Retake

What begins as an intriguing mystery becomes a somewhat monotonous road movie, albeit one that features a pair of sharply contrasting protagonists. Jonathan (Tuc Watkins) is a middle-aged gay man who picks up youthful street hustler Adam (Devon Graye) in San Francisco and offers him a lot of money to role-play the part of someone named “Brandon,” a former lover of Jonathan's. The deal is not purely about sex but rather the recreation of a road trip to the Grand Canyon that Jonathan took with the absent Brandon. Jonathan insists on Adam's complete immersion in the part, including knowing Brandon's favorite book, style of cologne, wardrobe, sunglasses, and more. But Adam is a buoyant guy whose energy can't be easily suppressed, and time and again he throws off Jonathan's script. Co-writer and director Nick Corporon's Retake essentially pits an implacable force against a seemingly immovable object, but while that sounds like a solid idea for a story, much of the film is actually a rather drab succession of scenes set in bars, motel rooms, and a car interior—dull backdrops that dampen the more interesting internal dramas. Optional. (T. Keogh)