Sudhanshu Saria’s self-assured but feature Loev (2017) is as much about the puzzlement of gay inty as ’s about the pleasur and risks of love.
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LOEV [2017] – A TENR AND SUBTLY POWERFUL GAY-THEMED CEMA
The uple qutn here is gay, but the movie never plays like a clamoro mentary on gay activism.
Saria is both earnt and specific his layered romance between the two prciple male characters, but ’s much more than homosexual characters g out of the closet, acpanied by swoong mic. The emotnal beats of the narrative may be specific to the ‘gayns’ of the characters, but there’s also a surprisg universaly the way their terpersonal dynamics and hyper-naturalistic teractns are signed.
Neverthels, the vere style of film-makg elegantly tak the central uple’s iendship/love to a more timate, unanticipated, and even wilr, India is a untry where the LGBT muny is not simply ostracized, but the Sectn 377 of the Penal Co crimaliz (nsensual) homosexual sexual activi. Both the personal tails of the characters and the omniprent disapproval of homosexualy (seen fleetgly through the obscure gaz of outsirs) provis ntext to unrstand their ner emotns, rather than to create tastels melodrama. If ‘Loev’ was a ‘issue movie’, would have clud a scene of gay-bashg, but the director tak a nsc cisn to reject this mo of dramatic firework.