Movie Monday: Big Eden

It's time for a brand new feature on the blog - Movie Monday! Each week I'll recap and review a LGBT-themed movie. Some you may have already seen, others you may not. I'm also open to suggestions for future reviews and recommendations on movies you've enjoyed - always looking to expand my gay movie catalogue.

The inaugural review goes to a movie I found a couple of months ago, a gem from 2000 called Big Eden.

Here is the synopsis from the movie's listing on IMDB:

Big Eden is a tiny fictional town in northwestern Montana, as Preston Sturges or Frank Capra might have envisioned it. Timber and Cowboy country. This is the story of Henry Hart, a successful New York Artist, who returns to the town of his childhood to care for the ailing grandfather who raised him. Back in Big Eden, Henry must come to terms with his relationship to Dean Stewart, his best friend from high School, as well as the object of his unrequited love. All these years Henry has been pining for a dream image of Dean from back then. This is also the story of Pike Dexter, the shy, unassuming Native American owner of the town's general store, who is as surprised as anyone to find himself falling in love with Henry. The people of Big Eden conspire and attempt to bring Henry and Pike together.

My review: Henry's relationship with his grandfather Sam, whom he calls Sampa, is lovely and sweet. I loved the moment when Henry first arrives at Sam's cabin, drops his bag and coat on the ground and runs and jumps off the long dock, simply for the sheer joy of being back at the place he was raised. The character of Pike is both sad and heartwarming; he's so unsure when he's around Henry, yet during the times he's with his friends at the store, he has a dry wit that cracks me up.

Speaking of his friends at the store, they are surprisingly keen to help Pike woo the male object of his affection, as are all the others in this tiny Montana town (did you hear that, Montana??). The Widow Thayer, who at first parades a string of women in front of the single Henry, is an equal-opportunity meddler as she immediately changes tactics to present him to a series of men once she finds out he's gay.

I loved the movie, and it's got the best, most satisfying final scene I could have hoped for. There are a lot of faces you'll recognize here, and I was most excited to realize that Pike was played by Canadian Eric Schweig. I've had a little thing for him since he played Uncas in Last of the Mohicans.

I give Big Eden 9/10 - darn near perfect.