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Parallel Sons (1995)
drama set in gorgeous Adirondack mountains, involving an improbable encounter between two gay young men, one black, one white
This is a very underrated drama about an encounter between two young, gay men, one black, one white, in a mountain town in New York's Adirondacks, in which the "parallels" between the two men's lives, and their tragic outcome plumb depths of several fundamental issues: growing up gay in a hostile society, racism, gun violence, and adolescent independence. While the sleepy little town's exterior calm is shattered by the appearance of a black escapee from a state mental facility for convicts, this same escapee provides a solution to Seth Carlson's search for his deepest yearnings. At the same time, Seth provides a solution for the escapee's (Knowledge's) life-and-death emergency, bringing the two together through an amazing process of derring-do and cultural and sexual bonding. The story is told with just enough hometown realism to make it thoroughly believable, if ultimately tragic. The two main characters are acted with stellar sensitivity by Gabriel Mick (Seth) and Laurence Mason (Knowledge). Mick's casting is particularly apt. The film takes full advantage of the glorious mountain setting as well as the rural mores and the isolation of its small-town, upstate subject community. This film is a must-see for all young, gay American men!