Billy Taylor | Silver Road / 2006

there are some good boys in toronto

by Douglas Messerli

 

Billy Taylor (screenwriter and director) Silver Road / 2006 [13 minutes]

 

Taylor’s film is about as simple as a coming out tale can get. As in most works of this genre, there is usually an incident which triggers the sudden enactment of long-restrained homosexual action, and in this case it is a common one. A young man Danny (Andrew Hachey) is going away soon to college and has just returned from his summer “camp.” His first visit upon returning home evidently is the neighbor’s farm where his good friend Mark (Jonathan Keltz) lives and works. And already before the credits we know that they truly enjoy one another’s company just by the smile that lights up on Mark’s face as he sees his friend on his way to visit.

 

     Mark eulogizes his summer work on the farm with his dad, who claims it’s been the best season ever, Mark being able to save enough cash to buy the pickup. He enjoys farming and is planning on staying on at the farm hoping to make enough money to get on while his friend is soon moving away and on.

       Their deep friendship, accordingly, is colored with regret and sadness, both emanating from what they know will soon be a kind of end of their relationship which doesn’t truly need to be defined and within which they easily share their still virgin sexual status with one another. These boys obviously feel completely free and comfortable around the other in a way they might not feel with other acquaintances and family.      

     They’re also good looking and affable, and if you’ve seen even 2 or 3 LGBTQ coming out shorts you know what that means. Yet, like all close friends, it’s also clear that if they have any internal desires, they’re so used to keeping them hidden that it seems nearly impossible, given their friendship, they will ever be expressed. And in this sense, this Canadian film also shares with the sub-genre of coming out films which I discuss in my essay “How to Lose Your Best Friend.”

       Mark admits he’s never done it with his girlfriend Marianne because “She found Jesus,” to which Danny replies, “That guy’s no fun.” But we also know that there’s something far more complex and inexpressible that delays their full sexual maturation.

       Silence reigns over much of the rest of this movie as, when the sun sets, the friends venture out in Mark’s pickup for a ride through the country—one of the major activities of lonely farm boys who live in such a vast space that there’s often nowhere particular to go except for the nearest small town which allows for no privacy and proffers numerous other dangers created by their already outside status—outsiders for the town folk who simply don’t comprehend the structures and strictures of their lives. The activity is defined by Mark who, when Danny asks, “Where we going?” answers, “Well we’re just driving around,” sentences which also sum up both of their future perspectives.

       Driving down the already dark country roads, Mark is shocked when Danny suddenly reaches over and switches off the pickup headlights. He demands to know what Danny’s doing and is afraid of “busting up his truck,” but his friend declares he should relax, he knows the road. It’s clear he actually doesn’t, at least the road he intends to take. After they reach a stop-light, he moves forward a half-mile or so further, with Danny admitting that he’s going to miss Mark, who repeats the sentiment. At that moment, he suddenly lunges over and attempts to kiss his friend, Mark pushing him away and driving off into a cornfield where the pickup is now stuck in the wet earth.

      Danny leaps from the vehicle rushing off to hide among the dry stalks, with Mark pounding the dashboard shouting “fuck, fuck!” His profanity clearly is not directed at the fact that his belove pickup is now caught, but against the fact that their deep friendship has now suddenly come to a stop, an admission of love coming forth that he was not able to respond to, and his frustration for not having been able to accept the feelings which may also share.

    Standing atop the truck he calls out Danny’s name again and again, but the boy is too embarrassed and afraid to answer, to show himself. “Danny get the hell out of there!”

      A long pause. “Come on, Danny.” Still no response.

     The film loops back to the earlier scene at the red and yellow blinking stop-lights at the corner they passed a while back. And eventually, of course, Danny appears, his face covered with mud. He helps Mark push the truck out of the rut, and they are back on the road as silent as they were before, but this time intentionally so. Finally, Danny announces as they come to a stop, “I’m going to go,” making the move to leave his friend perhaps forever.

        “You got some dirt on your face,” Mark finally speaks.

        After another pause, he continues, “I just thought you were a pussy.”  Another pause. “I won’t tell anyone.”

        “Thanks.” Another pause. “Okay, I guess I’ll see you.”

        “Hey, there are some good guys in Toronto.”

        Danny manages a smile. “Even the nastiest girls love Jesus.”

        “I’ll see you at Thanksgiving.” Mark turns his head away.

        “Yeh.” He gets out.

         Both boys look dreadfully sad. Obviously something has ended, even as their lives move on.

        If nothing else they now know where they both stand: Danny moving away into a new world in more ways than one, and Mark remaining where he is, possibly happy, perhaps trapped. If this film is a simple story, its significance has been eloquently expressed, helped along by Jonathan Goldsmith’s lovely musical score.

 

Los Angeles, September 3, 2021

Reprinted from World Cinema Review (September 2021).