This is your typical indie coming-of-age tale about a teenager, though it’s clearly working with a very tiny budget. Set within a migrant family living in Southern California’s Coachella Valley, the movie digs into how fragile old-school traditions and expectations can be. We follow a teenage son as he goes through the process of coming out and struggles to find acceptance while dealing with homophobia, domestic abuse, and a messy love triangle that involves his own sister. Goyo is seventeen and just about to graduate from high school. Since he’s been a bit more feminine since he was a little kid, he’s always had to deal with emotional and physical transition from his dad, Ramon, who is obsessed with him being "a man." The only real love he gets is from a lady next door who actually respects him for who he is. The family lives in a Mexican community where everyone works on a grape farm, but things get shaken up when a new guy named Lucio arrives. Lucio basically seduces Goyo ...
Its time I think to start reviewing some short films. My first short film barely lasting 13 minutes, but it was very impressive. The story is simple, well edited and to the point.
Darren and Connor are 2 star crossed lovers bound by blood. They are brothers. Right from first scene where Darren saves Connor in swimming pool as a kid, we realize that they share a special relationship. Film progresses to present day and the boys find themselves struggling for emotions and love they feel for each other. They realize that the world is never going to understand the love that they share. The ending just breaks your heart. Their parents find out and Daren and Connor run away form home. They know they can't live without each other and the world would never understand their relationship. They commit suicide. I guess the message that the director tried to tell was that love can come in the most unexpected ways. Connor and Darren love story is sweet, tender and sad, oh so sad, but not a bad kind of sadness. One might be putt off by the idea of incest but if you need to be open minded and try to appreciate the love when you feel it. Honest acting, it never felt amateurish. I had no idea short films could be this interesting. Now I wish someone would make a feature version of this.
Definitely worth a watch. I am glad this was my first short gay film. (7/10)
Comments