"There is undoubtedly a compelling human drama within I Want Your Love"

There is a belief that at the heart of every story is present a great idea. Travis Matthews’ I Want Your Love counters this belief, in what is a simple human drama, which tells the story of Jesse (Jesse Metzger) who is forced to return home to the Midwest due to financial constraints. Friends and ex-lovers gather one night to say their final goodbyes, before which and during Matthews’ explores male intimacy through Jesse’s impending departure and bittersweet feelings about leaving San Francisco, his home away from home.

Human dramas and character pieces are capable of filling a void left by the absence of a great idea at the heart of a film, but the drama needs to be nurtured by a skilled writer director, and placed in the hands of the right actor or actress who will become the incarnation of that character.

Unfortunately I Want Your Love feels a decidedly conflicted effort. One questions during its brief 72 minute running time whether Matthews is attempting to create a provocative piece of indie cinema through the presentation of graphic onscreen sex? Or is he in fact trying to create an introspective tale of identity, intimacy, and confronting one’s desires? In fact he may be trying to do both, though inevitably the sex scenes will compel the question for some of just when do you cross over from drama into pornography?

I Want Your Love may present graphic sex, but it is not pornography. It is not presented for sexual arousal or personal gratification. In the case of I Want Your Love it is a means to punctuate the emotional intimacy Matthews sets out to explore.

Following a trend in recent film and television, under Matthews’ direction, the sex in I Want Your Love comes across as gratuitous. Consequently the emotional intimacy which should offset the visceral images of sexual intercourse inevitably lack weight and emerge as pretentious interludes within a film that is best described as performance art of a sexual nature.

The performances for the most part lack conviction, though whether this is a fault of the writing it is difficult to determine. The most disconcerting concern is Matthews’ inability to explore the depths of Jesse’s feelings of angst that pertain to his impending departure. There are moments of insightful dialogue about the forging of one’s identity, listening introspectively to oneself, as well as the need to find a place one can call home and the human need to belong. These moments are few and far between and the film overall lacks the equilibrium between emotional and physical intimacy.

There is undoubtedly a compelling human drama within I Want Your Love, but Matthews struggles to draw it out, leaving it to come across as a superficial, provocative and one might say pretentious exploration of male intimacy.

With the referencing of the San Francisco art scene and performance art, it would have been an interesting creative choice had Matthews decided to make I Want Your Love a silent film. His camera strikes such a chord that it comes across as more emotionally expressive than his dialogue, the cinematography capable of discovering and presenting an emotional weight in the image alone. This is a rare skill, and is perhaps what I Want Your Love should be celebrated for. Matthews is a director of the image, though his reliance on gratuitous sex undermines cause for celebration here.