(Video) The Trip - Chuyến Đi Cuối Cùng (USA, 2002, Span., Eng. & Viet. Sub.)

Directed by Miles Swain

Written by Miles Swain,

Starring:  Larry Sullivan, Steve Braun, Ray Baker, Alexis Arquette, Sirena Irwin, Jill St.                       John, Art Hindle

Distributed by TLA Releasing

Release date:  2002

Running time:  95 mins

Country:  United States

Language:  English

The Trip is a 2002 epic gay romance that traces the relationship between two men from their initial meeting in 1973 until 1984.

The Trip (Chuyến Đi Cuối Cùng) là một bộ phim lãng mạn đồng tính gây ấn tượng.  Nó khắc họa chi tiết mối quan hệ giữa hai chàng trai kể từ khi họ gặp gỡ lần đầu vào năm 1973 cho đến năm 1984.  

MOVIE INFO

Stretching from the 1970s to the 1990s, The Trip chronicles the often turbulent romance between two gay men. One night in 1973, teenagers Tommy (Steve Braun) and Alan (Larry Sullivan) meet at an L.A. party. While Tommy is openly gay and organizes for gay civil rights, Alan, an aspiring journalist, is a repressed, button-down member of the Young Republicans who is working on his first book, a thick volume about the evils of homosexuality. On the pretext of interviewing him for his book, Alan invites Tommy to his house for dinner, where the sexual tension between the two is so throbbingly blatant that Alan's girlfriend makes a hasty exit. An intense romance between the two men follows. When we next see them, it's 1976, and Alan's book has been published anonymously and is being used by right-wingers who are supporting Anita Bryant's "Save Our Children" campaign in Florida. Unfortunately, Tommy finds out that Alan wrote the book and leaves him, and subsequently takes up with Peter (Ray Baker) an affluent closet case. It isn't until the '90s that Alan and Tommy meet again, and are confronted by the romance they thought they had long left behind. The Trip was screened at the 2002 Philadelphia International Gay and Lesbian Film Festival.

  

Plot synopsis

The time is the socially turbulent 1970s, when radical politics and the emerging gay rights movement clashed with the rigidly conservative establishment. At a swanky L.A. party, lean and lanky Tommy (Steve Braun) introduces himself to sexually repressed Alan (Larry Sullivan). Tommy has long blond hair, and is openly gay with a glib sense of humor. The comparatively short-haired, muscular Alan is a member of the Young Republicans and an aspiring journalist. Alan is working on his first book, a treatise on homosexuality, and he invites Tommy over for dinner to interview him for the book. Their connection is so intense that Alan's kooky girlfriend Beverly (Sirena Irwin) suspects something more than an interview is going on and angrily departs.

Broken up with Beverly, Alan runs into Tommy a month later while jogging in Griffith Park and invites him for a night out; the two have a fantastic time, drinking and doing drugs along the way. At Alan's invitation, Tommy stays over at Alan's apartment. They sleep in separate rooms until Alan, in the middle of the night, joins Tommy in his bed, claiming the couch is too uncomfortable; Tommy leaves to go sleep on the couch. In the morning, Tommy tells Alan he has feelings for him and can't see him again. Tommy also confronts Alan about his own curiosity, prompting Alan to defensively blurt out, "I'm not a fag like you, okay?" Tommy walks out. Feeling horrible about what he said, Alan proceeds to call him nonstop, but Tommy won't come to the phone.

Alan proceeds to write his book, which is highly critical of gays and their lifestyle. However, when the manuscript brings an offer for a two-book deal, he doesn't want to sign the contract, as by then he realizes his own feelings for Tommy and rejects his old ideas about the gay community. Against his better judgment, he signs the contract, persuaded by attorney Peter (Ray Baker), that it's a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. Moments later, Tommy comes back to Alan's apartment to confront him about the phone calls and tell him he doesn't want to hear from him again. Alan takes a chance, grabbing Tommy and kissing him. It begins what will be a 4-year relationship.

Fast forward to 1977: Anita Bryant is organizing the "Save Our Children" campaign in Florida to rid the country of homosexuals and repeal a Florida law prohibiting discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation. Alan's book publisher, who previously decided the timing wasn't right, publishes Alan's book, The Straight Truth, against Alan's wishes, listing the author as "Anonymous." The book is used to fuel homophobia by the Christian Right, and it threatens to erode Tommy's work with his group Out Loud, whose aim is to change the public's negative views of gays. When word is leaked about who actually wrote the book, Tommy leaves Alan. Alan is also fired from his job at a newspaper. With nowhere to go and no job, he quickly becomes a "kept boy" of Peter, who himself is closeted.

In 1984, when Alan finds out Peter was the one who leaked his name to the media, he leaves to reunite with Tommy. The two finally take the road trip they previously planned, but under tragic circumstances, as Tommy is now ill from an undisclosed illness. In a fitting end to their love story, Alan fulfills his book contract by writing a second book. This time, it is about his coming out process and his love affair with Tommy. The book is called The Trip, and is dedicated to Tommy.

WIKIPEDIA

Larry Sullivan

      

Born: Lawrence Edward Sullivan
September 10, 1970 (age 45)
New Haven, Connecticut, U.S.
Nationality: American
Occupation: Actor

Steve Braun

Born: August 14, 1976 (age 39)
Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada
Nationality: Canadian
Occupation: actor

A love story spanning two decades between two men who are at the opposite ends of the political spectrum during the 1970s and 1980s. In 1973, Alan Oakley lives as a straight, uptight Young Republican working for an establishment newspaper--until he meets Tommy Ballenger, a Texas teenager who has moved to Los Angeles to work for gay rights. When Alan first meets him at a party organized by Peter Baxter, an older entertainment lawyer, Alan sees Tommy as a potential interview subject for his book, a conservative attack on gay rights that he plans to call The Straight Truth. Before he knows quite what has happened, Alan finds himself in bed and falling for Tommy. Alan and Tommy soon become the perfect couple, which rouses the envy of Peter, who promptly devises a cunning plan to break them up that includes publishing Alan''s long-abandoned, long-repudiated manuscript anonymously.

Not every love has the best ending the world, nor they will live happily ever after. Those we had experienced, will be our best that we can keep. "The best of your writing does not come from your head, but from you heart!" "It was just another negative view and people hate what they seem don't understand."

With the settings from the year 1975 until 1984, but the contents valid at any point of year... A great movie...

A must watch! I would rate 4.5/5