There's a blustery charm to the goth-like outcasts--two best pals who cling to each other in the cultural wasteland of Sandusky, Ohio--in writer/director Todd Stephens' Gypsy 83. Gypsy (Sara Rue) is a 25-year-old wannabe singer with genuine talent but little drive. Eighteen-year-old Clive (Kett Turton) is struggling with his sexuality and killing time till high school ends and he can escape. An impromptu road trip to New York City for a talent show sets off the typical road-movie scenario of finding oneself by running away, but if there's plenty familiar here, there's also much that is captivating and pointed (and likely to hit disquietingly close to home to many who profess to being comfortable in their nonconformity). Rue and Turton (winning an Outfest best actor award for his performance here) delicately explore the unspoken anxiety of soul-mate friends afraid to leave their comfort zone for other, possibly more rewarding horizons (there's a sense of satisfaction that comes from being the only weirdo in town, which disappears when you have to measure yourself against other weirdoes). And it's when Gypsy and Clive's dare-to-be-different bravado slips that the film achieves a minor kind of geeky greatness, as if to say: to thine own weird self be true. Recommended. (M. Johanson)
Gypsy 83
Hart Sharp, 94 min., not rated, VHS: $49.99, DVD: $24.99, Nov. 23 Volume 20, Issue 1
Gypsy 83
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