Gay Celluloid on Non-Love-Song

a short film by Erik Gernand

2009 | 8 mins | US

›› Non-Love-Song

a fond farewell; non love song style.

This dialogue driven piece walks the more than familiar cinematic path of falling in love with your straight best friend, only it does so in such a touching way, that you cannot help but be caught up in the story of this boys’ first crush. For just as it is clear to us that Josh has the hots for his best friend Alex, hetero man-about-town Alex is equally becoming increasingly aware of Josh’s fondness for him. Emotions that come to a head during the last day that the two spend together as they prepare to go their separate ways, college style.

Charting the bonds of friendship, writer and director Erik Gernand lets rip with a series of lines that has Alex questioning Josh’s "kind of gay" actions; from taking instamatic photos of his best friend, to presenting him with a tape of their special song as a parting gift. Only here remembrances give way to a narrative laced with opposites. That of tapes v iPods, Polaroids v digital cameras, let alone the opposing numbers on the Kinsey scale of sexuality. And then there’s the issue of the striking beauty of monochrome 16mm photography as here, against colour.

Complete with a moving "it really bothers me" conversation beautifully played out between the two leads, the result is a showcase for the diverging sexual identities of two best friends and that of their indirect acknowledgement of the fact. That the scenario itself is hardly new, check out Daniel Falcone’s Night Swimming, does not diminish the emotional honesty that Gernand brings to the screen in a work that is but akin to eavesdropping on a fond farewell; non love song style.

Gay Visibility - coming-of-age style.
Nudity - strictly from the waist up.
Overall - file under ... 3+ stars.

›› check out the official FreeView of this short, courtesy of - vimeo.com/14226502 ‹‹

screened as part of the IRIS Prize International Short Film Festival 2009 / shortlist

starring: Joe Sinopoli as Josh and Lawrence Kern as Alex.