a short film by Antonio Hens
2000 | 17 mins | Spain
Israel Rodríguez .... Guillermo
Pablo Puyol .... Asier / hot mechanic
Antonio Álamo .... Ernesto / record store guy
Juan Carlos Rubio .... English tutor
Juanma Lara .... Father
Concha Galán .... Mother
José Manuel Seda .... Security Guard #1
Aníbal Soto .... Security Guard #2
Manuel Salas .... Psychotherapist
Doors Cut Down
/ En malas compañías
a young man's insatiable desire
for restroom sex
Screened in Great Britain as part of the
15th London Lesbian & Gay Film Festival
- 2001
AWARDS
2000 Madrid Imagen
Short Film Award - Antonio Hens
2000 Spanish 'Caja de Madrid' Award
Best Actor - Israel Rodríguez
Social Values - director Antonio Hens
2001 FilmFour Prize for Outstanding
Short Film - Antonio Hens / Doors Cut Down
|
|
Never one to stay at home making himself happy, sixteen-year-old schoolboy Guillermo prefers
others to do it for him, courtesy of some one-on-one 'after hours tuition'
in the toilets of his local shopping mall.
Not that this boy needs any lessons in the art of seduction, casting as he does his puppy dog
eyes in the direction of the Ernestos, Jaimes and Alfonsos of the world, let alone his English
tutor when he finds himself grounded on account of failing grades. Only when his father
catches his son learning more than mere vocabulary, the question is not so much
whether Guillermo has finally learned his lesson, but rather is he
still up for a service from the local mechanic?
Written and directed by Antonio Hens, this hugely entertaining Spanish short was inspired by the
directors' real life encounter with a young man, whose sexual appetite was seemingly insatiable.
Yet in depicting such in a physical but non-explicit way, Hens has added a subtle and at times
highly amusing voiceover that aptly conveys Guillermos' skills as a sexual predator,
narrative thoughts that are countered by the words of his parents, unable to come
to terms with their son's rampant homosexuality, but pressurised into accepting
such by way of the open mind of a clinical psychotherapist.
Only if the message here is one of acceptance, then it is overshadowed by its stereotypical
portrayal of gays as promiscuous men, who whether in a relationship or not, just cannot
cease their desire for restroom sex, even when the doors in question have been cut down.
That aside and whatever the true message of this short may be, the verdict is still one of thumbs
up. For this is an eye-catching work, well-executed throughout, complete with competent acting,
inparticular from Israel Rodríguez as Guillermo and Pablo Puyol as the hot mechanic of the
piece. Indeed and unlike many a festival title I could mention, this is one that keeps
the boys entertained, offering as it does a fine mix of comic and erotic delights
within its relative short time frame.
|
