donwc1996 This film is an absolute gem. The cast is perfect. The story is sublime yet very real and touching. Lea Coco as the straight brother is a revelation and after looking him up on Google I can see that he is a serious actor who is going places - lots of stage work. But the entire cast is so uniformly good and works so well together that it really is hard to pin-point any particular actor other than Coco who is just a knock-out and impossible to keep your eyes off. He has a way of stealing every scene he's in especially when he runs into some buddies in his brother's favorite NYC bar. The important thing about this film is that it really gets to the core of truth without preaching or pontificating. And this is rarely as successful as it is here.

la_montespan This film doesn't even deserve one star.The writing is horrendous, the plot is directionless and the story has been done and done much much better. Visually it's hideous.Basically it's the old case of "the original stuff wasn't good and the good stuff wasn't original" except there really wasn't anything good at all about this film.The character of Dorian must be one of the most painful protagonists ever. He's not endearingly weird or even dorkily cute, he's just hopeless and the brother isn't much better, he just has better social skills. There's no character arc at all. You just hope Dorian dies alone and his brother has a drug overdose. Maybe he did actually, I don't even remember.It's not comedy-drama because it's not funny and it's not a drama because it's laughable. Tragic tragic tragic and completely cringeworthy.

rjlafont Dorian is a young gay man just discovering himself. The story is not unique, the father is hostile to him, the mother afraid to speak out and help her son, the older brother in denial, but there is a twist. Through much introspection Dorian discovers that he is OK just the way he his, that he is not the freakish social outcast his father tells him he is. Step by agonizing step Dorian finds his own true path and while never easy he does prevail.Most independent gay theme movies try hard but never seem to get it all together. This one is different. The story is well written, clear and concise. The images and thematic flow work well and don't show the usual artifacts of a low budget. The actor are all very competent with the exception of the lead Michael McMillian who brings a very special something. Beyond being cuter than a "bug's ear" he has a presence that jumps out of the small screen. His comedic timing is startling for an actor so young. His ability to make you feel the emotions of the character in serious scenes is just as amazing. The strongest single part of this great little movie is the actor that plays Dorian.

MooreaMaguire The film captures some of the experiences that can be part of people's coming out: arrival at the point where you just don't care what other people think of you anymore; falling for the first mature gay person you meet who treats you as a human being (his therapist); temporarily going back into the closet, only to change your mind; the internalized homophobia of going out of your way to appear straight; sleeping with someone you're not terribly attracted to just because they're the only person you know of who's available and gay; the interactive relationship between the honesty that impels you to come out as gay and the honesty in other compartments of your life; family members not wanting to listen to you or to take your sexual orientation seriously (his dad); family members wanting you to hide and deny your sexual orientation (his brother); family members initially freaking out but gradually changing their attitude (his brother); family members wanting to have a relationship with you but trying to avoid the gay part of your life (his brother); the fact that coming out is a long process that keeps coming back to you, not a confession that lasts as long as it takes you to tell people you're gay. The 3-dimensional characters were Dorian, his brother, his first boyfriend, his dad (though exaggerated in the service of satire), and his oblivious and out-of-the-loop mom (who shatters this characterization at the end, revealing her wisdom). Dorian is not sexually objectified or portrayed as innocent. Rather, his character is developed as that of a smart-assed but courageous, realistically awkward adolescent boy.Another theme was the overlap between being different and being gay. Looking at the film summary and user comments (most of which I agree with), some people seem to have misinterpreted, in my opinion, what this film says about being gay. It is one boy's coming out story, not every gay man's coming out story. Not all gay people were always different. Likewise, not all high school students who deviate from normality are gay. Another phenomenon in the user comments was the idea that just because this was a good film, the actors and director are going to rise to fame. News flash: there are many, many talented and hard-working actors and directors who never get a big break.Straight people (99% of whom I've observed to be ignorant of the myriad issues LGBT people go through in coming out and the fact that these issues are caused by our heterosexist, homophobic culture) should see this movie.Dorian Blues doesn't stray from Hollywood's typical portrayal of a gay coming out story of a white, middle class boy who likes dancing and isn't good at sports (not to mention that one of its two black characters is absurdly dehumanized for a cheap plot advancement), nor does it overcome Hollywood's aversion to three-dimensional female roles, but it doesn't pretend to be anything it isn't. Furthermore, its portrayal of the preciousness of sibling relationships despite gaps in understanding motivated me to write a letter to my brother. More than anything, its message is of the harmfulness of our rules for how men should be. We often think of women as being the ones who are short-shifted by gender roles, but this film shows how they hurt all of us.The Spanish-subtitled version is called "El Secreto de Dorian."