LOEV

“LOEV has its heart in the right place but suffers from uneven storytelling and a lack of female characters, both of which hurt its Mediaversity score.”

Title: LOEV (2015)
Director: Sudhanshu Saria 👨🏾🇮🇳🌈
Writer: Sudhanshu Saria 👨🏾🇮🇳🌈

Reviewed by Li 👩🏻🇺🇸

Technical: 2.5/5

I wanted to like LOEV more than I actually did. I’m usually game for angst between star-crossed lovers, but either I was missing the right cultural touchpoints—I am the first to admit to being an outsider to queer Indian culture—or this young director simply has room to grow before his characters resonate more consistently. Namely, I didn’t understand the compulsions behind the relationships on display: Between the lanky, free-spirited Sahil (Dhruv Ganesh) and his hunky but dour, workaholic friend Jai (Shiv Pandit), the film sets up their friendship as one with deep waters that sometimes flood with violence. Yet I found their constant sniping, sullen silences, and irritation with each other counter to my own preconceptions of what constitutes a deep and complicated friendship. Beyond the odd, softer moments which do succeed in portraying love, Sahil and Jai generally don't even seem to enjoy each other’s company.

Neither did I understand the relationship between Sahil and his boyfriend Alex (Siddharth Menon). Sahil disdains him in nearly every scene, with Alex gratuitously portrayed as a clown through garish clothing or closeups of him shoveling fistfuls of potato chips into his mouth. Without any indication that Sahil deals with insecurities, which would have explained his need to be in a relationship, I simply couldn’t understand why he bothered with Alex.

Gender: 1.5/5
Does it pass the Bechdel Test? NOPE

This film has a small cast. Even so, female characters are head-scratchingly absent from LOEV. Are there really so few women in Mumbai or in the state of Maharashtra?

Race: 4.25/5

LOEV reveals its authentic voice through specificity, such as the mixed use of Hindi and English by Mumbaikars or the cultural anxiety that characters feel at having India’s best and brightest leave for London or New York City, the way Jai has done. However, LOEV’s scope feels limited here, preferring to look inwards rather than pursuing its own tantalizing hints around globalization and the culture clash that ensues from it.

Bonus for LGBTQ: +1.00

The crux of LOEV is the portrayal of queer men in a country that is hostile to such leanings. As Guy Lodge explains on The Vulture, “it remains something of a defiant political act to make a gay-focused film in India, where homosexuality is still constitutionally decreed to be “against the order of nature.”

To that end, I defer entirely to the director’s life experience and applaud him for this sensitive, complicated, and deeply personal film that bleeds honesty in every scene.

Mediaversity Grade: C 3.08/5

LOEV has its heart in the right place but suffers from uneven storytelling and a lack of female characters. I did enjoy the breathtaking views of the Maharashtra mountains and some of the small, sincere moments between Sahil and Jai, but ultimately wasn’t convinced by the relationships depicted.

7/1/2021: Updated LGBTQ score to reflect current methodology

Like LOEV? Try these other international titles with LGBTQ characters.

Grade: CLiJuly 27, 2017Great for: LGBTQ