It seems a long time coming for “Love, Simon” to be the first gay teen movie from a major film studio. While I don’t think I’m necessarily the target audience (as a far-from-teenage gay man), I really wanted to see it.
I’ve watched a lot of gay films in my time, including many at lesbian and gay film festivals (back then, they weren’t so inclusive to say LGBTIQ). The reason why the festivals existed is that we wanted to see representations of ourselves in movies. We wanted to see our histories portrayed. Mainstream LGBT films were rare, and we’d watch the arthouse films, the films from smaller studios, the foreign films with gay lives and themes.
But they were all so serious. Thinking back to being a gay teenager and a gay man in my early twenties, I resented that I was recommended to delve into subtexts: to look back to camp films with Bette Davis and older films with possible gay characters. In the meantime, I watched films like the Breakfast Club and Pretty in Pink, and made them my own: I celebrated outsiders without those outsiders clearly identifying themselves. And while I loved discovering a gay culture, and gay characters in films like My Beautiful Launderette or Pedro Almodovar’s films, I really wish that my young gay self could have snuck into see a film like “Love, Simon”.
And though many of the more visible films in the last decades have been gritty and realistic and had important things to say – “Philadelphia”, “Brokeback Mountain” and the various films or even TV shows to address HIV and its consequences – I haven’t seen something so sweet, plain and mainstream.
Of course, a film like this couldn’t really have existed before now. This film really is of a moment when there is enough LGBT visibility and acceptance that a sweet, fairly chaste film about a gay teenager could be made, where friends, family and schoolmates are accepting, where bullies are minor. So, hurrah for that.
And while the film was a bit too perfect and tension-free, Simon’s family being ridiculously well-off (and accepting and good-looking) and the sentiments and situations felt a bit conventional, I thought the script was funny and well-paced, and the actors believable, honest and charismatic.
And I remember being Simon: the struggles to come out, telling my first friend I was gay, the desire to express myself and confess myself and to make a connection.. with someone. As Simon wonders who else could be gay, and could that gay person be attracted to him, or was he attracted to that person, I remembered that boy in myself. So regardless of surface, I found an emotional truth in Simon’s coming out and fantasies and hopes, and I found that truth in other parts of the script: the characters somewhat muted reactions to situation seemed more true to life than to sitcoms. When Simon gets in trouble with his best friends, it’s not because they don’t accept him, but because he had behaved badly towards them.
My guess is that my more cynical and world-weary lesbian and gay friends will find this movie far too sweet and simple for their taste, but I loved “Love, Simon” and hope that it’s a hit.
I think it’s a perfect place to dine before a show at the Sydney Theatre Company, and my pal Lai Heng said she felt like eating fish and chips before we went to see Nakkiah Lui’s Black is the New White (a great new Australian comedy infused but not weighed down my interesting comments on culture, race and Aboriginality).
love.fish is apparently the second restaurant from the owners who are promoting sustainable seafood done well. Starting off with a tasty gin and tonic with a slice of canteloupe (not affected by the listeria outbreak at the time), we each had some fish, sharing a big chips ($9, a generous portion), and a side of brussel sprouts ($12, absolutely delicious).
While I chose the tiger flathead fillets ($23) and Lai Heng chose the eastern school whiting (also $23), both in a beer batter, we actually couldn’t tell that much difference between the fish… but it didn’t matter.
I think it was all about the batter: crisp and light, the fish also tasted delicate and light.
And the fennel and mozzarella gratin was amazing. So moreish. Add to this a simple salad and we had a lovely, easy meal before heading over to see Jens Lekman play at the Oxford Art Factory. Apologies for the quality of the photos. Sometimes the light just isn’t right for my iPhone. 
I like a good concept and Jimmy Blanco is both playful and brash, announcing itself as a hybrid of Latin America and Australia, and a lot of fun. But branding wasn’t enough to save Jimmy on Friday night.
We came for the Pisco Sours. And they were very good, served in a champagne flute. Love me a Pisco Sour. But otherwise, it was a bit of a series of disasters, even though the charming manager did his best to try to save the day. They had messed up our reservation, so we sat right at the front, at a non-table. The manager gave us a complimentary first round of drinks for that, which was kind (and valuable, as the Pisco Sours are $17). The two young waitresses were very inexperienced. Sweet but it looked like it might have been their first days on the job. It was really hard to get their attention for the first half of the meal, when the restaurant was busy, and then they hovered over us during the second half, uncomfortably.
The beef enchiladas were very tasty. The ceviche was served on a bed of rocket. I thought the lime was too harsh, but the Chilean at the table liked it (and she would be a much better judge of ceviche than I). The guacamole was pretty delicious with chunky avocados. But when we asked for more corn chips to finish it, we were told we’d have to order a completely new dish. No extra corn chips!
We wanted to split a main; there were only two on offer. Beef nachos and some ribs. We ordered the ribs… and it took the manager quite a while to come and tell us: there are no ribs. The menu is pretty casual and other than the snacky type things offers burgers and burritos. Two of us had a buttermilk chicken burger which was… fine. A bit plain.
Also had some jalapeño poppers, which I thought were dee-licious. Hard to go wrong with deep-fried things with cheese. At the end, trying to pay, their printer was broken, and they couldn’t bring us the bill either. To be fair, the food was OK and the pisco sours were great, and the manager really did try to salvage the night. But I think in this tough Surry Hills market that it will be, very much like the section of Foveaux Street that they’re located on, an uphill climb.
But I went for pork on rice noodles, which looked like it was going to be not much (from the containers in the counter) but when assembled came out as a beautiful combination of vegies and spring rolls and meat and noodles and a healthy dollop of chili sauce, almost but not too hot for me. I really thought it was delicious and fresh and wonderful.
But not annoying enough to not want to come back here and try more homestyle, fresh, tasty Vietnamese food. It’s only open for lunches, and for you design mavens, Dinosaur Design’s discount store, Extinct, is just up the block and they’ve got some great stock at the moment…
If you check out the slightly tricky graphics of the signage for Shift Eatery you’ll note that the feel is contemporary, with a technological edge. This is not how, in the past, you’d try to sell people on vegetarian (or vegan) food. But it’s evident they’re trying to *shift* people’s ideas and consciousness away from old-fashioned restaurants with names like Green Goddess Harvest Bounty Cafe or We Don’t Kill Animals Lentil Shack to something else. Or perhaps they’re just fitting in with the Surry Hills hipster vibe.
My pal loved his Big Bowl, which has brown rice with quinoa, sweet potato, smokey beans, greens, slaw, cherry tomatoes, sauerkraut, turmeric hummus, lime and tahini dressing.
I was too full (and in a bit of a rush) but the desserts counter looked scrumptious. We’ll be back for dessert.
The only strange thing was that the kitchen is huge (and somewhat empty) and all of us patrons were crammed in together at small tables close together. While it would be a bit better in good weather when people could use the outdoors seating, Shift Eatery seems more popular than it has space for patrons!