The opening night of QFest presents the Philadelphia premiere of mono-monikered writer-director Terracino’s poignant comedy-drama, “Elliot Loves,” about the title character — a gay motor-mouthed Dominican growing up in New York City. The film toggles back and forth between Elliot as a kid (Quentin Araujo) struggling with his flaky mother (Elena Goode) and her deadbeat boyfriends, and Elliot as a 21-year-old (Fabio Costaprado), emulating his mother by being attracted to the wrong guys.
Deftly chronicling Elliot’s search for love and validation, this low-budget but heartfelt film is just like its title character — charming, rough around the edges and totally lovable.
In a recent Skype interview, Terracino discussed his film, which he said contains elements from his life, but is “more personal than autobiographical.”
The gregarious filmmaker indicated one significant difference between him and his fictional alter ego right off the bat: “I have nine brothers and sisters, and Elliot is an only child,” he said with a laugh. “Maybe it’s wish fulfillment?”
Terracino dedicated “Elliot Loves” to his two older sisters, Samantha and Lisa, whom he said raised him. The filmmaker admitted that the Ma character is “one part my mother, and one part the mother in ‘I Like It Like That,’” Darnell Martin’s wonderful, underseen 1994 film.
“Samantha said Ma [Elliot’s mother] is my mother, but I think she’s much nicer than my real mother — which is a terrible thing to say!” Like Ma in the film, Terracino’s mother loved “The Price Is Right” and the filmmaker recounts how angry his real mother would get if someone underbid on a Showcase Showdown.
The filmmaker insisted that he relates to Elliot and other characters “situationally,” even if he no longer does Elliot’s sexy and amusing “dance of clean.” He explained, “Elliot’s a lot nicer and more loveable that I am. I’ve dealt a lot with dealing with anger. But we have the same journey.”
That said, Elliot’s boyfriends and relationships in the film are all based on the filmmaker’s experiences. He clarified, “Maybe which end of the experience differs. I’m not Elliot. I was never the perfect guy or boyfriend, but I expected them to be perfect. There’s a word for that: Latino. I grappled my whole life with dealing with the contemporary urban gay scene. I’m very shockable and Elliot is, too. I can be really naïve about what guys’ agendas were. But I could also be really slick and untrustworthy.”
Viewers will relate to Elliot who suffers and is heroic both in his home life with his mother, and in his experiences dating potential boyfriends. “We’ve all loved the wrong person, or couldn’t shut up on a date or didn’t see something coming,” Terracino explained about the universality of his title character, whose heartbreaking experiences are endearing. “Those are the moments where we squirm, and those are the moments that he’s most like us,” Terracino acknowledged.
Viewers of a certain age will also relate to the various references to TV ads and shows young Elliot quotes, such as lines from the credit sequence of “Rhoda.” The filmmaker justified including these nods to popular culture, maintaining that young Elliot escaped his harsh reality as his mom did — through TV. “Gay kids intuitively ingest irony and camp.”
Older Elliot also lives in a fantasy world, projecting his ideal onto various guys he meets. Terracino said he used animation to show adult Elliot’s dream world as “magical, or pre-ordained.” These moments are appealing and viewers will root for Elliot at every turn — even when he makes a bad decision, or something happens that forces him to face reality.
While Elliot has his trials and tribulations, making “Elliot Loves” was a labor of love for the filmmaker, who shot this micro-budget gem over several weekends over the course of a year as he found cast members and secured free locations. Terracino admitted he was originally going to make two films, but he wisely decided to incorporate his ideas about family, sexuality and masculinity into one, and emphasize the Latino ethos. “I wanted to make the most Latino film possible,” he observed.
“Elliot Loves” is a film QFest audiences should effortlessly embrace.