Doman is marvelously expressive as a kid who largely lives amidst repression.
Cone keeps so many balls flying through the air, and he moves so easily from farce to awkwardness to quiet conversations to rampant sexual teenagers and back and forth that there’s never a dull moment. Henry, you see, is gay, something suspected by two of his (significantly non-church) friends, but by almost no one else. At Henry’s afternoon birthday pool party, the guests include an assortment of adults from the family church as well as Henry’s secular and religious teen friends, among them the closeted Logan (Daniel Kyri) who clearly has eyes for Henry. Henry, you see, is gay, something suspected by two of his (significantly non-church) friends, but by almost no one else. The first scene is a quiet stunner. A very ambitious and mostly successful independent feature from writer-director Stephen Cone, The film takes place over the course of one day at the McMansion of a suburban pastor, who is throwing a pool party for his teen son Henry (Cole Doman). He and his friend Gabe masturbate together while discussing a girl who will be at his birthday party tomorrow before falling asleep.
Doman is marvelously expressive as a kid who largely lives amidst repression. Their faces are resting on pillows as they look into the camera, talking to each other, but the screen is tilted so that the bed, not their faces, is sideways. Disorientation is at play here, as it is for so many of the characters in the movie.Disorientation is at play here, as it is for so many of the characters in the movie.Still, the movie carves out a truly unique space in the gap that exists between agnostic Hollywood filmmaking and church-funded, faith-based indies. Meanwhile, the youth-group kids splashing about in the pool assert (or conceal) their own sexual identities in all sorts of complicated ways, while Cone’s camera weaves in and out of various conversations to give us an Altman-eye view of the proceedings.The movie immerses us in the complications of sexuality right from its opening scene, in which an oddly angled shot reveals Henry waking up in his bed with a platonic male friend who has slept over. Even Grace’s judgmental mother has her moment, in one of the most extraordinary outbursts in the film.Cone does not use his characters for target practice. At one point the gathering in the pool seems to be taking an unsavory turn, and Henry’s mother (a wonderful Elizabeth Laidlaw) dives in with the kids — not to “correct” things, but simply to enjoy a swim. Two boys, Henry Gamble (Guests start arriving for Henry’s party. If you let out the truth about your sexuality, your purity ring, your doubts, your depression, you will be shut out of that warm and enveloping group. The characters were taught that life was simple. Their faces are resting on pillows as they look into the camera, talking to each other, but the screen is tilted so that the bed, not their faces, is sideways. A very ambitious and mostly successful independent feature from writer-director Stephen Cone, The film takes place over the course of one day at the McMansion of a suburban pastor, who is throwing a pool party for his teen son Henry (Cole Doman). Henry is turning 17 and his parents are throwing a birthday pool party. The other grown-ups, churchy though they may be, are visibly bored. Henry’s Dad, Bob (One of the adult couples shows up with a box of wine, and Bob hides it under the sink like a naughty teenager. Henry Gamble's Birthday Party takes place over 24 hours at the birthday pool party of 17-year-old preacher's kid Henry Gamble. (Cone also edited the film.) Life turned out to be complex. Disorientation is at play here, as it is for so many of the characters in the movie.Disorientation is at play here, as it is for so many of the characters in the movie.Still, the movie carves out a truly unique space in the gap that exists between agnostic Hollywood filmmaking and church-funded, faith-based indies. After this party nobody is going to forget Henry Gamble's 17th birthday. There’s a beautifully written scene between Kat and Autumn, where they sit in a car in the driveway, drinking wine, and talking with a new kind of openness.
My favorite moment in “…wreaks havoc with an explosive playfulness that wouldn’t be out of place in a Looney Tunes cartoon.”“…a cheeky, postmodern take on the standard biopic.”“What’s distinctive about The Hitch-Hiker is the sensitivity it has for the trauma involved.” My favorite moment in “…wreaks havoc with an explosive playfulness that wouldn’t be out of place in a Looney Tunes cartoon.”“…a cheeky, postmodern take on the standard biopic.”“What’s distinctive about The Hitch-Hiker is the sensitivity it has for the trauma involved.” Autumn and her high school boyfriend Aaron (The transformations when they came are not all explosive.
Preacher’s kid Henry Gamble is turning 17 today. At least now they know who they are.Sheila O'Malley received a BFA in Theatre from the University of Rhode Island and a Master's in Acting from the Actors Studio MFA Program.
Here's the plot - the movie opens with Henry and a male friend in bed talking about 'dick size' and Henry is very interested in this topic. Anatomy | Henry Gamble’s Birthday Party. He comes from an Evangelical background, and his father was a pastor. At Henry’s afternoon birthday pool party, the guests include an assortment of adults from the family church as well as Henry’s secular and religious teen friends, among them the closeted Logan (Daniel Kyri) who clearly has eyes for Henry. Transformations occur in quiet moments of honesty, or in expressing uncertainty in a world that is supposed to be so certain.
Introductory scene hints that Henry may have a crush on his best friend who is sleeping over.
Cone brings great sensitivity to the dilemmas of religious teens who are struggling with sexuality, and he offers them something they likely, and ironically, don’t experience enough: grace. The angle suddenly shifts to an omniscient one and it’s the first time you see that they’re in the same bed.