{"id":508,"date":"2011-05-16T13:13:28","date_gmt":"2011-05-16T18:13:28","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.glbtrt.ala.org\/reviews\/?p=508"},"modified":"2011-05-16T13:13:28","modified_gmt":"2011-05-16T18:13:28","slug":"the-four-faced-liar","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.glbtrt.ala.org\/reviews\/the-four-faced-liar\/","title":{"rendered":"The Four-Faced Liar"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Four-Faced Liar<\/em>. Dir. Jacob Chase. With Marja Lewis Ryan, Emily Peck, Todd Kubrak, Liz Osborn, Danial Carlise. Wolfe Video, 2010. DVD. 87 min.<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"The Four-Faced Liar<\/em> follows a group of college students as they navigate the complexities of their relationships with one another. Bridget (played by writer Marja Lewis Ryan) is a chain-smoking, blunt lesbian player who names her conquests after days of the week. She finds herself flirting with and drawn to Molly (Emily Peck), a straight girl who is in a comfortable relationship with her boyfriend. Adding to the dynamic is Bridget\u2019s straight roommate Trip, who is navigating fidelity to his girlfriend while also being a player at heart.<\/p>\n

The Four-Faced Liar<\/em> is better than many of its independent lesbian film predecessors, but that does not say much. In its effort to be honest, the film makes it difficult to like any of the characters, including the abrasive protagonist who is initially seen reading on the toilet with the door open. It is hard to understand Molly\u2019s attraction to Bridget. Unfortunately, the sudden switch from Molly and Greg being a seemingly happy couple to him being an antagonist and resorting to the old \u201cwhat do you give her in bed that I cannot\u201d argument breaks the genuine honesty the film strives for.<\/p>\n

That being said, the film fills many voids that increase its merit for the LGBT audience. Bridget\u2019s character, while coarse, is refreshing. She embodies an imperfect sort of lesbian flirt that is written realistically, but is not often seen in movies. Additionally, the film features a friendship between a straight male and lesbian that does not cheapen itself through sexual tension, reminiscent of DEBS<\/em>. And it oozes with sexuality and features some passionate, well filmed depictions of lesbian sex that are hard to find outside The L Word<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Perhaps unrealistically, Four-Faced Liar<\/em> does not show sexual confusion of the initially straight girl confronting undeniable attraction to a lesbian (e.g. Imagine Me & You, <\/em>which the film channels in narrative and its cover art), instead focusing on character dynamics and issues of infidelity. It is also interesting that Molly pursues a committed relationship with Bridget instead of the other way around.<\/p>\n

Ryan\u2019s writing is melodramatic in portions, but the acting is well done. Director Jacob Chase clearly has an eye for cinematic symmetry and balance, featuring many close-ups of two of the characters looking at the camera to indicate the sense of examining these characters\u2019 lives. The camera adds to the narrative and helps forgive some of the spotty writing.<\/p>\n

Ultimately, I would recommend this film for public libraries with larger collections. Though it will inevitably be compared to the more mainstream Imagine Me & You<\/em>, each film offers a unique depiction of a similar storyline and both are worthy to sit in the same collection.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Reviewed by, Tracy Gossage
\nMLIS Student at Dominican University<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Four-Faced Liar. Dir. Jacob Chase. With Marja Lewis Ryan, Emily Peck, Todd Kubrak, Liz Osborn, Danial Carlise. Wolfe Video, 2010. DVD. 87 min. The Four-Faced Liar follows a group of college students as they navigate the complexities of their relationships with one another. Bridget (played by writer Marja Lewis Ryan) is a chain-smoking, blunt […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1167,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[27,34,22],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.glbtrt.ala.org\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/508"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.glbtrt.ala.org\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.glbtrt.ala.org\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.glbtrt.ala.org\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1167"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.glbtrt.ala.org\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=508"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.glbtrt.ala.org\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/508\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.glbtrt.ala.org\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=508"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.glbtrt.ala.org\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=508"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.glbtrt.ala.org\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=508"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}