Edward Rowe | Mab Hudel (The Magical Son) / 2022

gay love on the cornwall coast

by Douglas Messerli

 

Edward Rowe (screenwriter and director) Mab Hudel (The Magical Son) / 2022 [11 minutes]

 

Edward Rowe’s Mab Hudel is the first film I’ve seen in Cornish. But’s its story, nonetheless, is fairly familiar of sports film in which one or two of the players are closeted homosexuals.

     In this case the game is rugby at which Enys (Chris Jenkins) is a champ, evidently following in the footsteps of his father. The film begins with a celebration of a winning game.

      Enys hasn’t much time for celebration, however, because he makes his living as a farmer, working beside his mother (Mary Woodvine) and grandmother (Susan Penhaligon). It’s a messy job with cattle, chickens, and evidently some crops. Even the day after his celebration, he must rise early and get to work, despite the headache.

      But this morning he’s particularly nervous because the next team he will be facing will be captained by Hykka (Rick Yale), his secret lover. His mother, in fact, finds him mindlessly feeding chicken feed to his cows.

      Soon he on his way to see him, his mother and grandmother talking between themselves: “He is he off to see his fancy man?” “He certainly is.” “And he still thinks we don’t have a clue.”

     The scene with the two of them at the beach is quite beautiful. And commentator Chris Childs notes:

 

“Cornwall’s coastlines are beautifully shot, particularly in an emotional scene on the beach, where the characters swim in bright and dazzling waters. It’s refreshing to see the landscapes of the Southwest shown with such a luminous and dream-like approach, reminding us of the cinematic potential of such environments whilst placing the film in the tradition of similar ‘coastline-coming-of-age’ tales, like the works of Eric Rohmer.”

 

      I’m not sure the Cornwall coast looks as stunningly beautiful as Rohmer’s Mediterranean paradises. And even Enys complains of the cold water. But it is a lovely scene, in part because of the tension, despite their deep love, between the two of them, particularly Enys who seems much more closeted than Hykka, afraid of the public even spotting the rugby players together. As for the weekend, perhaps he is afraid that he cannot possibly be tough enough to his lover on the field.

       But when the game comes, he moves directly in for a serious tackle of Hykka, seriously roughing him up before he secretly kisses him before the entire stadium audience as he whispers, “I love you.”

       This is not a profound tale, but it is a lovely in its brute simplicity, and particularly important in helping push the Cornish language into the LGBTQ arena.

 

Los Angeles, April 7, 2024

Reprinted from My Queer Cinema blog (April 2024).