Guy Shalem | Ronny & i / 2013

a romantic weekend

by Douglas Messerli

 

Adam Berry, Luke Humphrey and Guy Shalem (screenplay), Guy Shalem (director) Ronny & i / 2013 [20 minutes]

 

Adam (Adam Berry) breaks up with is girlfriend Sarah and takes a vacation break with his friend Ronnie (Luke Humphrey) at the beach. The two clown around in the manner of all best friend movie boys, proving to the audience that they immensely enjoy one another’s company—that is until Adam tells his best friend how he broke up with his girlfriend, reporting to her that he’s got someone else with whom he’s in love.

     Of course, Ronnie imagines it’s another girl similar to Sarah, but Adam turns somewhat serious, particularly when Ronnie asks him how long he’s known the other girl: “I’ve known this person my entire life.”

     Ronnie is silenced, taken aback, and doesn’t quite know how to behave as it dawns on him that he is the only person that fits that statement. Ronnie vaguely admits he recognizes the significance of his friend’s statement, that he’s now trying to think back in his head about, “all those times, maybe, was that something?” Neither quite knows what to do. And when Adam says that he simply wants a “good time,” Ronnie immediately accuses him just wanting a little sex. And Adam admits that he planned the whole week and the timing for his breakup because he wanted to have sex with Ronnie.

      His friend is almost on the verge of leaving, while Adam pleads that it’s not a joke to him.

      As Adam expects, Ronnie first turns it into a situation that centers the focus upon him by suggesting that he’s flattered, that Adam has good taste; but there is a strong sense of dis-ease under his comments. But now it’s Adam who suggests they just go home, while Ronnie argues they should go ahead have a “romantic” weekend, try it out, so to speak. Adam is just making a big “thing” of it, hinting that it’s just the kind of one-time experience a lot of men tryout before marriage.

      Yet when Ronnie calls his friend a bitch, Adam is now sensitive as a freshly declared gay man; Ronnie argues that he’s called him that since they were about 12 years old. But things have suddenly shifted for them both.

      And it soon becomes apparent that Ronnie, having accepted the radical change in his friend, is truly willing to embrace it—and him. It is now Adam who feels uncomfortable, made even more displeased when Ronnie buys a balloon for their room which reads “I Love You!” with roses pasted at the bottom. Adam is further upset when Ronnie opens the shower curtain to watch him showering. Adam retreats from direct eye-contact by photographing everything. And when Adam strips off his shirt he even admits to being nervous.

      Ronnie lectures him on how he is denying the very thing he wants, retreating to a fantasy world instead of experiencing the real thing. But finally, when Ronnie begins to get physical, Adam convinces him to go to dinner first. Now they toast to each other in the restaurant for a very romantic Valentine’s day, admittedly different from what they ever might have expected, as a trio of lounge hotel lounge singers tweet out a sweet melody. It’s corny, in bad taste, and perfect for the kind of postcard greeting of the film’s title, replete with the cute little “i” and the possible misuse of the pronoun.

     Back in the bedroom, we see the vain Ronnie being honest with himself, displeased with how his body’s turned out now that he reached what the authorities describe as the age of consent, 17 or 18. But after a few more drinks for them both, Ronnie finally gets Adam to take off his shirt and pants and lures him into the bed. With just a few gentle touches, they kiss, and suddenly the years of the long friendship boil over into a sexual interlude with Ronnie going down on Adam for probably a long fuck—although the camera they have been using to record their weekend is no longer in use so we never see the crescendo.

     By the next morning, with the balloon hovering over them, all both can do is giggle, apparently with joy. We watch them clown around together yet again by the water’s edge. But this time they finally settle down next to one another in the sand, a tear falling from Adam’s eye. Ronnie hugs him close, and we recognize that the tear is one of joy because the two obviously now truly did enjoy they bedtime foray and have each fallen in love, against all odds, with their best friend.

     The performances are so straightforward a guileless (performed by the writers) and fresh that we can almost imagine that they are now a couple in real life and the events recounted in the film are autobiographical. How different this work is, in any event, from my grouping of short films, beginning in 2011, “How to Lose Your Best Friend.”

 

Los Angeles, September 14, 2023

Reprinted from World Cinema Review (September 2023).