“Save Me” is a deft exploration of the controversial ex-gay movement. The story follows Mark (Chad Allen), a drug-addicted young man who overdoses and finds himself at the mercy of his disapproving family. Their solution to Mark’s problems is to check him into a Christian run ministry overseen by Gayle (Judith Light), who believes she can help cure young men of their ‘gay affliction’ through spiritual guidance. At first, Mark resists the efforts of Gayle and her loving husband Ted (Stephen Lang), but soon finds solace and brotherhood with several of the members, including Scott (Robert Gant), who is battling family demons of his own. When Mark and Scott begin to find their friendship developing into an unexpected romance, both are forced to confront the new attitudes they’re beginning to accept, and Gayle finds the values she holds as an absolute truth to be threatened. Directed by Robert Cary, from a screenplay by Robert Desiderio, “Save Me” is a love story that offers a complex and timely examination of one of the most polarizing religious and sexual debates in America, while intricately showing the way love (for oneself, most importantly) can heal in all its various forms.
Chad Allen and Judith Light, two 1980s TV staples, both star in and produce “Save Me.”
