but there are a couple of problems. The writing was good, but the silences were extremely awkward. Also, what's up with the montage of wave scenes. It started feeling like a commercial for some sort of douche...summer's eve, anyone? Also, the ending was so anti-climactic. This is the spoiler part. Okay, so this guy is about to leave to Barcelona. Why would this guy that is so in love with him just wander around staring at the ocean? The whole reason I loved the film was because they really seemed to love each other, and in the end, it's about him coming to terms with it? That's the first step, the next is you get your butt to the airport so that you can get him back. That was so disappointing. Like sex with no real climactic ending. No pun intended.P.S. Great frontal nudity. Very risqué.

I also agree with what another person wrote saying,I wish I was younger viewing this movie because in my teens there wasn't any movies like this and I wish there were because it also would have been useful.It's a nice drama and also has a good message attached to it whether the director intended it or not.It gives gay Christians some kind of hope.Unfortunately I am sure there will still be some who will be brainwashed by fanatics thinking it's a sin to be gay and all that other stuff. The movie was realistic, simple and sort of believable and very scenic.The beach and other shots where the film was made were very breathtaking.It makes you want to visit or vacation there.It was also extremely funny and the humor had me laughing, especially in some of the scenes where the characters felt awkward around each other.One scene in particular had me roaring with laughter.The scene where Brady(Sean Hoagland) and Clifford(Owen Alabado) had their first close encounter in Cliff's bedroom and Brady unintentionally got aroused and then embarrassed and stormed out.This movie was nicely acted by everyone and it was good to see talented newcomers. I think my only complaint about this movie was seeing all the deleted scenes afterwords.I thoroughly enjoyed them and strongly felt most of them would have added to the story and needed to be in the film.I really don't know why they were deleted.It can't be because the movie was too long,hell it could have been longer! A few of the extended/deleted scenes made more sense and explained stuff better. In a way I wish I never saw these deleted scenes because then I wouldn't be thinking the movie was missing something. This is why I gave it an 8 out of 10.