a short film by Carl Pfirman
1999 | 13 mins | US
Piper Harrell .... Charlotte
Tom Lenk .... Chris
Danny Slavin .... Rick
Robin Larsen .... Mrs Marker
Linda Graves .... Rick's Mom
Lindsay Fellenbaum .... Girlfriend
Boy Next Door
a tale of sibling rivalry
over the boy next door
AWARDS
1999 Austin Gay & Lesbian
International Film Festival
aGLIFF Award - Best Boy's Short
1999 Dallas OUT TAKES
Audience Award - Best Men's Short
1999 San Francisco International
Lesbian & Gay Film Festival
Audience Award - Best Short
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When a new hunk arrives in town, or to be more precise in the same street, the relationship
between a brother and sister is tested to breaking point, when they both
find themselves falling for Rick, the boy next door.
Yet the man of their mutual desire is giving off mixed signals, charming his neighbours with
his sweet smile and a drive in his car for smitten Charlotte, only to be followed by a
bicycle ride with love struck Chris. As the contest to win the man of their dreams
heats up, sibling rivalry turns into sibling animosity, prompting a series of
tit for tat measures of the vindictive kind. Only are all their efforts
in vain, for has Rick's heart already been taken?
Written and directed by Carl Pfirman, this UCLA piece is not so much a bad short; rather it's
nothing out of the ordinary, having tread the all too familiar ground of sibling rivalry.
Frankly we've seen it all before and with more ingrained emotion than what is on offer
here, laden down as it is by its pedestrian plot and direction.
That said and thanks largely to Tom Lenk's moody portrayal of gay boy Chris, the end
result whilst hardly earth shattering, remains somewhat amusing while it lasts.
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