RedGage

 

Shelter (2007)

Starring Brad Rowe, Trevor Wright

Rowe as Shaun on the left. Wright as Zach on the right.

California shores. Zach is skate-boarding, surfing working on his art, dealing with his on and off relationship with Tori, taking care of his 5 year old nephew Cody and dealing with the ever demanding and borderline selfish Jeanne- Cody’s mom. He is a busy young man who is not exactly happy with his career options either. Taking shift jobs and barely making ends meet, he also tries to keep his dreams of being an artist alive.

 

That’s when he runs across Shaun. Shaun’s Zach’s best friend’s big brother.Shaun has become a big shot writer, living in Hollywood. A recent break-up and writer’s block has made him come back to his home town. Shaun is very good-looking, easy-going and fun to be around. The two start surfing and Zach’s world becomes less complicated around him. Or so he thinks…The only catch is that Shaun is gay, and Zach seems to be drawn to him- although during his 20 something years,he has known himself to be  straight. One day-again after a very fun day out together, Shaun kisses Zach. It is soft, repeated and romantic. Zach responds in the same way. However after that Zach is just angry. With himself, with Shaun and pretty much with everyone and everything else. His sister is worried that Zach might be a “fag” and she definitely doesn’t want Shaun around Cody. Tori isn’t happy with Zach’s weird behaviour either.And meanwhile little Cody loves Shaun, who is much better with him than Jeanne ever will be.

But Zach has had enough. He just stops analyzing and sulking- he goes to Shaun’s place.He kisses him the moment Shaun opens the door,leading to a passionate make-out session that leads straight to the bedroom.

It was hot, romantic and passionate all at once. Then Zach is truly happy, in a very long time.  They hang out, stay in and have a blast. Shaun is even willing to postpone going to L.A or better yet, take Zach with him. He is also very supportive of Zach’s dreams. But trouble starts when Shaun’s brother finds out. Zach isn’t happy to face the others, no matter how well-intentional they might be. His sister is also planning to move away with her boyfriend for a while, planning to leave Cody with his uncle. This results in Zach driving Shaun away…

I won’t give away the ending and you should really see the movie for yourself. It is a beautiful movie. It is a great story of love, relationships, family and dreams. It pictures well the struggles we go through to find out who we are. And I believe Shaun represents the perfect partner (whatever your inclinations are) and Zach represents the person on the verge of big decisions…Forget about the title, it is one of my favorite romantic stories ever…