VOD Review - Last Ferry

It's a bit of a Hitchcock thriller. Instead of repressed homosexual themes, this film features an entire cast that's playing all openly gay characters. It's a chilling and tense scenario, but it's a mystery that never fully materializes or is explained. A lot of it can be assumed and the dots can be put together by the audience, but it's a shame that the film couldn't give us a tad more insight. It seems as if this film, directed by Jaki Bradley and written by Ramon Torres, is trying to be like Alain Guiraudie's Stranger By the Lake (2014), a film that juxtaposes a place where gay men can have sex out in the open and publicly with a murderer on the loose in that very spot. It explores homoeroticism in bold ways and that touches upon some psychological pathology therein, the disregard of safety for the sake of lustful desire. It's also about the loneliness and desperation for love or some human connection, as well as the struggle for love amid an environment that is romantically harsh or more about physical satisfaction and not much else.

This film echoes some of those themes in Guiraudie's gay thriller. It's not the same, although the vibe is eerily similar. This film is more about one gay man's disillusionment about a historically gay tourist and cruising area, as well as his disillusionment about himself, about who he is and what he wants. It's scant on the details about the gay man's life to sell that disillusionment and subsequent realization completely. It has to be more reliant on the actor's performance, which works fairly well. Guiraudie's film could be accused of being scant on those same details, but it's purposeful in that regard. Guiraudie's film leans more on the themes and the eroticism in order to convey more raw feelings, so those details might not be as necessary. Here, Bradley's film is more a character study or more about the mystery so those details feel more required, yet Bradley doesn't deliver them.

Ramon Torres isn't only the writer. He also stars as Joseph Gibson, a lawyer from New York City. He works at a fairly good law firm and lives in Harlem. It's April and he decides to take a trip to Fire Island, a place off the coast of New York that has historically been a vacation destination for those in the LGBTQ+ community, particularly for gay men. He goes there by himself most likely looking for sex or random parties. Yet, he's a bit of an introvert and is resistant to engage with people and the place itself. He is lonely and desperate to do so, so he's easily pulled into things when people engage with him with the exception of an older guy who approaches him in a restaurant. It's a shame that this movie embraces ageism and has Joseph reject the older guy but is easily picked up by the young, hot blonde.

Things take a turn when Joseph realizes he's been drugged and his wallet stolen. While he's drugged, he stumbles through a wooded area, known as "the meat rack." He eventually ends up near the beach where he witnesses the aftermath of a murder and a man dragging a corpse toward the water. He runs away and tries to escape, but he eventually loses consciousness. He wakes up in a stranger's house and has to determine what to do next.

Sheldon Best co-stars as Cameron, a black man who works in Washington, DC. He's an analyst in the State Department. He's worked as a translator in the military and speaks various languages, including German, Spanish and Arabic. It's presumed that he started working there during the Obama administration, although his disillusionment with his job might be due to current politics, yet that's never really mentioned. He simply seems like a sweet, strong and compassionate guy that takes a liking to Joseph and who basically rescues him after Joseph passes out.

When the protagonist in Stranger By the Lake doesn't go to the police, it's understandable, given what and who the character is and what he wants. Here, it doesn't make sense as to why Joseph who is a lawyer wouldn't go to the police. It doesn't even seem like a question in anyone's mind. It's not a question in Cameron's mind. Cameron introduces Joseph to a few of his friends and it's not even a question in their minds. Joseph doesn't even bother to ask any of them if they've seen the guy who drugged and robbed him. It's a traumatic event that is so easily brushed off in this narrative and there are no clear logical reasons as to why certain people don't make anything of the crime. Fire Island is not that large a place. It's not as populated during the off season and the only way off the island is by boat, so the guy who drugged Joseph could be identified and possibly caught but no one bothers to even try.

What the filmmakers also don't even bother to try is any kind of explanation for the murder that Joseph witnesses. It's not really a question of who did it. The film does reveal who the killer is, but we get no reason as to why. Again, a theory can be imagined. The opening scene suggests a crime of passion, positioning the violent act with the literal sex act. Again, Stranger By the Lake doesn't really go into the why, but the killer is coded as a sociopath, which tips it more toward a horror flick. This film doesn't necessarily code the killer as just an attractive monster. It almost wants him to have remorse or more depth, but the film doesn't go far enough in diving into what he was experiencing, so all that's left is the attractive monster.

Not Rated but contains language and sexual situations.
Running Time: 1 hr. and 26 mins.

Available on Blu-ray and VOD.