Gay Celluloid on Poof

›› Poof ‹‹

a short film by Dean Anderson.

2018 | 17 mins | UK.

when coming out to your family is not an option.

Dave says:

As a Northern Film School / Leeds Beckett University production, this student film punches well above its weight, given this is but an achingly real depiction of a young man struggling to come to terms with his homosexuality within the harsh reality of a working class environment.

For eighteen-year-old Aaron (Aiden Nord) is that young man, seemingly stuck helping his bigoted father Terry (Howard Harling) out in a job he hates. Yet all that is about to change upon a chance encounter at a local party with worldly-wise Mike (Miles Higson of Hollyoaks fame) and a tender kiss goodnight that unleashes his hitherto repressed sexuality, much to the delight of a man who soon becomes his lover. Yet whilst Mike is confident with his sexuality, Aaron opts to keep his relationship with Mike hidden from view, that is until he finally decides whether to remain in the closet or not; a decision that will impact on his future as an out 'n' proud gay man, or that of a man prepared to say goodbye to his one true love for the sake of social conformity.

Sharply written for the screen by Matthew Bates and directed with considerable panache by Dean Anderson, this bittersweet work is but a powerful cinematic testament to the fact that for some, coming out to your family is not an option. Yet not everything here is dark and bleak, with the boys-in-love soon to be seen leaving the reality of their lives behind them for a day, or rather for a weekend of romantic escapism on the North East coast, as beautifully photographed against the evening sunset.

Played largely by a cast of three, frankly all excel in their vastly differing roles and yet it is Aiden Nord who steals the show as a youth who you just want to reach out to and say that "it's okay to be gay" and yet deep down you just know that he's living in a world where the outstretched hand of sexual acceptance is seldom to be seen. Enhanced by pitch-perfect Geordie accents that wonderfully convey the working class backdrop of the piece, the result is a stark reminder that not everything is guaranteed to arrive gift-wrapped with a happy ending. You wish it was, but that's life.

›› available as part of THE MALE GAZE: NOCTURNAL INSTINCTS shorts compilation.

›› posted: Monday, 3rd May, 2021.

Gay Visibility - overt.
Nudity - from the waist up.
Overall - file under ... 4+ stars.

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