a good masseur is hard to find
by Douglas Messerli
Alexander Roman (screenwriter and director) Lonely
in Seattle / 2021 [51 minutes]
If you’re studying massage therapy, into New Age
and Buddhist Studies, and fascinated with
That
man, Luke (Matt Ford) spends most of his time, since this after all is Seattle,
in a chic, dark coffee shop—probably one which his own company built—meeting up
with his equally capable and busy chatterbox of an assistant, Beth (Christina
Ros), she reporting on the newest local zoning meeting she attended, he worried
about the fact that he hasn’t yet heard about the offer he’s made on a
property.
She’s a
lesbian, he a gay man; but unlike Beth who has a date that night, Luke is hands
off, disgusted and discouraged by all the boys who would line up to go bed with
him each night, but leave him early the next morning.
Beth, who seems to know best what her boss
needs, arranges, despite his busy schedule, for him to have a massage by a new
guy in town, straight out of Brooklyn, Wes (Alexander Roman), a chunky,
backpack carrying guy without even a massage table. He treats Luke this first
time just by massaging his hands.
For
Luke, it’s love upon first massage. And soon after he has invited Wes over to
the lovely little cottage he has built for himself for a full back and stomach
massage, to which we are privy along with the pictures of leaves, lights, and
raindrops I hinted at above. Luke is even willing to pay Wes to stay a while
longer simply to cuddle.
Soon
enough, Luke is feeling deeply for the masseur, but the therapist himself needs
a shrink. He has such a poor self-image that he simply cannot imagine why a
handsome, sleek, bearded gay millionaire might possibly be interested in such a
slumpy simpleton as he imagines himself to be. Luke assures him that he’s simply
lonely, and that what Wes offers can’t be matched all the cute gay boys in the
Emerald City.
The two
crawl into bed together and are never seen again. The end.
Los Angeles, January 17, 2025
Reprinted from My Queer Cinema blog (January 2025).
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