Lino Escalera | Espacio 2 (Space 2) / 2001

illicit sex

by Douglas Messerli

 

Lino Escalera (screenwriter and director) Espacio 2 (Space 2) / 2001 [27 minutes]

 

Viewing Spanish director Lina Escalera’s 2001 film Space 2 for the first time 23 years later, reiterates my long-held belief that the films of the first decade of the of the 21st century were more complex in terms of dialogue and cinematic structure and far sexier that the vast majority of the films that came thereafter. One might almost see these first few years of a new century as a transition period between the still basically underground and dissonant LGBTQ world in relation to the normative heterosexual one of 1990s to the far greater acceptance of and assimilation of the dominant culture by the LGBTQ community in the late teens forward.

     Oddly, however, it is neither the structure nor the dialogue (of which there is very little) that makes Excalera’s film so interesting. The plot might truly be summarized in a couple of sentences. A young man Rober (Javier Coromina), involved in a gay monogamous relationship, is sorely tempted by a young man he meets on his rail trip home, Chico (José Vicente Moirón), but at the very last moment sends temptation packing. He and his companion Daniel (Juanjo Marfinez), however, are both feeling confined by the sexual restraints of the relationship, and by the end of the film have done something about it, participating, each in their own way, in an upstairs warehouse orgy.

 

   Even the concerns of this film seem more “adult”-oriented than many of our current short films, which remain locked into issues of teen bullying, coming out, and basically assimilating gay culture into the major culture’s more embracing norms. These men are decidedly gay and sexy. And most of the characters in this film, as the few women who have attended the film’s later party clearly attest, are heavily into gay-only sex. There is no coyness about the three central figures of Escalera’s film.

     The only problem they have, and against which both the furniture designer Robert and the real estate connected Daniel chaffe, are the new norms that their relationship have imposed. These young men clearly love one another, but they are attractive young men who also feel the pulls of the open sexuality akin to the pre-AIDS world. If there is any question about this, Escalera devotes the first half of his film to the almost addictive cruising of Rober and Chico as they encounter one another while waiting for the train, both carefully averting each other’s gaze as they simultaneously clearly indicate that they like what they are seeing.

      Within the train they carefully calculate one another’s interest by a continued game of staring and looking away, as well as Chico, clearly the aggressor in this case, moving about in space before finally sitting across from Rober. At the first stop he rushes to exit, almost testing his theory that Rober will follow whether or not it’s his stop.

      Rober cannot resist and follows him on a long trek beside the tracks until Chico leads him to an old empty long shed, the perfect isolated spot to engage in what used to be gloriously described as “illicit sex.” The two can hardly wait as they almost literally crash into each other’s bodies with male lust, going through the sexual actions of fellatio even while fully dressed. In this world there is no place of condoms. Chico can hardly wait for cock, and when, at the very last moment, Rober—clearly suffering for it—abstains, the other can only express righteous anger as Rober scurries off.

     Back at home, sitting it his hot house, Rober so impulsively and so violently masturbates—erotically responding to Chico’s anger—that he hurts his hand in the process. When Daniel returns home, he finds his lover showering and not at all in the mood for love. Even later apologies later don’t quite cover up his feeling of entrapment. And he is even more disconcerted to discover that Daniel has accepted an invitation to a party that evening with a friend who Rober does not know, Santiago.

       By the time they have arrived at the party, which takes place in a large warehouse Santiago has just purchased and which he plans to convert into apartments, it is clear to Rober that something may be going on between Daniel and Santiago. In fact, the moment he goes to fetch a drink, Daniel disappears, and, although he shows up soon again with Santiago, he goes off with him again. This time, Rober finally discovers through a woman who has been left alone while her who friends have also disappeared that apparently a wild sex party is occurring on the next floor. As he stands, determined to check it out, she attempts to hand him a flashlight which he’ll need to find his way.

      Rober, however, has already begun to climb the stairs. Whether or not he finds his way to whatever it is he might be looking for among the brief glimpses Escalaera provides of us intertwined naked bodies is unclear. What is obvious is that both men need some space.

 

Los Angeles, May 5, 2024

Reprinted from My Queer Cinema blog (May 2024).