#stephen cone

[k-wame]

Cole Doman & Joe Keery dir. Stephen Cone | Henry Gamble's Birthday Party (2015)

[movies-to-add-to-your-tbw]

Title: Henry Gamble’s Birthday Party

Rating: R

Director: Stephen Cone

Cast: Cole Doman, Elizabeth Laidlaw, Nina Ganet, Joe Keery, Daniel Kyri, Francis Guinan, Pat Healy, Hanna Dworkin, Darci Nalepa, Patrick Andrews, Meg Thalken, Kelly O’Sullivan, Travis Knight, Melanie Neilan, Grace Melon, Tyler Ross, Jack Ball, Mia Hulen, Spencer Curnutt, Zoe Tyson

Release year: 2015

Genres: drama, LGBT+

Blurb: 17-year-old preacher’s kid Henry Gamble hosts a birthday pool party over 24 hours. The guests include adults and teenagers from his church, as well as Henry’s secular friends, including the closeted young Logan, who has eyes for Henry.

[honeygleam]

henry gamble's birthday party (2015) dir. stephen cone

[asithoys]

“yeah, I wish that I could share with you the utter joy it brings me to spend three hours on a Sunday afternoon reading Emerson or Melville or Virginia Woolf or discussing TS Elliot or James Baldwin with a dear friend until dawn; The fulfillment that I get from going to church, from reading theology, from reading science, from praying... But I can’t, because I am me and you are you. I can’t relate to you the total fulfillment that I get from these things it’s impossible [...] and I understand you’re finding you’re own joy, you’re engaging your own stuff, that’s great! That’s how it should be and it’s a beautiful thing but hear me, it’s not a handicap to have one thing but not another, to be one way and not another. We’re different shapes and ways and our happiness is unique. There are no rules of balance.”

Princess Cyd, Dir. Stephen Cone (2017)

[ulrichgebert]

Auf der Party zum siebzehnten Geburtstag des wohlbehütet unter christlichen Eiferern aufgewachsenen Henry Gamble (links) sprechen alle darüber, was Jesus von ihnen erwartet, denken aber an ..äh.. Sex. 

[kinodiario]

Princess Cyd - Stephen Cone [2017] USA

[davidhudson]

Happy 41st, Stephen Cone.

[practicallynonsensical]

A Practically Nonsensical Mini-Review

Princess Cyd (2017)

This was so soft, genuine, and allowed us to follow an exploration of one's sexual fluidity!! The Aunt was so open and understanding, the kind of understanding that is stern, honest, and gentle.

The main relationship is not the romantic one (even tho Cyd and Katie were adorable together and really captured the whirlwind of a summer romance in those small moments as Cyd grows into her own sexuality), it is the Aunt/Niece dynamic where both characters learn to trust, encourage, and LOVE one another.

“You're finding your own joy. You're engaging your own stuff, and that's great. That's how it should be. It's a beautiful thing."

Even when Cyd was not being the nicest or wasn't at her best, her Aunt had patience and was ready to hear Cyd out. And goodness, isn't that just the most beautiful thing? To be heard and loved.

Of course, there were flaws, sub-plots that went nowhere or felt shoehorned, like the attempted assault scene that was never addressed again..  

But I just love compassion and this was a compassionate film.

My Letterboxd