a short film by Guillem Morales
1999 | 13 mins | Spain
Juan Jaimez .... Iván
Oriol Serra .... Álex
Joan Díez .... Víctor
Rubén Ametllé .... Miguel
Nolo Ortiz .... Julio
Backroom
a telling work on
a soulless environment
Screened in Great Britain as part of the
15th London Lesbian & Gay Film Festival
- 2001
AWARDS
1999 Alcalá de Henares
Short Film Festival
'Caja de Madrid' Award for Best Editing
- Joan Manel Vilaseca
2000 Barcelona Curt Ficcions
Best Short Film Award
2000 Dresden Film Festival
Best Short Film - Honourable Mention
2000 Málaga Spanish Film Festival
Best Short Film Award
2000 Stockholm Film Festival
Best Short Film Award
2001 Miami Gay & Lesbian Film Festival
Jury Award - Best Short Film
|
|
Finding love can be difficult, but surely a backroom on a Saturday night is the last place you
should go looking for it. Certainly the men in this Spanish short seem to be searching
for just one thing and it clearly isn't a boyfriend - or is it?
For in this realistic depiction of backroom life, we get to hear the inner thoughts of those
whose need for sex see them seek out that area of a club / bar, that is but an indoor cruising
ground. And yet and inspite of the subject under discussion, male nudity is seldom on view in
a piece that is more akin to a cinematic representation of lust and if anything, loneliness.
Yes it's all very seedy, but how could it be otherwise, as we view the scene through the
eyes of Iván, a backroom virgin who "shouldn't have come," turns to go, but instead
finds himself being serviced bottom end up as this short rapidly heads to its sexual climax.
Thankfully along the way Morales sets the atmosphere rather nicely, mixing a throbbing club
sound with images of men of all ages and types who cruise a maze of dark corridors
that whilst new to some, are more than familiar territory to those ever
on the lookout for fresh meat.
In between such carnal encounters, Morales injects a series of cutting comments, questioning
if the mens' boyfriends or for that matter their girlfriends, know where they are? Yet the
most poignant words come from an older man who looked upon in disgust by the local
stud, offers the biting remark that "when you're my age and they look at you
with the same eyes that you look at me - then you'll see."
For the star of the show is the narrative itself, as voiceover after voiceover aptly conveys the
reality of the situation and how for some men, kissing on the lips is a no-go area, after all
"who does he think I am - his boyfriend?" Yet that is the bottom line here, given not
everyone present is looking for sex, only do those men have the courage to voice
their need for love and affection in such a soulless environment? A telling work indeed.
|
