Just perfect...

The performances transcend the film's tropes, grounding it in characters that feel more complete than this subgenre often produces.

This is a small, humorous movie in some ways, but it has a huge heart. What a nice experience.

Like the great film, it's made with a great deal of visible affection both in front of and behind the camera.

What an interesting little film. Finally we have a gay film that doesn't revolve around coming out, AIDS, or circuit parties. This is a film about real people with real problems that everybody can relate to -- gay or straight. The film has a real documentary type feel which adds to the realism. The cast is super and totally naturalistic. It's such a relief to see actors in a gay film that look like real, attractive people instead of steroid-Weho-circuit-boys. The film is all the better for it. Sure the dialogue is a bit stilted at times, but kudos to the writer/director for trying something a little different here -- and actually hitting the nail on the head in the process.

The dialog is fresh, original, and on a much higher level than most commercial and indie films. Sure, the cinematography is pretty lame, especially on extreme facial close-ups. But the story surprises--Ryan has many illusions and many alternative stories that he lives, and we're not quite certain what's real. This Canadian import survives because of its superior screenplay, as well as some good acting performances. I gave it an 8/10.

(may contain spoilers)This film's earnestness and sincerity is genuine; this dv project was inspired by the director's breakup of a long-term relationship and the overall tone of the resulting work feels more than a bit confessional. Personal exorcisms on film should be approached with more than a bit of wariness, and "Drift" demonstrates this fact precisely. It's hard to argue with the source of Quentin Lee's work as it's clearly rooted in true events and genuine emotions; the problem is the resulting feature that is an almost total embarrassment. Lee's script is full of trite howlers which would make a first-year film student cringe; in dialogue which is clearly meant to be "revealing", the characters seem to speak in bumper stickers, i.e. "why do we live when living is painful?", functioning as mouthpieces for Lee's trite and facile observations about relationships. It feels raw, but the entirely wrong kind of rawness; the script's college-sophomore dialectic feels more like a long one-sided conversation with someone who drones on and on in an incessant monologue which has long lost both emotional resonance and entertainment value but the performer is convinced that he's discovered something new and meaningful, so every word must be cherished protracted and repeated incessantly. Characterizations are facile and undeveloped; the lead character's preoccupation with serial killers is supposed to indicate some hip and edgy fascination with the dark side, but Lee doesn't go anywhere with this notion after bringing it up. His haphazard throw-it-on-the-wall-and-hope-it-sticks approach to characterization makes the serial killer plot point, as well as most other aspects of the script, come off as shallow and affected. Perhaps some distance and time would have generated a more original, relevant videomaking approach. The three different endings don't feel so much like a revelation of destinies than a tired, gimmicky attempt to liven up a limp and pretentious script, neither fun or touching. At least "Run Lola Run" had some kinetic style to back up its gimmicky narrative tricks; in "Drift", the first section just lies there. Relationship Outcomes #2 and #3 are no more relevant or interesting. The ending, as the central character strolls on the beach and reflects on All He Has Learned, feels even more pointless when you consider that nothing coming before had much insight to begin with. If "Drift" is what we have to look forward to every time Lee has a breakup, let's hope the term "long term relationship" has entered his lexicon.

A thoughtful and touching film, DRIFT tells a simple break-up story with a narrative twist midway about a young gay man, a screenwriter in Los Angeles, embarking on three different scenarios of a love triangle and romantic entanglements.I attended the film's world premiere at the San Francisco Gay Film Festival without a great deal of expectation (as you know... you get quite a mix of films there... a couple of exceptional ones and others are just very so-so), and I was pleasantly surprised. I was moved walking out of the theater and the film stayed with me for several days.Mr. Lee, whose other works I haven't seen, seemed pretty young on stage at the Q&A after the screening. As a Gen-XYer, Lee has produced a surprisingly mature work about relationships. He said that the work was personal. And I believe that the film being personal really added to the emotional impact of the piece.There aren't a lot of gay films about relationships, and this is certainly a well-made one. I highly recommend you taking a look at DRIFT, although there are some parts which could be considered slow and over-literary/pretentious to some audience. As icing on the cake, there are also some hot and sexy scenes.