Back Soon (2007)

Directed by: Rob Williams | 83 minutes | drama, romance | Actors: Windham Beacham, Matthew Montgomery, Maggie McCollester, Artie O’Daly, Bret Wolfe, Kelly Keaton, Bethany Dotson, Danny Aguirre, Joel Bryant, AC Earing, Deven Green, Nora Jesse, Alanna Leigh, Jeremy Lucas, Tammi Mac, Susan Papa, Neil D. Paris, Ken Rambo, Corey Schaffer, Kevin F. Sherry, Andrea Torres, Trane West, Sam P. Whitehead, John Morgan Wilson

Unbalanced and messy directed film about two heterosexual men who are attracted to each other. ‘Back Soon’ has an interesting premise and a good opening, but in the end it disappoints because of the mediocre execution and implausible plot lines. Windham Beacham (original name!) plays Logan Foster, who is mourning the death of his wife Adrian (Maggie Eilertson) in a car accident. The first interested buyer for his home is Guillermo “Gil” Ramirez (Matthew Montgomery), who has a criminal past and was previously a near-fatal victim of a drive by shooting.

Slowly but surely, the two become more intimate as they continue to run into each other. Then the romance kicks in. In a far from original plot twist, after his car breaks down, Logan spends the night at his old house where Gil now lives. To add to the credibility, Logan is also a sleepwalker and walks straight into the former matrimonial bedroom only to be woken up to kiss Gil.

Instead of sketching a realistic scenario in which two men discover in a more normal way that they have special feelings for each other, the makers unfortunately chose to bring the two together in a very trite way. It has to do with supernatural elements and without wanting to give too much away, especially with the ghost of the deceased Adrian. It requires a lot of helmsmanship from a director and acting talent from the protagonists to smooth out such a goof. Unfortunately, Rob Williams may not be talented enough to make chocolate after this scene, no matter how much Beacham and Montgomery try their best to make some more of it. Williams may also have written the film himself and therefore lacked some professional distance to take a critical look at the script. In fact, this important storyline is also a cowardly solution, to indicate with a strange and illogical twist that two heterosexuals can apparently also fall for each other. This also destroys the sincerity of Logan and Gil’s feelings and the viewer’s empathy for their situation. Beacham and Montgomery are well attuned to each other, which in itself is not surprising, since they also formed a film couple in ‘Long Term Relationship’ before. (also directed by Williams by the way).

Although it’s not the lead actors’ fault, it doesn’t really help the film that the supporting roles are of an embarrassing acting level. Logan’s brother-in-law (and former best friend) Spencer (Artie O’Daly, also in ‘Long Term Relationship’) is a one-dimensional character whose bad playing provokes irritation as soon as he appears on screen, let alone when he opens his mouth. Gil’s best friend is the flamboyant Jaime (porn actor Bret Wolfe) and he doesn’t give a very good performance either.

And although the dialogues and direction are sometimes nothing to write home about and the music by Austin Wintory offers little special, Tim Otholt’s camera work stands out in a positive way. All in all ‘Back Soon’ is a mess, with the good elements sometimes being snowed under by the downright bad elements. Overall, the balance therefore tilts to the negative, dropping the film just below the mediocre mark. The film was released under the label of ‘Out TV’, a gay lifestyle television channel in the Netherlands and Belgium. Back Soon won the “Alternative Spirit” award for best GLBT film at the 2007 Rhode Island Film Festival.