Lonesome has all the makings of a classic Western, following a mysterious, smoldering, Stetson-sporting man as he wanders into town.
But as soon as this lone ranger finds himself engaging in a casual truckstop hookup, you realize this isn’t your typical cowboy movie.From Australian director Craig Boreham, Lonesome is an erotic gay drama about a modern-day ranch hand named Casey (Josh Lavery) who leaves his rural home for Sydney, using Grindr to navigate the big city in search of sex and maybe a couch to crash on for the night.
Though he tells one curious host, Tib (Daniel Gabriel), that he’s in town simply because he’d never seen the ocean before, it’s clear there’s something from his past he’s been running away from.Casey and Tib have an instant sexual chemistry—and a deep sense of loneliness that bonds them—but our cowboy pushes himself away, turning Lonesome into a dark yet beautifully shot journey trough guilt, desire, and self-acceptance.
As Casey searches for connection and purpose, he finds himself crashing parties and eventually at the whim of Pietro (played by real-life rugby star Ian Roberts, who came out in 1995) who propositions the loner to be his live-in boytoy.Boreham captures it all with sensitivity and grace, and doesn’t hold back when it comes to nudity, offering up both intimate moments of tenderness and more than a few sexually explicit scenes.