Ell Mazer | Golden Goose/ 2023

sweet teeth

by Douglas Messerli

 

Addie Atwell and Wes Malmont (screenplay, based on a story by Ryan Lasky), Elle Mazer (director) Golden Goose / 2023 [21 minutes]

 

Atlas (Thomas Robie) is a handsome young gay boy, ready to rise and enjoy each day, despite the fact that he is hooked up to an oxygen tank and, as we soon discover, has a cancer for which there is no cure. He runs a candy shop for his father, working as the front man and cashier for 4 years.

     Dalton (Spencer Marsten) is a totally disorganized and sleep-in fellow, who has to be reminded to seek out and pay his bills. He does just that one morning—the morning which begins US director Elle Mazer’s Golden Goose—stopping by the candy store after, at the very moment Phil has just dropped a display bowl of Golden Goose candy bars. Dalton purchases a bar of that very candy, the first sale of that brand, notes Atlas, since he’s been working there, although it is his own favorite as well.

     From the quick glance of Dalton’s eyes of Atlas’ Rainbow pin (“Love Is Love”) and the black nail paint of his own hands hints they also have something else in common.

     By the time he gets home, however, Dalton is furious, having lost his billfold somewhere along the route of his morning activities. Fortunately, Atlas brings the wallet Dalton left on the candy counter. Although Dalton is somewhat appreciative and certainly relieved, he wonders why Atlas hadn’t just called, and when Atlas suggests that he’s got a nice place, he slams the door in his face.

      His behavior gives him (and the movie) the opportunity of his returning to the candy store the next morning to apologize, explaining that the chaotic look of the place of which Phil got a look “freaked him out.” On top of that, he explains, he has just lost his job on account of “customer abuse” despite the fact the owner knew he was his best employee, hinting that he may have been fired because he was gay.

      Atlas seems interested and empathetic despite the fact that he only has worked only for his dad—the very idea of which Dalton perceives as a nightmare, but which Atlas explains has been fine, his dad being a sympathetic being. Clearly in asking for Dalton more about his awful bosses, he is pumping him for more information in order to get know to boy better. But when Atlas’ dad appears, Dalton is about to leave until Atlas, and then his father, both invite him for dinner.

     At dinner, Dalton reveals more to Atlas’ father (Howard Brennamen) than he does to his new friend, particularly regarding his estranged relationship with his own father and mother. When after dinner in his bedroom, Atlas announces that he has a song he thinks Dalton will like, the other boy challenges him, “How do you know what I might like?” Atlas answers, “Well, look at you,” finally opening up what Dalton has evidently thought of as a secret.

      Of necessity, many gays have developed their skills at noticing small details about other individuals that is often described as “gaydar,” but actually consists of just the endless tiny clues the other intentionally and unintentionally offers up as evidence of his sexuality. It helps to explain why dress and grooming are so important for gay men: their “look” is crucial in defining their identity.

     Soon these boys are best of friends, even talking about getting together for a concert. But a call from Dalton’s father again shifts the tone, and he feels compelled to leave, Atlas’ father inviting him back anytime he wants.

      Back in the store, this time with Dalton looking for jobs, a young girl and her father stop in. When the girl asks what’s on Atlas’ face, he explains it’s hooked up to the oxygen tank to help him breath. When she asks why he needs help to breathe, he explains he has cancer. And suddenly the father breaks in, talking emphatically about his uncle’s cancer and the last weeks being “so brutal” etc.

     Even though, back at Dalton’s house, the host announces that he bought some new records, including an album by “The Smiths,” Atlas is clearly depressed. When Dalton asks if was the questions the little girl asked, Atlas angrily responds, no it was her father. “No one can shut up about this thing. Wherever I go, it’s ‘Oh, I’m so sorry. That must be so hard, and blah-blah-blah.’ …What’s even their point. I know I have cancer, and I know it fucking sucks. You don’t have to remind me every 10 seconds. I have so little fucking time left to live, and I don’t want to spend the rest of my goddam life being warned like I’m already dead.” He’s also just been to the doctor who suggests he doesn’t have long.

     Dalton puts on a record by “The Smiths” and they dance, the rest of the film showing them living out the last days of Atlas’ life—until suddenly he disappears from Dalton’s side.

     The film ends with Dalton working at the counter of the candy store, hugging Phil, obviously the symbolic replacement of his son.

      Although the film involves a growing love relationship between two gay boys, its real subject concerns how does one wanting to live a full life respond to the knowledge that he’s soon to die, another of the new breed of films that assumes its characters’ homosexuality while focusing on other aspects of life and love. The only trouble with this work is that, a bit like its central location, it is too sweet and predictable to be truly believable. Would that all young gay men dying of cancer should stumble across a fellow “Grey Goose” afficionado who gently helps them to die with grace and love.

 

Los Angeles, July 25, 2023

Reprinted from World Cinema Review (July 2023).