TheScholarGypsy While yet a young man still gaining experience through his own relationships, Quentin Lee has managed to produce a drama that explores the many subtleties and conflicting possibilities of relationships with the insight of someone twice his age. As an older gay male in a long-term committed relationship, I particularly appreciated Lee's mature take on the interplay between every young gay man's deep desire for a "perfect" relationship and the (maturer) realization that (perhaps) perfection lies in working on one's existing relationship. Yet--another sign of the film's maturity--this conclusion is not dictated, but merely suggested as one of several possible outcomes. As others have noted, the film is slow at first to engage the viewer, but once it does it will leave a lasting impression.

Bishonen (may contain spoilers)This film's earnestness and sincerity is genuine; this dv project was inspired by the director's breakup of a long-term relationship and the overall tone of the resulting work feels more than a bit confessional. Personal exorcisms on film should be approached with more than a bit of wariness, and "Drift" demonstrates this fact precisely. It's hard to argue with the source of Quentin Lee's work as it's clearly rooted in true events and genuine emotions; the problem is the resulting feature that is an almost total embarrassment. Lee's script is full of trite howlers which would make a first-year film student cringe; in dialogue which is clearly meant to be "revealing", the characters seem to speak in bumper stickers, i.e. "why do we live when living is painful?", functioning as mouthpieces for Lee's trite and facile observations about relationships. It feels raw, but the entirely wrong kind of rawness; the script's college-sophomore dialectic feels more like a long one-sided conversation with someone who drones on and on in an incessant monologue which has long lost both emotional resonance and entertainment value but the performer is convinced that he's discovered something new and meaningful, so every word must be cherished protracted and repeated incessantly. Characterizations are facile and undeveloped; the lead character's preoccupation with serial killers is supposed to indicate some hip and edgy fascination with the dark side, but Lee doesn't go anywhere with this notion after bringing it up. His haphazard throw-it-on-the-wall-and-hope-it-sticks approach to characterization makes the serial killer plot point, as well as most other aspects of the script, come off as shallow and affected. Perhaps some distance and time would have generated a more original, relevant videomaking approach. The three different endings don't feel so much like a revelation of destinies than a tired, gimmicky attempt to liven up a limp and pretentious script, neither fun or touching. At least "Run Lola Run" had some kinetic style to back up its gimmicky narrative tricks; in "Drift", the first section just lies there. Relationship Outcomes #2 and #3 are no more relevant or interesting. The ending, as the central character strolls on the beach and reflects on All He Has Learned, feels even more pointless when you consider that nothing coming before had much insight to begin with. If "Drift" is what we have to look forward to every time Lee has a breakup, let's hope the term "long term relationship" has entered his lexicon.

amwarren I found Drift to be a highly unsatisfying and poorly put-together movie. I did not enjoy Drift at all. I thought that the movie was poorly written, acted and directed. I also am not a fan of the use of Digital Video to tell this story. Since D.V. is such an intimate medium, better actors and a better script are needed to make this movie successful. I appreciate anyone who has the courage and creativity to make a feature film. I applaud your effort, I just don't agree with the praise this movie has received.

Esprix Just rented the DVD with friends and found it to be a thoughtful, insightful, delightful, and touching film.Sometimes trite or cliche, perhaps, but Ryan (R. T. Lee) could very well be the current "gay everyman" - happy, but not happy; settled, but unsettled; content, but incontent. (OK, the whole "death is romantic" sub-theme was just a little creepy, but its' purpose was to help you realize that it really *was* hard for Joel to understand Ryan, and that possibly only Leo could; I still would have gone with something a little less "visceral," to use the movie's favorite - and overused - adjective.) And the "what if" scenario of three different possibilities was a great way to flesh out what we all wish we could do - see the reaction to our actions and figure out if it's what we really want or not.Some wonderful acting in this film - Lee is certainly comfortable in his role (although sometimes I felt the dialogue was a little rushed); Greyson Dayne as his boyfriend, Joel, also had some great scenes (particularly when Leo tries to bed him); Jonathan Roessler seemed a natural as the geeky Leo, and had a very natural flow of dialogue; and big kudos to Kudos to T. Jerram Young as Dane for the *great* pick-up scene in the bar - we all laughed out loud!I think the reason this film will stay with me is because I did see a lot of myself in Ryan - searching to be understood, leaving a relationship because of it, not really knowing what will make him happy (until, perhaps - at least in one ending - it's too late). I plan on buying the DVD and adding it to my movie library.