Akron

2017 • 87 minutes

About this movie

Benny and Christopher, college freshmen, meet playing football and begin a relationship, with the support of their family and friends. As their love for each other grows, a past tragic event involving their mothers comes to light, testing their relationship and threatening to divide Benny's close-knit family. With the beauty of rural Ohio as its backdrop, Benny's emotional journey examines his own feelings and his family's ability to come to terms with the past. AKRON is a sensitive and unique independent film that puts a progressive, Midwestern spin on a classic family drama.

Ratings and reviews

I have been waiting for this movie to be released for a long while, and have been following it through post-production and film festivals. All I knew of the film was from the trailer and the few BTS photos released on the Akron Facebook page. I never expected this storyline. I expected an easy story about two boys falling in love, and I knew that there would be some sort of a struggle, but I never once imagined it would be *this.* I am so in awe of this story. The score is beautiful and does a fantastic job transitioning from scene to scene, moment to moment. While there are a few occasional strange phrases, the writing was lovely. There were so many beautiful quiet moments. This is a definite must watch. It's so thrilling to be able to watch a queer film that has absolutely nothing to do with coming out or coming to terms with one's sexuality. I wish films like this were more common: we really got a slice of life from these two boys. Akron brought something new to the table: it told a story about two people falling in love whose pasts are intertwined in the most horrific way. But it used two men--two gay college kids--to tell that story. Something that rarely happens.

If it was possible to rate this more than five stars I would do it. I think the mother could use a tad bit more facial expressions. She was a bit like Kristen Stewart looking constipated but other than that she did a fabulous job. I love that it starts off with the tragedy and doesn't go further into detail until mid movie and then fill us in further and had just total drama after that. It is also weird to have any LGBT movie where families are supportive and it was great to see that and have the problem be something else and not because of bigotry and ignorance. It does leave some questions at the end that I want to be answered but man was this one wild ride of emotions.

Love, love this movie. An lgbtq+ movie that doesn't focus on their sexuality rather their strength and ability to persever through struggles and hardships. It has a compelling storyline, but I feel as though it was too short. The movie did not give the characters chance to develop and build relationships with each other and I feel some of the characters were just an after thought, minimum script and little interactions with the main characters ( i.e. Julie). All in all a good watch.