Truth (2013) Online

Quite honestly I'm not sure what to think of it all. A "suspenseful, psychological thriller," it was not.

One of the two central characters, Caleb, has enough personal baggage to sink a ship although at least outwardly he seems to be coping with it all reasonably well at the start of the story. He meets Jeremy whose background has been less of a train wreck than Caleb's but he's not dealing especially well with the pressures that society and family put on gay men of his age. Through experience Jeremy has learned to use deception and denial in dealing with other people and with his perception of self. That this does not lead to a "they lived happily ever after ending" is not particularly surprising.

In the "storyline" description it states that Truth "exposes the hidden demons buried deep inside each and every one of us." Whoa. We may all have our secrets and have had experiences that affect the way we deal with others, but I doubt most of us are as burdened as Caleb nor do most of us resort to such manifest deception as does Jeremy.

The damage caused by a "Mommy dearest" and the need to remain "closeted" for survival are fairly common themes in gay drama, but this movie tries too desperately to pile it on and thrill us with the resultant mayhem.

It all just seemed a bit too much. From the start the relationship between Caleb and Jeremy seemed more weird than genuine and as it began to unravel the situations weren't particularly suspenseful or psychologically deep.

The actors, especially Sean Paul Lockhart, were good. The overall quality of the production was also quite good. The general result, however, seemed superficial, heavy-handed, inevitable & propelled by contrived events.

The story was simple, yet the acting from the main cast was so bad, I could not watch the movie with a straight face. Every actor delivered their lines like bad community theater actors, and had no tact, talent or ability when it came to injecting feeling and nuance into their performances. This alone was enough to ruin the film, but then you have that God awful soundtrack, with "singers" and music that gave the impression that they were recorded in a bathroom studio. The vocals were awful, the melodies were awful; it was just extremely poorly done.

Look, I get it; some people do not have the budget to create a film with real actors and instead choose friends and family to fill the roles. But, really, if you are going to attach your name to something, wouldn't you want it to be of quality? Overall, this is quite possibly one of the worst LGBT films I have ever seen, and really, towards the bottom of any film I have seen in any genre. Do yourself a favor and avoid this film. It has no redeemable qualities to warrant even a disinterested viewing.

This was an amazing film to watch. So many unexpected things happen turning this movie into a major dramatic ending. No, I won't reveal it.

Direction was wonderfully simple about two men from their first meeting to the ultimate ending. Their relationship, as it develops, changes them both.

Rob Moretti did a triple job with this by playing the lead, writing and directing the film. I assume he also did the editing. A truly difficult job doing any of these jobs. He accomplished them all by bringing us a thoroughly suspenseful and professional movie that really keeps your interest all the way through.

Playing the other lead is Sean Paul Lockhart, ala Brent Corrigan from erotic films, in his first starring "straight" film. Congratulations Sean you have made the big jump doing a super job with a very difficult role. There's no mistaking his good looks. There is a sex scene, done with taste, that shows just how good he was.

But it is the story we watch unfold. Watch these two actors bring the ring of "truth" from their performances to life.

This is a strange and unbalanced movie and I don't quite know what to think of it. Attractive young Caleb meets-up with slightly older Jeremy through an internet dating site and they start a passionate affair. During the rest of the movie we see in flash-backs that the young guy has had numerous issues with an abusing and mentally ill mother and we also see signs of a mental disorder in his own behavior. The older guy tries to ignore these red-flags or just recoils when his casual attempts to learn something of Caleb's past are aggressively rebuked. But at one point (due to Jeremy's own fault: he turned out to have hidden secrets too, and Caleb finds him out!) something in Caleb snaps and the whole movie capsizes into a sadistic keeper-prisoner flick. In the end Caleb ends up in jail, where he is questioned by (I suppose) a psychiatrist and where he reveals by bits and fragments the whole story.

The premise is rather thin, the moral is unsurprising, given the title: both protagonists hide their own truth for each other and that's lethal to any relationship. Their motives however are very different: Jeremy hides his truth out of sheer selfishness, but Caleb is sick and probably would have also snapped at any other point in their relationship, even if there had been no hidden secret with Jeremy. The script left me with many questions. Many of Caleb's reactions are weird and scary, so why didn't Jeremy got the hell out of there in time?! And how could he hide that other life, we see him and Caleb together all of the time and they openly wander through the streets and dine together? How can he be incarcerated by Caleb for such a long time without anyone noticing this, he screams and yells, and he has been seen with Caleb in restaurants in the neighborhood numerous times, so how come the police (assuming that he was reported missing) doesn't seem to do anything?

The whole thing impresses as very low budgeted and while the first half of the movie is extremely slow, the second half is way over the top and totally unrealistic. Good parts are scarce, but I have to mention the scenes with Caleb's deranged mother, they are very convincing and very well acted by Suzanne DiDonna.

That brings me to the acting of the two main characters. Rob Moretti plays Jeremy. He is also the director, writer and executive producer. In most cases such a coupling does not promise much good for the acting-part and here it's no different. His acting is rather subdued, his soft whispering way of talking was more irritating than sexy and with his plain looks and physique he is not very convincing as the love-interest of such a breath-taking guy as Caleb.

Sean Paul Lockhart as Caleb on the other hand surprised me. Knowing his background (acting in adult movies) I expected a bit of a wooden and awkward performance, but he actually played very well, especially in the first half of the movie where he can picture how mental instability gradually and by and by begins to shine through the varnish of this beautiful boy next door. In the scenes with his mother in the mental institution he was very touching, while in the sudden tantrums he threw with Jeremy he really scared the hell out of me (again, Jeremy, why didn't you walk away while you still could?!!). In the jail-scenes he's convincing too, only in the second half of the movie where he's supposed to be a totally out of control murderous maniac he lost me (but probably the director is to blame too). And okay, I admit, he is super-hot and sexy with a stunning physique and not shy to show it.

One more thing, the movie seems to have been sponsored by gay-favorite underwear-brand Andrew Christian, we see Caleb walk around in numerous types of Christian's underwear, sometimes the underwear changes almost within one scene, and all of them spotless and in yet another sparkling color, I wouldn't be surprised if he has had the whole catalog to wear and show of. Now I can imagine that you have to raise funds somehow and that you are expected to fit some of the products in the movie in return. But in this amount it was preposterous and at may times distracted me from the story itself. Luckily Lockhart occasionally forgot to wear anything.

"Truth" is one of those movies where you ask yourself: "who green-lighted this thing???" It is a gay-themed psychological thriller, and the script itself is actually pretty good. The dialogue is creepy, and at times actually more disturbing than the action around it. But the acting (and I use the term loosely), the "made for TV" style cinematography and campy music just don't match dark subject matter this film is supposed to evoke. I was wondering why there were so many shots of the main character (including full-frontal), and when I checked IMDb...surprise! (actually, not really) it turns out he is a gay porn actor. This and the fact that both characters are often wearing Andrew Christiansen underwear pretty much answer how this film came to be. The ending is probably the worst part of the film, and is both a drastic departure from the tone of the beginning of the film and sloppy way to resolve the entire situation. Sadly, what could have been an interesting premise was poorly executed and is basically just a warning to aspiring actors: don't do gay porn!