Simone Marino | Il difetto dell'astice blu (The Oddity in the Blue Crayfish) / 2023

major transformations

by Douglas Messerli

 

Sara Mancini, Simone Marino, and Luca Murri Fabiano (screenplay), Simone Marino (director) Il difetto dell'astice blu (The Oddity in the Blue Crayfish) / 2023 [16 minutes]

 

Suffering from premature hair loss, Edo (Alessandro Cantalini), is determined to cure the problem before his boyfriend Federico (Nicolò Folin) returns to Italy from wherever he has been for a long year.

     The first scene shows Edo, hair covered by a cap of tinfoil with his head in the oven, convinced that if he keeps it there for a period of time it will resolve his problem. His good friend Luigi (Alessio Farinella) times him, while his mother (Rossana Gentili), disturbed by her son’s lunacy turns off the over light. She takes him instead to a specialist who diagnoses as alopecia, and gives him some drops to rub into his hair, warning him that his body is also likely to get sticky or even gummy in the process.

     The result is far worse than expected, his entire body literally oozing a sticky substance, with Edo even pulling a hair out of his mouth and vomiting. The mother calls the doctor at a late hour who simply suggests that the process is working, and indeed, in a day or so, much to his surprise, Edo has a full head of red hair again, with no signs of balding.

     A day later he meets up with Federico, who hardly recognizes him with his new head of hair. But, it appears, his old boyfriend can stay with him only for short while; he has another event to attend. Perhaps he can see him later before he leaves, he suggests.

     Rightfully, Edo, who has long been waiting for his lover’s return, objects, only to have Federico explain that their relationship is over.

      Excusing himself to piss, Edo enters the toilet, crying and pulling strands of his newly grown hair, bringing blood to drip down his face.

      As he enters his home, his mother attempts to stop him to see what has happened, but he refuses, entering his room where Luigi already awaits him. Something is finally happening to Edo’s blue crayfish which, as Luigi has previously commented, has previously only sat quietly, without moving under a rock in its small aquarium.

      Now the crayfish is sitting out in the open, bit by bit, attempting to shed his old blue exoskeleton, a process which before their very eyes it finally accomplishes. The boys look on in wonderment, Edo finally realizing that he too has to shed his old skin, rid himself of his illusions

of love for Federico. It is also clear that his attention will now turn to the young man who has been long waiting form him to notice him, Luigi.

      This short comic film by Italian director Simone Marino, makes no profound statements, but quietly reveals the life of a young gay man in change, accompanied, I should add, by an excellent score by Francesco Saverio Orfino.

 

Los Angeles, September 7, 2024

Reprinted from My Queer Cinema blog (September 2024).