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| ›› Kiss Me Softly - Kus Me Zacht Jes ‹‹ |
a short film by Anthony Schatteman.
2012 | 16 mins | Belgium.
a tender take on saying it with pride.
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Official Synopsis:
An unexpected kiss from a friend brings a shaft of light to seventeen-year-old Jasper's dull existence. It provides the spark he needs to embrace who he is, but how can he persuade his self-involved father to do the same?
Dave says:
Whilst this is hardly groundbreaking gay cinema, there's nevertheless something rather endearing about this short film from writer and director Anthony Schatteman. No surprise, given this is yet another variant of the coming out scenario, one that here finds a family all but blind to the fact that their son Jasper (Ezra Fieremans) is habitually being bullied at school - just for being gay.
Not that his father Luk (Marc Van Eeghem) would hold a different opinion, being more fixated on his career as a Schlager styled folk singer whose closing number Kiss Me Softly On My Mouth wouldn't be out of place in a new episode of Eurotrash. It's a predicament that his loving mother Martine (Marijke Pinoy) also finds herself in, for whilst knowing that something is troubling her son, she's all but addicted to playing the lottery. So it is to newfound boyfriend Mathias (Tim Bogaerts) that talented artist Jasper turns to, finding refuge in his arms, safe in the knowledge that perhaps the time has finally come for him to make his own kind of music.
Well-played throughout, this is one of those works in which the closing scene has all but been telegraphed in advance. Not that that's a criticism, given the narrative wonderfully juxtaposes a series of comical turns with themes of homophobia and forbidden love. And whilst there's more cheese here than on the top of a Margherita Pizza, this tender take on saying it with pride closes with a heartfelt scene of a young man all but yearning for love and acceptance. And that will stay with you long after the end credits have rolled.
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| ›› available as part of the BOYS ON FILM #17 shorts compilation - Love Is The Drug. |
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| ›› posted: Monday, 22nd June, 2020. |
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Gay Visibility - overt.
Nudity - from the waist up.
Overall - file under ... 3+ stars.
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| Copyright 2020 David Hall - www.gaycelluloid.com. |
| archive reference #2020006 |
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