As children, Shane was an unruly elementary student, who may have suffered from Attention Deficit Disorder. While none of the other children would allow Shane to join their groups, one student by the name Jonathan befriended Shane. From that moment they became best friends.

Fast forward a decade later and now the best friends are in their last year of high school. Shane considers Jonathan his best friend, while Jonathan is coming to terms with his untold feelings he holds for Shane.

A new student by the name of Carrie enters their high school. She falls for Jonathan as they take a trip together to Taipei, but of course Jonathan is in love with one person and one person only. When Jonathan makes it known that he doesn’t feel for Carrie in the same way she feels for him, their romance comes to an amicable end. Shane meanwhile takes an interest in Carrie and they start a relationship that they keep secret from Jonathan.

Eternal Summer is a gay themed movie, that should relate well with heterosexuals and reverberated deftly with gay males. I found the “bizarre love triangle” premise to be compelling, though the movie suffered from a few faults that tempered my enthusiasm of the movie a few notches.

The cast was the most compelling aspect of the movie, with each role seeming to be tailor made for each actor. “Jonathan,” played by Bryant Chang, perfectly played the role of a young teen grappling with his sexual identity. The manner in which he would withdraw within himself could only bring about sympathy and compassion from the audience. “Shane,” the straight jock (or was he?), was perhaps even better in his role, simply because of the unpredictable nature of his character.

Finally, Kate Yeung was perfect in her role as the girl that understood the two best friends better than the best friends understood each other. The manner in which she picked out Jonathan’s true sexual orientation seemed utterly real and the way she handled her relationships with both characters was done deftly.

What knocked my enthusiasm down for the movie was the slower pacing that hit the film once the students went on to college. The movie itself was only 95 minutes, but the last 45 minutes or so seemed extremely slow. I would guess this was due to the director, Leste Chen, concentrating more on mood and ambiance during the second half, while leaving the story to languish down a predictable path. Granted the camerawork was good, with the lens often tinted a dark blue or green hue, but the story itself seemed to suffer for the sake of setting up these types of moments. Style over substance? Also, the soundtrack featured classical music, which fit the movie well in the beginning, but became more obnoxious as the movie progressed. The movie started out with quiet, introspective piano pieces, but during the second half, louder piano pieces filled with minor keys where blared out, giving off the feeling that the movie was screaming “this is an artfilm!” My response during those scenes were….yuck.

Certainly you could do a lot worse than checking out “Eternal Summer.” The movie is thoughtful, dreamy, features amazing performances by all three leads, but only has an average script that is made worse by the slower pacing in the second half. Again this felt a little like self-indulgence upon the directors part, emphasizing mood & ambiance over the development of the story. The soundtrack wasn’t as bad as “After This Our Exile” but it did get close in certain scenes in the second half. Still, the movie is worthwhile to check out because of those those wonderful performances by the three main leads. A few lines from New Order’s “Bizarre Love Triangle” sums up perfectly what these characters felt :

“I’m not sure what this could mean
I don’t think you’re what you seem
I do admit to myself
That if I hurt someone else
Then I’ll never see just what we’re meant to be
Every time I see you falling
I get down on my knees and pray
I’m waiting for that final moment
You’ll say the words that I can’t say”