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| ›› Beast - Séptimo ‹‹ |
a short film by Valentina Chamorro Westergårdh.
2011 | 24 mins | Sweden.
the chilling cost of falling in love.
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Dave says:
This captivating short film from writer and director Valentina Chamorro Westergårdh tells the story of Vincent (Andreas La Chenardière); a shy but likeable young man with an OCD dislike of both his facial and bodily hair. Living away from folk in a cabin in the woods, he appears content with his isolated life and yet beneath the surface, he yearns for company. And here fate comes calling in the name of Gustav (Robert Noack); a young man searching for love and with Vincent, has finally found it. Yet the object of his desire has a secret, one that threatens to kill their burgeoning relationship like a stake through the heart.
Well-executed throughout, this short film has a lot going for it. Yet it's a victim of its own doing, given Westergårdh has laced his work with a series of cinematic clues that point strictly in one direction, with the score itself, at times in discord, together with the brief opening scene, reinforcing the fact that all is not going to end well.
In short and what at first appears to be a charming tale of two young men falling in love, turns instead to the realization that Vincent is not as sweet and innocent, as what he seemed to be. Yet Vincent is a man caught in a trap; his secret forcing him to stay away from those he loves, if not from love itself. Yet he has fallen in love, an emotion so intense that neither he nor Gustav can help themselves from seeing each other - whatever the chilling cost be. That the shock ending is really of no surprise, having been telegraphed well in advance, is not a let-down, given the whole story is beautifully played from start to finish. Simply wonderful.
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| ›› available as part of THE MALE GAZE: THE HEAT OF THE NIGHT shorts compilation. |
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| ›› posted: Saturday, 10th October, 2020. |
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Gay Visibility - overt.
Nudity - bare-arsed cheek.
Overall - file under ... 4 stars.
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| Copyright 2020 David Hall - www.gaycelluloid.com. |
| archive reference #2020025 |
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