Starring: David Garber, Michael Southworth, Vincent van Hinte, Elijah Olachea
Directors: Kurt Braun, Richard Gayton
Country: USA
In Vietnam 1968, American soldiers Ian (Garber) and John (Southworth) lead their battalion to victory during an intense ambush. But in the days after, the gratitude from their comrades fades as they realise that the pair are a couple. Suffering the animosity of their brothers in arms, the men are divided as the conflict worsens around them.
The rash of war films that followed in the wake of The Thin Red Line in the 90s means that we now have a market that has been saturated with a fairly niche genre. And the canon is pretty full. Love In Country is certainly no Saving Private Ryan, even if placing a gay relationship at its centre is certainly a development on “comradeship”.
Its casting has certainly assembled a group of actors that look the part, but it’s a real shame that their abilities are so low. Wooden acting is highlighted even further by a script that plays on all the tropes of the genre and a score of overdramatic but underwritten orchestral music that is so generic that it feels like it was written by a computer.
If you’re looking for a sweeping love story cast against the backdrop of visceral war, this is not that film. It has all the right components, but budget constraints and a lack of talent have left this little more than a box ticking exercise. Gay war movie? Tick. Kinda.
UK Release: Out now to watch on VOD on Dekkoo.