Eighteen is a 2005 Canadian drama film written and directed by openly gay Vancouver filmmaker Richard Bell (“Two Brothers” / “Two Brothers and Two Others”) which centers on Pip Anders (Paul Anthony) & his grandfather, Private Jason Anders (Brendan Fletcher) as the gift of a cassette tape allows Pip to experience his grandfather’s eighteenth birthday as Pip experiences his own. Both of these central characters are straight but both storylines feature dignified respectful relationships with other men, one of whom, Clark (Clarence Sponagle), is a gay hustler.
At the time I first saw this, I mostly knew Brendan Fletcher from a series of queer inclusive films, including: “The Five Senses” (1999), “Rollercoaster” (1999), “Anatomy of a Hate Crime” (2001), “Touch” (2022) & “Everyone (2004)”, which is what caught my eye at the video store. When I picked it up I also saw that the film featured Thea Gill (from the second iteration of “Queer as Folk”), with openly queer legends Alan Cumming and Ian McKellen. I rented it and enjoyed it. I bought it for my collection, which I finally revisited on November 7, 2024.
However, I wasn’t feeling well at the time and I didn’t make a lot of notes or write anything resembling a review. What I remember is that I enjoyed this just as much as I did the first time, which was a lot. It is a very quirky, very emotional, very interesting film. And someday I’ll have to give it another go so I write something more substantial than this.