Save Me
An earnest drama about the futility of "rescuing" gay men back to Jesus, "Save Me" presents a paradox: It's an issue drama in which the most compassionately drawn character is on the other side of the issue.
Specifically, Judith Light - co-star of TV's "Ugly Betty" but forever enshrined as single mom Angela Bower on the echt-'80s sitcom hit "Who's the Boss" - is devastatingly good as Gayle, a committed Christian who serves as the mother hen of Genesis House, a New Mexico retreat for "recovering" homosexuals. Within her fundamentalist world-view, Gayle is truly caring and sympathetic to the troubled men in her charge. She's so drawn to their brokenness, in fact, that she can't see they're not broken at all. The real drama of the film is her fight to ignore what all the other characters eventually admit: That all love is Godly.
The nominal drama of the film is less compelling, unfortunately. The main characters in "Save Me" are Mark (Chad Allen), arriving at Genesis House after a drug-fueled suicide bid, and Scott (Robert Gant), a level-headed guy nearing the end of his stay and tormented by his dying father's refusal to accept his sexuality. When these two meet, the soundtrack perks up and the camerawork appears to hold its breath; forbidden cigarettes soon give way to passionate kisses.
Will true love conquer spiritual re-programming? As scripted by Robert Desiderio (Light's husband) and directed by Robert Cary (a step up from 2006's torpid romantic comedy "Ira and Abby"), "Save Me" avoids some clichés while embracing others. The main characters are drawn with welcome three-dimensionality; others, like Mark's tortured roommate (Robert Baker), shade into caricature.
Stephen Lang plays Gayle's husband as a sympathetic but inarticulate slab of basalt, and neither actor nor movie quite know what to do with the character. The feel is that of an enlightened TV movie; one's admiration keeps bumping up against a glossy hollowness of technique.
The first release from the gay-oriented Mythgarden production company, "Save Me" still bodes well for its evenhanded approach. There are no villains here, just human beings locked in spirals of conflicted desire. Gayle is drawn to Mark because he reminds her of her dead son; it becomes clear that she has founded Genesis House to atone for her mistake in spurning him. The tragedy is that her actions compound that mistake in ways she can't confront, and Light makes Gayle's slow crumble a subtle but horrible thing to behold. It's like finding an Arthur Miller character burning in an After School Special.
Ty Burr can be reached at tburr@globe.com.
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