Reviews
The Thing About Harry (2020)
I loved Harry
This will be a fun movie for a lot of people and it started out that way for me. I really loved Harry right from the start and i thought Sam would grow on me, but just the opposite happened. As the movie progressed Sam became more and more annoying -- he's always right, everything has to be on his terms, and you have to play by his rules. For example, at the beginning of the movie Sam told Harry that he would pick him up at 7 sharp. Since Harry was 20 minutes late Sam was going to leave without him; then Sam was annoyed that Harry wanted to stop for coffee -- this at the start of a 9 hour trip.
Sam was constantly telling everyone what was wrong with them and he did this in the meanest of ways. Of course both Harry and Sam had faults but Harry owned up to his and, on occasion, apologized. Not so with Sam. And at the end of the movie Harry makes an apology and confession of love and then they go home and make love. However, the next morning Harry tells Sam that he's got the job offer of his dreams in LA; this infuriates Sam because Harry didn't tell Sam sooner, when they had just got back together. So of course they get together at the end because Harry gives up the job of his dreams.
And frankly Sam wasn't all that. The really hot guy is clearly Harry, yet people are always wanting to date Sam!! No accounting for taste. If you want someone to rule you're life, Sam's your guy.
Keel (2004)
Tender teenage kiss
I searched for a review of this short film but couldn't find one, which is surprising since it's a 2004 film that seems ripe for interpretation. The story is about two boys who sneak into a boat house and then into a boat to smoke a joint. The two boys are clearly good friends. The second boy has a swollen finger so that the first boy has to roll the joint. As the first boy is rolling the second boy says his middle finger is swollen and big; he then tells the first boy "I'll bet yours is big too." Which might be interpreted as a sexual innuendo, though the first boy doesn't seem to acknowledge it. But even as they are lighting the joint they seem to share a longing gaze at each other, though ever so brief. As they both lie back, side by side and very close to each other, they share the joint and fantasize about traveling together in the boat. They gaze at the amazing shadows dancing on the ceiling of the boat house and begin to fantasize about what the dancing shadows might represent. The first boy sees two mages fighting and tries to point it out to the second boy. As they are gazing at the dancing shadows the first boy turns his head and looks at the second boy, who finally turns and looks back at the first boy. Whereupon the first boy gives the second boy a very tender "almost" kiss, where their lips barely meet but the symbolic gesture is unmistakable. The second boy almost immediately gets up and climbs out of the boat. The first boy absorbs the shun by remaining behind, still lying in the boat and gazing at the dancing shadows. A black screen follows and we next see the first boy watching the second boy sitting on the dock; the first boy sits next to him and the story closes with the two boys sitting on the dock sharing the joint.
I don't know what to make of the short film, except that the two boys definitely share affection for each other but there is no hint of sexual attraction and the only thing that I could see was that the two boys were responding to an intimate situation in an intimate way. except that the second boy was more surprised than the first boy by the display of affection. However, the second boy was not completely turned off to the gesture, since he left the boat but not the scene. In fact, both boys seem to continue their sharing of the joint but in a much less intimate setting of sitting on a dock with their feet dangling but with more distance between them than what was afforded while they were lying together, very close to each other and touching each other, in the boat.
It was a beautiful scene that could have gone in several directions. For example, the two boys might have stayed in the boat and become even more intimate, but this seems unlikely since there was never any hint of anything sexual. Alternatively, the second boy might have reacted homophobically and lashed out at the first boy, but that too would have seemed out of character given the mellowness of the moment. I'd love to read about the interpretation that others might have after viewing this beautiful little short film.
Unicornio (2014)
Captured Unicorm
A somber short video about a young, handsome Mennonite boy who, as the movie progresses, we discover is gay. He tries to escape the Mennonite "colony" and receives some help in his attempted escape: a kindly child-care worker, and the father of a beautiful Mexican boy. As it turns out the Mexican boy is also gay and spends the night with the Mennonite boy. However, the Mennonite boy wanders from the hotel where he is staying and is captured by the members of the Mennonite colony, who take him back and hang him upside down from a tree. Sadly, the child-care worker arrives at Noon at the hotel to take the boy to a safe place but, alas, the colony has already captured him and taken him back.
The enigmatic part of the story is that the Mexican boy with whom he spent the night comes to find him and hugs and caresses him as he's hanging from the tree upside down, but (and here is the enigmatic part), just leaves him hanging upside down from the tree -- probably because his father warned him not to give in to the "new ways." Pretty depressing ending to a rather lugubrious video. Incidentally, the movie is based on a true story so I wonder what happened to the Mennonite boy?
Un frère (2018)
Disarmingly beautiful
Wow, what a superb movie, with outstanding performances from the three principal actors, so natural that it seemed effortless. Tom, played by Simon Royer, was amazing -- beautiful actor with such expressive eyes. Felix was also excellent. But what a surprise performance by the little sister -- so adorably winsome. and the story was so moving that I thought about it all day - it just stuck with me. I enjoyed this exploration of that mysterious realm between childhood and adulthood when Tom was so vulnerable. Great flick.
Love (2008)
Anonymous hookups
If you want to become acquainted with one of the many dangers of anonymous hookups then this is the short film for you. A beautiful young man named Love first begins drinking in a straight bar with a friend who promises Love that she will go with him to visit a gay bar. However, the friend delays their gay bar visit so Love goes without her: to the front of the bar but not in the bar. For some reason, probably fear, he decides not to enter the gay bar but begins to walk home, where he passes a nice looking older man named Marcus (Love claims to be 22, while Marcus claims to be 28). Marcus takes Love to his one-block-away apartment where Marcus lives with his wife/girl friend. Love at first confesses to be a virgin but when Marcus tells him to leave because he doesn't want to hook up with someone who doesn't know what he's doing, Love changes his story and says he will do whatever Marcus "shows" him. So Marcus rapes him and then tells him to leave. When Love doesn't leave immediately Marcus says he will take a shower, where he displays tremendous self loathing and guilt, calling Love a little gay whore. Love painfully leaves the apartment, goes outside to relive a flash forward that has him vomiting and crying. Soon, his friend calls and asks Love why he left the straight bar early, but all Love can do is sob and cry from the pain that he feels, both physical and emotional.
The acting wasn't bad but it's hard to find much value in the film except to be warned about the dangers of anonymous hookups. BTW, Marcus did use a condom but the encounter could have been much worse for the naive Love. Not an uplifting movie by any means.