Lean on Pete has been getting a lot of praise this year, so I decided to catch up on Andrew Haigh's past work in preparation. Boy, am I glad I did. A captivating story about a gay couple and how it feels to finally find someone special. Influenced by movies such as Before Sunrise and Linklater's work in general, it's a deeply humanistic film, that deals with our protagonists past and present demons and what it means to have someone…

The thing that made "The Man from Earth" so popular and loved despite its lack of budget and general flaws is that its main focus was the "game" between the lovable characters. A no-budget sci-fi "12 Angry Men" with some philosophy sprinkled on top. Religion only became a part of it during the third act and it was handled as the big "twist". It was a charming, quiet, funny and mysterious little movie.

What this sequel does, is take everything…