‘Plainclothes’ Review: Tom Blyth Drama Puts a Personal Spotlight on Gay Male Identity
Set and shot in his hometown of Syracuse, New York, with family members even making cameos, “Plainclothes” is clearly very personal to writer/director Carmen Emmi. It’s much more than its plot synopsis, which tells of a 1990s period piece about an undercover police officer luring gay men into the crime of indecent exposure. In reality, “Plainclothes” is a meditation on the process of accepting oneself even as society and loved ones deem it wrong.
English actor Tom Blyth, most recognizable from the MGM+ series “Billy the Kid” and “The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes,” impresses as Lucas, the cop. Blythe’s performance is an interior one, where what Lucas does is not as important as how he feels inside. Capturing that is a special gift and Blyth delivers. Early on, it’s obvious that Lucas compartmentalizes his own desires with ease while performing his job. After all, he’s done it his whole life. Growing up in a household headed by his Irish father Gus, it was clear that his sexual orientation was not acceptable. And, in case Lucas missed that memo, his mother’s persistent pleas for grandchildren and constant inquiries about his one-time girlfriend spelled it out further. It’s that reality that fuels Lucas’s initial feelings of shame.
Meeting Andrew (an alluring Russell Tovey from HBO’s “Looking”) starts a personal evolution. Lucas’s relationship with Andrew develops in passing. A shared phone number, especially as Lucas is grieving a huge personal loss, completely changes both men’s lives. For Lucas, who has shared his desires with his ex-girlfriend Emily (a comforting Amy Forsyth, familiar to some as Carrie Astor in “The Gilded Age”), it’s a huge step. And although Andrew is far more experienced sexually than Lucas and appears more open, he too is hiding.
Emmi doesn’t just rely on Blyth and Tovey, as well as the talent of his other actors, to deepen the emotional impact of “Plainclothes,” his debut film. He also leans on his below-the-line team, particularly his cinematographer Ethan Palmer (Taylor Swift’s “Folklore: The Long Pond Sessions”) and editor Erik Vogt-Nilsen, to complete that mission. With those two, Emmi creates a visual language for the film that enhances the performances. Handheld cameras capture an intimacy that goes beyond the flesh and peers into the soul. Palmer also gives the film a moody look that, thanks to Vogt-Nilsen, weaves in and out of reality, giving Lucas a pensive presence that captures his thoughts and feelings as tangibly as his actions.
Much like a memorable band’s first album, Emmi has spent a lifetime writing “Plainclothes.” Highlighting landmarks from his childhood and his Central New York origins, Emmi weaves a personal testimony into something that becomes a marker of culture. Here Emmi shows what the reality for gay men was in the 1990s and suggests what it can be in the time we are in now.
In many LGBTQ films, the emphasis has been placed on making a statement to others. Here, Emmi is most concerned with internal acceptance. And that’s empowering to more than just himself.
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