DVD Review: Seek

Seek is about a young gay man named Evan (Adrian Shepherd-Gawinski) who pursues a career in journalism, writing about – but not seeming to participate in – relationships and city nightlife. It opens with a close-up of Evan asleep, facing us. He slowly opens his eyes, and smiles. And we see that there is an attractive man asleep next to him. But the smile soon fades, and from another angle we see that Evan is alone. It’s a nice, sad opening, showing us what Evan has lost and, perhaps, what he hopes to regain. (After all, the title is Seek.)

Evan works as a writer for a small, gay-themed magazine, but he has his sights on something larger, writing for the Toronto Gazette. He is offered the opportunity to do a freelance feature story on the nightlife that the average citizen might miss out on. “Find me a story,” editor Joe Thorpe (Graham Gauthier) tells him. After meeting a club promoter named Hunter (Ryan Fisher), Evan pitches the idea of an article on the organizing of club parties and the scene surrounding that. So Evan follows Hunter around, and we get a tour of clubs, which is terribly dull. In what should be an inside look at clubs, we actually learn nothing new. There is a cute moment with a transgendered woman and a drag queen. But when they learn Evan is writing an article on the scene, the drag queen says, “I don’t think the world is ready for us.” Are you kidding? Drag is completely mainstream these days. And the club scene in this film is nothing unusual either, just people dancing to a techno beat. So I can’t imagine the article will cause any kind of stir among even the most uptight members of the general public. Also, I don’t quite believe that the newspaper editor would call Evan to check up on how the article is coming along. It’s a freelance job about a non-timely subject.

Anyway, the film is sort of a look at different relationships through the eyes of a reporter, and thus someone who is trained to be an observer rather than participant. Throughout the film, we see Evan interviewing couples for his pieces for the gay-themed magazine. His co-worker at the magazine, Aiden Starr (Jonathan Nathaniel), is also one of only two friends. But Evan doesn’t seem all that close to him, or to Kate (Elena Seepe), his other friend. There is a scene where, after getting drunk, Kate tries to make out with him, then gets into his bed. “Come on, come on, seriously,” she says, annoyed that he’s not responding, then falls asleep (or passes out). It’s an interesting dynamic there, but Evan is thinking of that guy again, remembering the two of them in that bedroom sharing a tender kiss, and not at all concerned that his married friend just tried to take him to bed. I found myself wanting more scenes like the later scene with Evan and Kate, in which they do criticize each other. I wanted more about the relationships, and more about the mysterious guy from the opening scene. It’s interesting that the guy from the beginning is like a ghost in Evan’s life, and turns out to be likewise for Hunter. But the guy himself, we learn nothing about. It’s like the effect of him is more important than the reality of him.

The film gives us information in a not-quite-chronological way, sometimes teasing us with our own expectations. For example, there is a shot of clothes on Evan’s floor after a shot of him meeting Hunter, but then we learn that Evan left the club alone and did not take Hunter to bed. For a film that is only seventy-seven minutes, there are several scenes that go on too long. An early scene where Evan takes off a worn pair of sneakers and replaces them with a newly bought pair which is exactly the same is a nice touch in showing his character, but it goes on a bit longer than necessary. Once he begins to put the first new shoe on, we get it. And later there is a scene at a club where an older man sits with Evan to chat him up. Evan is clearly not interested, and when the man asks him for his name, Evan hesitates before giving it to him. I like the little touches like that. But this scene goes on a while, and is increasingly awkward. You feel for the old guy at a certain point, but then begin to get creeped out and annoyed with him. Evan, perhaps feeling bad for him, still gives the man his phone number and so receives a number of calls from him later in the film. But that storyline goes nowhere. And there is a scene of a drag queen preparing and then performing (that is, lip-synching) at a club. This also goes on too long, and is completely pointless anyway, as it doesn’t lead to anything or serve the plot at all. It feels like the scene was simply a favor to the drag performer. Still, the performances overall are decent, and this is Adrian Shepherd-Gawinksi’s first film role.

Seek was written and directed by Eric Henry, and was released on DVD on May 19, 2015 through TLA Releasing. The DVD includes the film’s trailer.