a short film by David Färdmar 2008 | 20 mins | Sweden ›› My Name is Love - aka: Love an insightful work on the issue of male rape. With a spoiler warning firmly in place and clearly not for the faint-hearted, this well-executed short from writer and director David Färdmar begins as the tender tale of a shy young literature student’s search for a soul mate, being Love by name and love by nature, only to end up as an insightful work on the issue of male rape. Only here Färdmar has added a series of telling points. For a start neither of the men is playing it by the book, both being only too keen to mask the true nature of their same-sex inexperience with a series of sexual exaggerations. It is a foundation stone that contrasts a man only too keen to play away from home when his girlfriend is out-of-town, to that of how acts of sexual violation need to be reported, when a NO should be a NO. Told by way of a series of lengthy flashbacks, the most disturbing aspect of this well played short, is the fact that it is not a work of fiction. Rather it is based on the true story of the brutal male rape of a friend of the director. For like the Dean Francis short Boys Grammar that equally shone the cinematic spotlight on the shocking reality of sexual assault, specific scenes here by way of their very nature, make for uncomfortable viewing. And yet the final frames bear witness to the fact that many victims hesitate at reporting such inhumane acts to the police, preferring to suffer in silence. All of which makes this hard-hitting drama, an all the more poignant piece. Sidenote: Färdmar is currently writing the script for a feature length version of My Name is Love, the working title of which is The Way to Your Heart. Gay Visibility - overt.  Nudity - not for the faint-hearted.  Overall - file under ... 4 stars.  available on DVD as part of the Peccadillo Pictures catalogue 'Boys on Film 4: Protect Me from What I Want' release 26.04.2010 starring: Adam Lundgren / Love, Jonas Rimeika / Sebastian and Alicia Vikander as Fredrika. screened as part of the 24th London Lesbian & Gay Film Festival 2010 Copyright 2010 David Hall - www.gaycelluloid.com. archive reference #285 ›› previous page | back to top | print me ‹‹