Shelter

He had a home, but found shelter somewhere else.

A shelter is operationally defined as something that offers protection, its presence allows to declare a state of being protected from harm. It is also defined as the provision of basic needs for the homeless, the strays, for Zach’s (Trevor Wright) case—confusion.

Directed by Jonah Markowitz

Released: 2007

Best Feature, Best Actor plus more awards

Synopsis

An artist’s mind is as abstract as his confusion. Zach, a talented artist, gives up on his own life to bear the weight of family responsibility, even his own underlying desires. Ferrying his nephew as if he was his son, tolerating his father whose life purpose is to doze off, shouldering a burden he had no hand in, and resorting to street art, more popularly known as vandalism, as an outlet for his artistic flows.

In love with the ocean, Zach sees freedom on riding the waves, much like how he gets through one day to the next. Disturbing his superficially calm sea, is his bestfriend Gabe’s (Ross Thomas) brother Shaun (Brad Rowe), a writer who seeks refuge in their former home after a break-up. As things with Shaun grow smoothly and surprisingly comfortable, a suppressed passion is rejuvenated, Zach discovers a personal truth. A truth, too incomprehensible for his simple lifestyle, blurring the lines of what is right and wrong, what is family and foe, what is choice and chance.

Viewing Experience

Shelter (2007) is probably one of the best gay films released. Written and directed by Jonah Markowitz, the film has been recognized by various award-giving bodies. From the skateboard opening, to the shoreline landscape ending, scene-to-scene transition is admirable. Not to mention the emphasis on Zach’s character and his situation, making it seem so suffocating to live in such a way—stuck. 

Wright’s acting as a straight guy dosed in icy water with certain realities of gay life is nothing less than commendable. The toned down intimacy also aided in accentuating that love, knowing no gender, is a refuge, a home away from home. Though the storyline is mostly flawless, Zach’s father shouldn’t have been shunned with the rest of the film to further portrait a problematic family picture. In effect, it appears that Zach's  problems were limited to his nephew and his sister despite consistent mention of his old man. But the end here does not justify the means, the whole film experience remains intact.

A fleeting thought I just caught after watching this, a relationship with someone should feel like a shelter and not a prison, not a worrisome promiscuity, not a momentary revelry and certainly not a societal conformity. It should be something that affords not just the feeling of being protected, but actually being protected.