Review: ‘I Carry You With Me’

I was undecided as to whether I was going to review the movie “I Carry You With Me.” I only review and blog about things I like. Keep reading…

At the beginning, I did like the movie and then I didn’t. Sometimes, I thought it took too long to make a point and not always interesting. But I stuck with it. I am glad I did. By the movie’s end, I was a fan and engrossed in the plot, which was based upon a true story.

In fact, it’s been a few weeks since I saw the movie and it still comes to mind every so often. It takes a lot to have a movie play in your head on a continuous basis after you’ve seen it.

But it’s a story that we all need to hear. The title can be interpreted in so many ways. Does adult Ivan carry with him the memories of his struggles as a young gay Mexican lad which have affected his adult life? Or does he carry with me the connection he made in Mexico with the love of his life Gerardo that he leaves behind to start a better life in America?

Both aspects are explored in this movie that shows the struggles of growing up gay where acceptance does not come easily.

The bond between the two characters – which is based upon real people – is strengthened at the beginning of the movie so that we can relate more as an audience when they are separated. We also join in the hope of a reunion between these men that seem perfectly matched.

Director/co-writer Heidi Ewing, making her narrative debut, is able to bring such realness to the story and movie that, I wonder but couldn’t back it up with fact, it seems the later-in-life Gerardo is the actual REAL GERARDO. In researching, I couldn’t find that to be true or not. So I will just chalk it up to great casting, make-up and acting.

If you need immediate gratification to like a movie, this isn’t it. But let it simmer a bit and you will carry the story and images for a long time to come.

Now showing in San Francisco and other major cities and expands to other theatres July 9 and 16.