A beautiful tale of life, love, child abuse and separation in our time in New York. I can not recommend this highly enough.Told through a series of flashbacks there are two Elliot's. Elliot the boy and Elliot the teenager and man. Both actors are phenomenal. For some reason it's hard to find out much about newcomer Fabio Costaprado who plays the teen Elliot. He's Brazilian and he plays a Dominican character with grace and feeling beyond what you would think his year allow. --He absolutely steals the whole film!-- His name should have top billing.Who cast this thing? They did a perfect job. Every single actor seems almost destined for their role. The script is a marvel. Tight, never lags and is well paced. I understand the director is also the writer. You have a bright future.I have read that the whole budget for this was just $77,000. You would never know it. (HBO spends more than that on catering.) It's honest, warm and doesn't patronize the audience with a lot of gratuitous junk scenes that leave you to wonder just whose butt you may be looking at this time. This director invites you into the scene to become an extension of the cast and forces you to use your own imagination to participate.I urge you to turn off that serialized, sterile cable junk America has come to think of as "creative" entertainment. Start looking at great indie films like this one and another the same year called "Morgan." Come and see what truly creative artists and crafts people are doing with very little money and no budget for fancy computer animation or silly body doubles. This is how great films used to be made. They just don't have the budget to be heard.

Elliot is real, fun-loving, passionate, trusting, intelligent, loyal and tough. A young man who will do what it takes to find a healthy, loving relationship with another man. He's looking for a boyfriend and a mate. Life is hard and sometimes even quite brutal. But every time you knock Elliot down, he gets back up again! He's not capable of giving up. He loves life too much!Elliot Loves is about relationships. There is zero camp in this film. The sex scenes are tastefully done. There is very little stereotyping. Homophobia and prejudice against LGBTQ people within and outside the Hispanic community is not addressed at all, which I see as a sign of progress. The Gay community in 2013 is finally free to exam love, commitment and the difficult process of finding a mate as heterosexuals have been doing since the birth of filmmaking in the early 1900's! Both actors who play Elliot, one as a child, and the other as an adult do a magnificent job. They put their hearts and souls into their respective performances and it shows. I felt like I got to know them, that's how good the character development is! Why can't Hollywood make more beautiful gay films like Elliot Loves? The good news is that HBO has bough this film and now it will be seen by millions of people around the world on cable TV! That's huge for a gay friendly film! To quote Bob Dylan: Times They are a-Changin!See my other two favorite LGBTQ films: "Latter Days" and "Common Ground," staring Ed Asner.

Just watched "Elliot Loves" On Demand from HBO.....It is a fine, fun character study of a young Domican gay man trying too hard to find love. It covers his many attempts interspersed with well edited flashbacks covering his challenging childhood. His mother had him when she was very young and she is in the dangerous habit of not only taking up with the wrong guys, but bringing them home to live with her and the 9 year old Elliot.It might sound heavy and downbeat, but trust me there are a number of lighter scenes/situations with good laugh lines. I was hooked from the first scene of the young Elliot locked in his bathroom secretly performing a woman's shampoo commercial. The actor's combination of seriousness and sense of fun(especially in not letting his mom's nagging and knocking at the door deter him) is quite a tour de force. This kid has a future.The other remarkable aspect of this film is that with a budget of $77,000 there is no embarrassing or bad performance. All are quite good with some being naturalistically excellent. Both actors playing Elliot possess great charm while keeping you interested and entertained Elena Goode as Elliot's mother is gorgeous and to the point in her interpretation.So, if you'd like to see a charming, intelligent and witty film about a young man looking for love only to realize that you find it when you're not looking for it, check out "Elliot Loves".Such a good film to watch during Gay Pride Month! It will be quite interesting to see what the impressive director Terracino could do with $770,000.