What Love Does (2009) Online

Dr. Gay (retired Sociology Chair at San Diego State College) seems to be successful at everything he does. He is also a published author of both fiction and non-fiction works including feature stories in his local San Diego newspaper. He has been quoted and misquoted (I've heard he finds this very annoying as would most normal people) on television news.

Because of his unusual background, he has a unique way of looking at the world. He has excellent people skills and, as a result is good at relating to others and making them feel at ease. I enjoyed his documentary and am looking forward to seeing what subject he addresses in his next endeavor. He's only going to get better and better. Anyone with an interest in the human condition should see this film

Though long (over two hours), this documentary by Phillip Gay lives up to its promises by being thoroughly engrossing from its upbeat introduction to its rousing ending. It contains (just to name a few things) humor, pathos, joy, ecstasy and disappointment, as an array of diverse people give their takes on and tell their experiences of ,love, and what love did, did not, has, and has not brought into their lives.

The interviews appear to unrehearsed, unscripted, one and only takes, conducted in unstaged, natural settings, with no - or very little - attempt to edit out the natural sounds of life - e;g. birds, planes, cars, wind waves, passing voices and footsteps and the like - that surround human beings as they go about interacting and conversing with others during the course of their everyday lives. Which gives the film a natural, real-life, up-close-and- personal feel for the auditory contexts in which people actually live their lives.

I particularly liked the stirring upbeat sound track - of perhaps 8 or 10 tunes - sung by a talented, as well as deeply sensitive vocalist, from whom I hope to hear more of in the future. And who, as far as I can tell, is quite comfortably fluent in Spanish, Italian and French, as well as English. I expect (hope) that the sound track will soon be available on DVD.

WHAT LOVE DOES is certainly not the slickest, most technically taut documentary you will ever see, But that, I think, only adds to its charm. I liked it a lot. And I highly recommend it.

A fine film. As I had hoped, I was entertained and I learned about various people's experiences of love. Credit for the music on the soundtrack is given to the Galahad Group. I have never heard of the Galahad Group but they definitely put out some really enchanting music. I particularly liked the homegrown feel of this! It is obvious that it was not filmed by a professional camera man. I loved it when one of the interviewees opened the drink of the camera man/ interviewer. Good representation of all of God's people. It's refreshing/uplifting to view the street people recollecting the loves of their lives rather than talking about their economic plight. I was touched by the responses of some of these people. I'm glad that this film gave them a voice!

I liked it (WHAT LOVE DOES) because there is a lot in it to like. I liked the people of so many different American faces and voices, with so many interesting things to show and say about LOVE. It is funny in places, sad in places, very uplifting in places, excruciatingly beautiful in places. I liked the background sounds and scenery of Southern California. I liked the soundtrack. Very nice. The songs not sung in English were so well done and appropriately placed that their messages were so clear that they didn't have to be conveyed in English. When it becomes available, I intend to download...I mean, buy the soundtrack. Since I would feel comfortable giving it either a 9 or a 10, I am just going to go ahead and give it a 10.

Incredibly long film with dozens(?) of people answering the same questions while being recorded. The interviewer (who I presume is the film maker) seems like a kind and generous soul who loves love. The people that are interviewed have interesting insights that they share with the camera. As a conversation it is quite interesting, as a film it is a disaster. Hopefully I saw a very rough edit (164 minutes), although I doubt that much of the material that is in this film could be used. When I say "worst production values ever", I say it shaking my head with a smile on face. The intentions and content of this work are so pure and good and well meaning that I feel a little bad about giving it two stars. But the good film would be about 60-80 minutes long and the people being interviewed could be somewhere other than the end of a busy airport's runway (one of the more glaring and annoying shortcomings). Once again I do salute the spirit of this work (in progress?), a great conversation.