The search for connection, through sexuality or art, underlies the gloomy film Beautiful Something, screened at last year's Frameline and just released on DVD by Ariztical Entertainment. In one cold, desperate night, four artistic gay men's lives intersect as they seek love and companionship on the gritty streets of Philadelphia. The city has never looked more bleak. Dark emotions pervade, and even when the characters are having torrid sex (which happens often, their attractive bodies beautifully lit), they seem lonely and depressed. There is no joie de vivre here, only rambling, confessional speeches on regret, lost love, lust, self-hatred, and art as salvation that might have been penned by Eugene O'Neill if he were gay and incoherent after a weeklong bender. Oddly, though Beautiful Something supposedly occurs now, it seems trapped in a pre-Internet time warp. There are no cell phones, and characters use typewriters.
Brian (Brian Sheppard), an award-winning poet with writer's block, goes to a gay bar, and brings a man home for sex. But the bi guy, after begging for hot man-on-man action, walks away angry post-coitus. Brian is still brooding over Dan, a straight guy with whom he had a brief affair. Desiring a relationship, he seems to find only hookups. He meets early 20-something Jim (Zack Ryan), a vapid aspiring actor (he does one of the worst renditions of Romeo ever committed to film) and muse/lover of 40-something Drew Tiger, a famous sculptor. Jim feels Drew (Colman Domingo) is neglecting him despite his protestations of love, and ponders leaving him. Drew is oblivious, preoccupied with being an artiste. Not feeling a connection with Brian, Jim runs into Bob (John Lescault), a sleazy Hollywood agent cruising around in a white limousine. He calls Jim his beautiful something. Bob offers to pay for sex with Jim, who, in addition to dancing naked around the room, must earn his wages by listening to Bob's weepy tale of his first lover dying in Vietnam. When Bob passes out in an alcoholic stupor, Jim must decide whether or not to abandon Drew. Can Brian find true love? Will the viewer care?
Director Joseph Graham, aided by cinematographer Matthew Boyd, knows how to create a desolate mood, and the idea that people who have sex are really seeking companionship seems promising. But Beautiful Something suffers from pretentiousness and caricatures. Only Brian and Jim are given any breadth: Brian the moody poet stalker, Jim the freeloading twink. Zack Ryan is gorgeous, and shots of him naked may well be worth the price of the DVD. But none of these guys engender much empathy or rise above the cliche of the tortured gay artist. A labor of love with earnest intentions, Beautiful Something becomes Exhibit A for the case that beauty alone is never enough.