DVD Review - Tiger Orange

Gregory Marcel (left), Frankie Valenti (standing)
and Mark Strano (right) in 'Tiger Orange'

Mark Strano stars as Chet Waters, the owner and manager of a hardware store, which he inherited from his late father. He also inherited his family home, a log cabin in a small, rural town in California. He's a shy and lonely guy. He mostly is a homebody. He has friends but doesn't socialize much.

Frankie Valenti co-stars as Todd Waters, the younger brother of Chet who left home to live in Los Angeles and start his acting career. However many years later, he's still working as a bartender. He returns to his log-cabin, family home after the two gay men with whom he's involved in a threesome-situation kick him out.

Co-written by Strano, the movie starts with Chet and Todd, portrayed by child actors. Ty Parker plays Chet as a child and Adrian Delcan plays Todd as a child. This opening scene shows them about to go to sleep on their bunk bed. It conveys perfectly the relationship between the boys, their relationship with their single father and the fact that both brothers are gay but gay in two completely different ways. Todd, even as a child, is more out-going.

The film, directed and co-written by Wade Gasque, cuts back-and-forth from the adult versions of Chet and Todd to these brothers as children in great flashbacks. Even though there are only a couple of flashbacks, the scenes of the child incarnations are quite potent and well-done in terms of its storytelling and emotional punch.

The actors who play the adult brothers give good performances as well. It's also the best I've seen from the two. I saw Strano in a movie last year called Out to Kill that didn't give him as much of a platform to shine. I saw Valenti in a Here! TV series called The Lair in which he was a bit more passive, but that probably had to do with the way his character was written.

Yet, Valenti's character is the opposite here. Todd is very aggressive. He speaks his mind and has little inhibition or filters. He just does things, often without thinking. Todd clashes with his older brother Chet because Chet is more conservative, more of a product of the town in which he's lived all his life, as opposed to Todd who left and lived in a big city.

Gregory Marcel plays Brandon, an old classmate of Chet who returns and becomes an object of contention between the two brothers. The ultimate goal is for the clashing brothers in their tug-of-war to meet in the middle. They learn from each other and take on a bit of each others qualities, hopefully for the better.

Otherwise, this movie is an interesting, little, family drama, and a bit of a character study of Chet, and the effects of small-town homophobia on him, as well as the brotherly and fatherly bond that he challenges but still needs.

Five Stars out of Five.
Not Rated but contains language & full-frontal, male nudity.
Running Time: 1 hr. and 15 mins.