A surfer (Trevor Wright) finds comfort from his problems in the arms of his best friend's older brother (Brad Rowe).
Sometimes a film that otherwise relies on stock storylines and even skirts the fringes of old-fashioned melodrama can rise up on the strength of other elements. In the case of writer/director Jonah Markowitz’s feature film debut, “Shelter” rises very high indeed, thanks to a superb performance by Trevor Wright in the lead role, a strong supporting cast, very good cinematography and, most of all, emotional authenticity.
First seen in the Bay Area at last year’s Frameline festival, “Shelter” is a film about a young man named Zach who works as a short-order cook and has turned down a full scholarship from Cal Arts in order to take care of his family, which includes his frail father, who was disabled in a work accident, his loser sister Jeanne (Tina Holmes) and her young son, Cody (Jackson Wurth).
When Zach isn’t slinging hash, or either breaking up or making up with his longtime girlfriend Tori (Katie Walder), he’s off surfing with his best friend Gabe (Ross Thomas). Of course, the question that goes unasked but becomes nonetheless unavoidable in our understanding of Zach is whether he’s really burdened by all of this responsibility, or whether he’s hiding behind it. Zach doesn’t begin considering that possibility until Gabe’s older brother Shaun (Brad Rowe) shows up in San Pedro while waiting to move into a new place back in Los Angeles.
Soon enough, Zach is hanging out with Shaun a lot. They go surfing, they talk and one night, they drink a lot and there’s a good-natured and, for the audience, wince-inducing wrestling match. Zach’s first kiss from a guy leaves him confused. How many gay first encounters in film or fiction have involved alcohol and good-natured wrestling? Too many to count, and no doubt they’ve happened in real life, but that just means a director had better have a very sure hand if he wants to make them believable on film. Markowitz almost succeeds, but that’s largely because he keeps the scene short.
Other elements of the story border on predictable,
including the loser-boozer sister with serial one-night stands who, naturally, isn’t happy that her possibly gay brother is tending to her young son. But as in so many other instances in the film, the cast’s performances keep things credible. Holmes strikes all the right notes in showing a young woman who, in her way, is just as desperate to find herself as her brother is. And without hitting us over the head with it, Markowitz leads us to consider the essential difference that self-respect can make in finding oneself. Nicely nuanced and credible performances are also delivered by Rowe, who is smart enough to allow Zach room to screw up
, Thomas as the best friend who finds he has a lot to come to grips with in the person of someone he thought he’s known forever, and Walder as the girlfriend who perhaps understands Zach better and earlier than he does himself.
There aren’t any great truths here. This is a film about love, and learning to be true to yourself and those willing to ride the wave with you. Markowitz’s script is adequate on the surface, but better than that when we see how he allows his characters to embody his themes and trusts his audience enough to avoid telegraphing meaning at every turn. He often has a good ear for the way people speak in real life, although, occasionally, he falls into a “Stella Dallas” mode.
Wright’s performance is the beating heart of the film from the start. It’s a tricky role to play, because it calls on the young actor to withhold so much about his inner life yet, at the same time, give us enough information to see things that he is unwilling to look at. In this case, less becomes more and then some through a restrained and delicately balanced performance. It’s Wright’s careful minimalism that draws us along in the film and has us rooting for Zach all the way.
