The gay short film series “Boys on Film 24: Happy Endings” is out now. The collection anthologizes nearly a dozen international gay male shorts produced between 2019 and 2023.
Like any shorts program, it’s a mixed bag, but that’s not to say anything about quality. Every entry is worthy and well done, it’s more about personal preference. The strongest shorts of the bunch involve two guys figuring out sex, love and lust. Many deliver the happy ending of the title, a few leave you wanting another one.
“Boys on Film 24” opens with “We Collide,” an amuse-bouche of sorts as two young men. Cameron (Jerome Scott) and Bailey (Max Thomas) go to a hard rock concert and eventually wind up connecting in the mosh pit. Stylish short features split-screen cinematography, loud music and very little dialogue but packs plenty of feeling into its brief running time.
Writer/director Jesse Ung’s “Firsts” is a very touching drama about Steven (Kelvin Ta), a young Asian man who invites Andrew (David L. Shi) over for a date. When Andrew starts hugging and kissing Steven, there’s some anxiety on Steven’s part; he has never been kissed, he doesn’t know what he wants or how to process his emotions or desires (Ta plays this moment quite well). Thankfully, writer-director Jesse Ung treats this situation with compassion. Andrew helps Steven whose real name is Cheung have his first same sex sexual experience. This also is a thoughtful film which talks through issues of consent; moreover, Andrew reveals his experiences have mostly been hookups / connecting with Steven/Cheung has been valuable for him too; “Firsts” benefits from Ung’s sensitivity as both filmmaker actor. You feel the passion between these two characters root them to stay together while watching.
Another short that portrays a potent one-night stand is “Sea Sparkles.” Lucas (Enzo Vogrincic) is bored with his life in Uruguay, but after meeting Juan (Alejandro Mata Molina), a hunky Venezuelan, he looks at things differently. This slight short lets its final scene do all the talking about the magic of the connection between these two men.
The Israeli import “Aloof” cuts between Yariv (Nadav Portiansky) reluctantly photographing a family’s birthday party and his cruising experiences in a gay sauna. The two stories represent his alienation and eventually connect. But this short is more about mood/attitude than plot; still, it’s a striking character study.
In UK film “The Rev,” the title character Reverend Neil Marlow (Jack Holden) has trouble keeping his parishioners’ attention during church services an old woman loudly unwrapping her butterscotch candies, restless kids, and an organist who misses his cue. At home, all Marlow does is microwave meals for himself. After receiving a call to perform burial service, the Rev also gets contacted by an old friend, which triggers memories of better, queerer times because how else do you explain the disco number that may or may not be fantasy? Slow-burn short has an amusing pay-off.
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