The Male Gaze: Three’s Company – an anthology film series hand-picked by NQV Media deals with myriad issues under the queer sun. However, the series of six short films doesn’t limit itself to singular themes and sensitively deals with universal issues such as racism, politics, xenophobia et al.
Director: Jill Riley.
In Golden Boys, three friends, now in their 30s, take a trip down memory lane by sneaking into their alma mater, one fine evening. Aided by alcohol, they reminisce through words and awkward silences. The viewers become a part of their memories via flashbacks. Among the three friends, one of them is openly gay now but was closeted in high school. He is the one still living with his family as a dependent whilst of the other two – one is married and the other one is a lawyer.
Within their largely testosterone and fun-filled school memories exists a glitch in the form of homophobia-inspired bullying. The bully is one of the golden boys Carter (Steven Pigozzo) who goes on to become a lawyer may be in an act of self-defense. And the victim of bullying is Daniel (André Dae Kim) – a bespectacled nerdy Asian kid. The latter not only stands out like a sore thumb due to his timid body language thus giving the impression to his tormentor that he is gay but also for being Asian – culturally alien – in an elite boys boarding school. We are never told the names of the other two characters– the homosexual and the married guy. It is hinted that there is a spark within them for each other but they never dare act on it.
Carter and Daniel are at the two extreme sides of the same ecosystem – the bully and the bullied. Their identity is important to the film. The other two are passive spectators lacking the moral courage to either speak up or to own their true selves. Their intervention could have changed the course of life for all of them. The overconfident bully wins in life with a shining career to boast of and the bully-victim loses the battle of life, literally, as we find out towards the end. The inbetweeners, on the other hand, are still stuck in their lives, either personally or professionally. In an unwitting manner, the get-together of the golden boys doubles up as a tribute to Daniel and his short-lived life. However, it is also an opportunity for them to introspect on how they want to move ahead with their respective lives from thereon.
Director: Richard Kranzin.
Four friends – two boys and two girls – on a road/camping trip into the woods realize that they have reached the nadir of their fun-filled adventure. They try to hold on to the illusion of bohemian utopia by engaging themselves in sex, booze, semi-philosophical conversations and musings. Their summer of dream catcher – a recurring motif in the film – and sexual fluidity is already in its autumn leg. It just takes one phone call from the ‘civilized world’ to shatter their pastoral dream. Their oh-so-perfect world suddenly feels claustrophobic. In a significant scene in the film, Eva (Zarina Zoller) of the girls starts hyperventilating when faced with the idea of venturing into a nearby village – a symbol of civilization.
The central focus of the film is the relationship between Rico (Philipp Kronenberg) and Friedrich (Lukas Sperber) – they keep you guessing.
Putting it in a nutshell, In Beating Cells is a coming-to-terms tale about four young people grappling with their identity, sexuality, and the fear of facing an imminent future that promises to be nothing but dull. However, they cannot escape it.
The Middle of a Lake (22 mins)
Director: Guillaume Mainguet.
One good thing about funerals is that it brings loved ones together, in the face of a loss. One bad thing about funerals is that it makes you feel lonely, amidst a sea of people. These two aspects of life that the death of a person unleashes have been skillfully handled and dissected in director Guillaume Mainguet’s The Middle of a Lake.
A family that grieves together doesn’t necessarily always see eye to eye on crucial matters. The bubbling tension between the two brothers, Vincent (Antoine Gouy) and Thierry (Satya Dusaugey), is at the forefront of the story. Vincent owing to his homosexuality feels that he has the right to be capricious and occasionally aloof. His brother, however, assesses this as irresponsibility on his part. And they partake in the age-old war of words in which Vincent is even called a faggot by his elder brother Thierry. The tension and the fight that ensues bring out pent-up feelings and in the process purifies and strengthen the relationship even further. Family wins at the end.
Director Jordi Wijnalda.
Xenophobia and homophobia make strange but convenient bedfellows in this captivating short. A troublemaker who gets thrown out of a nightclub for smoking comes head-to-head, abuse-to-abuse, and fist-to-fist with an immigrant Muslim guy outside the club. For a while, it feels like they will take the predictable route of stop bothering each other, after a point, and will eventually become friends. There’s a catch. They do join forces with each other but what unites them is hate – conspicuous hate for queer people. When a passerby named Gilles steps in to stop their fight, he gets violently bashed up by both of them for being gay. Director Jordi Wijnalda doesn’t shy away from calling a spade a spade. The character of Gilles with his tall frame, long hair and calm demeanor reminds one of a religious messiah; one who suffers for the sins of the people. Regarding the other two characters, you will either love or hate them depending on your belief system and what part of the world you are watching from.
Director: Manuel Marmier.
This short is the proverbial exception to the rule. In Kiko’s Saints, the female gaze is at play. At the core, the film is about the undue state control of artistic freedom. Kiko (Lika Minamoto) is a Japanese illustrator looking for some fresh dose of inspiration on a French seaside. She is being reluctantly drawn into a political rigmarole unfolding in her country making it all the more difficult for her to concentrate on her job. She hits a creative jackpot when she encounters two naked men making out on the beach. The film picks up the pace from here on and the journey that unfolds can be best described as ‘The Tom of Finland meets Japanese Manga’. Erotica, a genre that is often treated as second-class citizens in the literary world, is given its due respect here.
Kiko’s Saints is also about the meeting of two cultures – the Oriental and the Occidental– and the possibility of a peaceful co-existence. Add erotica to the mix and we have the perfect ménage à trios. Audiences who are not familiar with the concept of gay Manga – a Japanese comic book/novel with graphic illustrations, will be introduced to a whole new world of desire and lust-infused literature. The film is shot beautifully with elements of retro, Japanese folklore, and magic realism interspersed in calculated and effective doses.
Director(s): Ann Sirot, Raphaël Balboni.
With Thelma advocates for the normalization of same-sex couples as reliable and responsible parents, especially gay couples, as they are bereft of the female presence. Thelma, the baby protagonist, enters into the lives of Vincent (Vincent Lecuyer) and Jean (Jean Le Peltierat) at a crucial juncture. She messes up their daily routine and forces them to rise up to the occasion of handling a demanding baby.
Ironically enough, at one point in the film, the couple argues with each other about a male nanny thus facilitating the film to make a strong indictment against pre-conceived notions of gender roles. It is perhaps the most simplistic of all the shorts in terms of storytelling but no less memorable and effective than the others.
Available WORLDWIDE from August 27th 2021 on AMAZON PRIME and VIMEO
Review by David Lagachu Queeruru’s newest Correspondent lives in India “I am constantly trying to find a perfect balance between academia and my love for writing about films, pop and queer culture. I consider myself a global citizen and would love to be a part of a significant history of mankind.”
