This film is based on real events! " proclaim the written introductions of many "true life" movies, and Amnesia; the James Brighton enigma is no different. The story itself is fascinating-. In 1998, in the early morning hours after Montreal’s massive Black & Blue circuit party benders, a man awoke in an alley, in the buff, with no memory of who he was or where he came from. He knew only one thing: that he was gay. Eventually, after a long media campaign, family members from the southern U.S. would identify him acc
urately. Amnesia tells fictional events that could have led to this weird event, and it would have made a more interesting film under a different director and certainly with a more charismatic leading man. However, the film did have something interesting to say about how many gay men and women totally reinvent themselves when they come out , and how they create "urban families" where support and acceptance can be sought in safety away from often painful "pre-gay" lives.The gay film festival was awash with gay locals................NOT!..... a few lipstick lesbians sat defiantly on the back row and as usual the grey hairs were dotted around in their sensible coats....humm very off the wall!
