Pit Stop (2013)

i must have seen a different film!!

Fun premise, good actors, bad writing. This film seemed to have potential at the beginning but it quickly devolves into a trite action film. Ultimately it's very boring.

I think this is a new genre that they're all sort of working their way through it and haven't got all the kinks worked out yet but it's a genre that works for me.

I enjoyed watching this film and would recommend other to give it a try , (as I am) but this movie, although enjoyable to watch due to the better than average acting fails to add anything new to its storyline that is all too familiar to these types of movies.

Am 56 and was searching for gay themed movies on Youtube when I came across this move. I have long dreamed of the type of gay movie I would like to see made..and this fit the bill in every way. You have two brilliant actors playing masculine gay men in small town America. You see an expertly crafted display of a universal theme - the need to be loved and with the one you love. The movie was low budget, but the script and performances were real and made up for any "cheapness" in the look of the movie. Although I didn't need to see the intense sex scene near the end, it was well made, convincing and served a purpose - to show how the sex between these men was more than just raw sex and a one night stand. I, too, was left wanting to see more of the budding relationship form between these two gay men...but was satisfied that the ending implied there were better times to come for these two men.

Small quiet film about a few gay men in a small town in Texas. Each of their stories, some totally unrelated, until Gabe and Ernesto meet. Excellent quiet plain talk movie. Real people problems and lives all at the same time, but overwhelming, a few stories that end in one.If you want 'young' gays from big cities, big gay communities, stereotypes, lots or any sex scenes = ACTION, clichés, hot handsome 'model's, then this is not a film for you.If you want real people out there in the small towns that live real lives in a different place, real REAL conversations, situations, relationships, etc., Not a soundtrack from beginning to end of House Beat "Gay" music, then you could consider trying this movie.The director, Yen Tan, should be a giveaway to a style of film. NOT Hollywood, Not gay films for the young and horny, but a film about real people, other people, etc.For this type or style of movie, this one is great!

Pit Stop is a wonderful new film from director Yen Tan. It is the story of two mid-thirtyish gay men, Gabe and Ernesto, living separate but not totally dissimilar low key working class lives in the same Texan small town. Separately each man is yearning for love and emotional fulfillment while respectively struggling with his daily life and relationships. The focus is on Gabe and Ernesto but everyone in the film is a real person with a story to tell. All are portrayed in a thoughtful and empathetic way with no one casually discarded for the sake of storytelling expediency. This is a true character study of people finding their way in life and love and one cares about what will happen to them.Gabe is divorced but trying to sustain his family for the sake of his young daughter. He has recently been rejected by a male lover who is married and now moved away. Ernesto is trying to end a two year relationship that has fallen apart and has no future. At the same time he is dutifully visiting a previous lover who lies comatose in a convalescent home following a car accident. Both men want more but their personal situations and the small town environment constrain them from being who they are and achieving the love and intimacy they long for and deserve. Both men still want to be wanted.The film is beautifully made and the ensemble cast, led by Bill Heck as Gabe and Marcus DeAnda as Ernesto, is top notch. Pit Stop is a moving film that deserves a wide audience. Fans of Tan's earlier film, Ciao, will particularly like Pit Stop.

Recent Spirit Award nominees have cropped up in the past few years including 'Keep the Lights On' and 'In the Family', sensitively-made films on a gay theme. Now in 2014, we have 'Pit Stop', which is also as good as these fine predecessors. 'Pit Stop' focuses on two blue collar workers from Texas, Gabe and Ernesto (played by an excellent Bill Heck and Marcus DeAnda, respectively). We see each of their stories for most of the film separately, and note that both are getting over failed relationships.In the case of Ernesto, his ex-boyfriend, Luis, is still living with him. He initially tells Luis he can take as much time as he wants to move out but changes his mind when the ex-boyfriend starts dating other men and keeps him up, while watching late night TV. Ernesto also visits another ex-boyfriend, who's in a coma, after being critically hurt in a car accident.Gabe's situation is different. He's still living with his wife and young daughter but no longer sleeps with her. He recently broke up with a man and now is dating again. In a notable scene, Gabe goes out on a date with a teacher—who falls asleep on their date watching a foreign film in a movie theater. Gabe drives the date home, who apologizes for not wanting to see him again, as he makes it clear that he hasn't gotten over his last relationship.There's also a sub-plot involving Gabe's wife, Shannon, who goes out with a co-worker, Winston, on a date. Shannon, desperate for physical companionship, gets drunk and puts the moves on Winston, who isn't ready to get physical on a first date. Sure it's possible that Gabe's sexual rejection of his wife would lead her to want to have sexual contact with a man she's probably not that attracted to (Gabe tells Winston at one point that Shannon isn't attracted to heavy set men). But usually, the roles are reversed: women are wary of having sex on a first date, especially when it involves a man they don't find that attractive.While the pacing of the film is fairly slow, the interactions between the characters ring true. Another excellent scene is when Luis has left and calls Ernesto on the phone, from New Mexico. Luis feels he's lost but Ernesto tries to convince him that he'll eventually get it together, if he just applies himself (like going back to school). At the same time, Ernesto makes it clear that he doesn't want Luis to return.We see the connection between Gabe and Ernesto at film's end, as they meet through online dating. They're basically instantly attracted to one another as they recognize that they have both been trying to fill a similar void, in their lives. 'Pit Stop' is a low key drama which, as I pointed out above, proceeds rather lugubriously. Nonetheless, for the patient film-goer, you will be rewarded by excellent acting, direction and characters that seem to jump off the page, of real life.