By Jim Gilles
Los Angeles, CA (The Hollywood Times) 7/15/22 – An interesting set of short films about the erotic possibilities of the gay male experience entitled Shorts: Fellas That Were in the Mood – on Monday, July 18, at 9:30 PM at the Director Guild of America (Theater 1). The assemblage of films mingles hot-blooded passion with down-and-dirty desire with various visions of male eroticism and sex encounters. We meet a number of eclectic characters in these films which look at threesome sex (“trouples”), dating app dilemmas, finding a romantic partner, and being a voyeur in a sexual encounter.
Starting out this set of short films is Beautiful Stranger (France, 2021, 26 min.), directed by Benjamin Belloir. Alone in a hotel room fresh off a break-up, Romain, who is in his 30s, has just been dumped by his boyfriend. So, he tries a dating app and soon makes two surprising encounters in a two-star hotel. He is soon confronted by a devil-may-care operator and an obstinate Don Juan. Romain is played by Baptiste Carrion-Weiss and his dating app introduces him to an English guy played by Shane Woodward and a woman named Destiny (Daphné Huynh) Some of you make recognize Baptiste Carrion-Weiss as the actor who played Damien in Leyla Bouzid’s A Tale of Love and Desire (Une histoire d’amour et de désir, 2021), which was featured at COLCOA in November 2021. Benjamin Belloir has made one previous short Parental Advisory.
On a more comical side is Greg Wolf’s slice of his episodic TV series Open to It (USA, 2022, 22 min.): A loving gay couple experiments with becoming a hot gay “throuple” or three-way romantic relationship. But threesome sex and open relationships come with more complications than limbs. The episodic series on TV is directed by Greg Wolf with writing credits for one episode by Frank Arthur Smith. Starring in the series are the original gay couple – Jason Caceres as Princeton and Tim Wardell las Cam. Add to the mix Frank Arthur Smith as Greg, Kimberly Nieve as Elsa, Todd Lien as Kenny, and Laganja Estranja as Lois Carmen Denominator. Greg Wolf has been the director of the short films Pocket Millennial (2019), and The Last Slice Debate (2020) and 3 episodes of Open To It, as well as producer of a number of TV series, including Naked and Afraid XL (2015).
Of a different sort is Steve Balderson’s Three’s Company (USA, 2022, 30 min.) In this experimental and multi-sensory film written by Brad Amberheart and directed by Steve Balderson, Romeo Jace and Jonah Wheeler take voyeurism to the next level. On the surface, the two actors seem to be having a very intimate and sensual time together in bed, uttering lines that seem rather staged. As Jonah Wheeler keeps looking directly at the camera during the sex scene, we come to realize that there is a third, unseen person in the room, watching all of this. And so the viewer becomes a voyeur. Steve Balderson is a director and producer who originally attended film school at CalArts, and has made more the 20 films and television specials. He is known for his films Firecracker (2005), The Casserole Club (2011) and El Ganzo (2015). His short film Alchemy of the Spirit (2021) has been included in the Filmocracy Film Festival in L.A. this weekend.
Sorry, I Can’t Talk Right Now (USA, 2022, 9 min): In this film by Bia Jurmea, a standard hookup lands too close to home. The short film is about a guy who is a virgin (Tom Truax) who hooks up with a porn star (Buck Andrews). Bia Jurema has made a number of short films previously, including The Apartment (2016) and The Vice of Water (2016). He is also the editor of the TV series Sarah Ramos’ City Girl in 2017.
Firsts (New Zealand, 2021, 17 min): In this short film directed by Jesse Ung, a closeted Chinese international student living named Steven (Kelvin Ta) in New Zealand decides that he wants to try a same-sex encounter on Chinese New Year. Online he meets a stranger named Andrew (David Shi) and goes ahead with his plan to have sex with this young man. The film also features Esther Wee as Steven’s mother.
