Crutch – Based on a True Story
Rated R – Director: Rob Moretti – Starring: Robert Bray, James Early, Jennifer Katz, Frankie Faison, Eben Gorban
Review By: Leon Velasco Rating: One Thumb Up/ One Down
I thought I’d do a review to a movie that all the Students and Instructors would relate to when discussing attraction of one to the other. I am guilty of such desires and let me tell you; there aren’t enough restraints in the world that could have held me back, had I the opportunity to fulfill my student and teacher fantasy. Of course the professor I fantasized of is very attractive, (sigh) if only. But that’s never going to happen, that was two semesters ago at city college. Crossing boundaries can be so delicious; with the right person, hot desires… Is it me or is it getting hot? Get ready for some hot scenes in what may have been your fantasy.
Behind a façade of suburban middle class perfection, a compelling tale of love, loss, lies and lust unfolds… Sixteen-year old David’s (Eben Gordon) Home life is falling apart. As he tries to cope with his impossible situation, the troubled, impressionable teenager falls under the spell of Kenny (Rob Moretti), a gorgeous, thirty something, has been an actor turned theater coach. And when Kenny’s “support” escalates into seduction, David slowly descends into an abyss of drinking and drug addiction from which he must escape if he is to survive. Based on a true story, Crutch is a captivating, powerful look at exorcising private demons and exposing dark secrets.
“Like the scribblings in a teenager’s diary, the film vacillates between insight and exaggeration.” – Don Wilmott, Filmcritic.com
(More reviews on the next page…)
Mama’s Boy,
Preacher’s Son
A Memoir
Author: Kevin Jennings
Reviewed By: Leon Velasco
Rating: One Thumb Up/ One Down
I have read memoirs where there are colorful characters, many funny anecdotes, and much action. This one kind of goes on a train ride and keeps you going in one speed. Being raised back in the 80’s when gay bashing was big, parents blamed each other for their child gone gay, and having to be like Clark Kent and lead a secret double life was the name of the game. Especially if your in a strict religious family; even more so if your dad is the preacher. I’m sure there could have been a little more going on in this author’s life to kind of liven up the book.
By age six, Kevin Jennings knew he was going straight to hell. His father, an evangelist preacher, as much as told him so. During the 1960’s, Kevin’s family moved from one trailer park in the south to another as his dad fought to hold onto a pulpit. Then Kevin’s eighth birthday, Kevin’s father suffered a heart attack as Kevin stood, helpless, at his side. When he cried at the funeral, Kevin’s older brothers admonished him, “Don’t be a faggot.” The warning was a key lesson. In school, “Faggot” became more familiar to Kevin than his own name. Nobody watching the regular torture of Kevin’s school days could have anticipated that he would ever want to return to the classroom.
Kevin’s father may have preached damnation, but his mother showed him the road to salvation. Forced to drop out of school at the age of nine, Alice Verna Johnson Jennings fervently believed in the power education held for her children. While working a series of blue-collar jobs to support her family, she struggled with her conservative Appalachian roots when her oldest son married a black woman and her youngest came out. Alice’s story is a powerful account of a woman’s triumph over huge obstacles, including her own prejudices.
“Kevin Jennings’s memoir is a potent story, beautifully told, of the daily struggle as well as the love and courage required to maintain pride and live with integrity in the face of deep-seated prejudice.” – Otis Charles, Episcopal Bishop of Utah, retired.
