Jarrah Gurrie | Cabalerno / 2006

the shirt off his back

by Douglas Messerli

 

Jarrah Gurrie (screenwriter and director) Cabalerno / 2006 [5 minutes]

 

Through Jarrah Gurrie’s purposely grainy street photography which follows a young teen boy (Fabio Costaprado) who is utterly fascinated with the beauty and skill of an older skateboard (Adrian Silva).

    A cabalerno is a skateboarding term for a backflip with a 180-degree spin. But, of course, it also hints at the Spanish term, “caballero,” meaning a Spanish or Mexican gentleman.

     Most of the film simply watches the videographer (Costaprado) in action in his own neighborhood. The skater seems mostly oblivious to the young boy’s actions until one day he notices the focus of the photographer and after finishing a few more skateboard tricks, he turns to the kid, demanding to see the camera. Opening it, he views the images of himself which we have just observed the videographer taking.

     Without anger or any apparent expression, he simply hands back the camera to the now devastated teen, who now fears that his secret has not only been discovered but that their may be retribution, either from the skateboarder directly or from others who might describe his fascination with the skater’s body as being what it truly is, queer.

     For the next several frames, the videographer refused to take his camera out of its bag, mostly lounging on a street bench, almost in a pout. At one point we see him eating a chocolate sweet, much of it remaining at the corners of his lips. Again, the skateboard shows up to go through his routines, but the teen pretends to take no note of it, continuing on which his lunch.

     The skateboard takes off his sweat shirt, almost purposely revealing his torso for the young voyeur; yet the photographer clearly feels he dare not show his interest in the beauty of the other.

     To his surprise, the skateboarder again approaches him, this time handing him the sweatshirt he has previously removed. Awed by the gift, the videographer, eyes diluted with wonderment, takes the shirt, for an instant not quite knowing what to make of the gift. Then, he puts it to his face, taking it its odors of sweat, but just to remain on the safe side, also sweeps up the edges of his mouth with it.

 

   Both boys, young and older, recognize it as a gift, an unspoken sexual bond between them. And clearly the exhibitionist needs and desires his voyeur, while Gurrie’s camera makes black-and-white love to them both.

 

Los Angeles, May 29, 2024

Reprinted from My Queer Cinema blog (May 2024).