My Best Day (2012) Reviews

• Delightful sleeper

  scootmandutoo2012-11-10

  This film opened the Long Island Gay and Lesbian Film Festival and because of the early start, did not have near the turnout of the opening night's other 2 films. Too bad, because this film was exceptionally good. I, for the life of me, cannot understand the average rating of under 5 (as of this post). Were some of the principals not attractive enough? I mean, seriously, this was a quality production. It is always a treat to find a glbt-themed film as well-written and acted as this. The pacing, acting and dialogue had such a nice, natural rhythm to it. This was not so much a gay film as much as it was a film where a good percentage of the characters just happened to be gay. It dealt with certain gay characters that you do not get to see on film, except in caricature...such as the large-framed butch lesbian. In this movie, the actress who played her had a warmth and sweetness to her. It was refreshing. This film captured a slice of life and presented it in an honest way that never made you feel you were watching something derivative. It was not an earth-shattering adventure, but rather, an examination of a path to self-awareness, with lessons learned along the way. It deserves a wider audience.

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• Rural Maine isn't NYC, San Francisco, or Amsterdam

  Red-1252012-10-21

  My Best Day (2012) was written and directed by Erin Greenwell. Karen, played by Rachel Style, is a receptionist in a small-town refrigerator repair shop. It's Fourth of July, and the shop is not even handling emergency calls. However, when a call comes in, Karen says she'll "send someone out." Karen agrees because she believes that the caller is her father. She convinces her friend, Meagan (Ashlie Atkinson) to make the repair call with her. The two set off on Meagan's new motorcycle, and the story unfolds from there. The plot is complex. The caller is, indeed, Karen's father. He lives with a man who "sleeps on the couch." Of course, that's a euphemism for not sleeping on the couch. Karen's half-sister, Stacy (Jo Armeniox) is a compulsive gambler. Karen's half-brother is a good kid, but tends to be bullied. He's working hard to convince the lovely young cashier at the grocery store to join his family at the family's Fourth-of-July picnic. Meagan is a lesbian, and she is drawn towards a new lover, although her current lover is certainly caring and attractive. All these plots intertwine, often in humorous and charming ways. Overall, the movie is quirky and good-natured. It's not a masterpiece, but it's definitely worth seeing if it's readily available. When you think about it, most films about LGBT relationships are set in cities. If they're set in rural or small-town areas, it's only to show the physical dangers present in societies where LGBT people are relentlessly scorned and physically threatened. It's refreshing to see an LGBT film in a small-town setting. People definitely have a rural mindset, but the positive and negative aspects of LGBT life are still the same. My Best Day was the last film we saw at the highly successful ImageOut Rochester LGBT Film & Video Festival.

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