Art Bezrukavenko, Kat Holm, and Jimmy Martin | Second Thought / 2024

rewind

by Douglas Messerli

 

Art Bezrukavenko and Chris Stanley (screenplay), Art Bezrukavenko, Kat Holm, and Jimmy Martin (directors) Second Thought / 2024 [7 minutes]

 

Just when I thought it was okay to have sex again without contemplating all the tomorrows, these young enthusiasts slapped the old man in the face.

    The film begins well, with two young teens, Chris (Chris Stanley) and Art (Art Bezrukavenko) meeting up through Grindr or some such service in Provincetown, where gay people love to go for the summer. They meet at the brewery, hail one another, and head off to one of their bed-and-breakfasts for what seems like an absolute glorious night of sex.

     As we have observed in so very many gay films before, however, one of them rises early, dresses and heads out, quickly ghosting the other. Obviously, he’s the kind that never likes to fuck the same person twice. Frankly, I don’t understand that logic; if you had a good sexual experience, why cut it off. It doesn’t mean necessarily that you want a full-time relationship if you simply hold onto to the name of someone you’ve met to possibly hook up for another good sexual experience on another day. When I was that age I had multiple sex with several individuals, in particular one my teachers, with whom I agreed that neither of us was seeking a long-term relationship.

      But in 2024, apparently it’s either one time in the sack or forever, since the disappointed party, feeling betrayed in the ghosting, gets a second chance as the writers and directors rewind the story.

      This time the two boys meet up at the Brewery, sit down for a nice plate French fries and a beer, and over the next few days together tour the town, doing all the kind of silly and cute things potential couples do, including miming a stop-motion walk across a busy street, sucking each other’s lollipops (no, this isn’t a metaphor, it’s literal), and just wandering the LGBTQ flag-waving town in absolute bliss.

      We never see them hit the sheets. But sure enough, we do see them as old men revisiting the spot. Obviously they grew to like one another, got married, and lived happily ever after.

      Now, I have nothing against relationships. I’ve spent 56 years in one to prove it. But, really, do every gay couple have to imitate the utter idiocy of straight midwestern tourist couples who can’t get enough of the cuteness of that and other charming towns’ shops? I’m surprised Chris and Art didn’t run up and down the beach as such couples are now prone to do in such short gay movies.  Does every meet-up have to end up with an early abandonment of any other sexual encounter and sweet enchantment in their first?

      Let’s even imagine that this couple tried out others before they realized that they had so enjoyed one another’s company that they sought out a relationship. Good for them. But the argument of the rewind is that in taking the time to get to know one another, they actually found true love right off.

     Yet it most often doesn’t work out like that. Sometimes a good fuck is just a good fuck. And often it’s far more fun to follow it up the next night with someone else who might be just as engaging, or with yet another night with a new individual who might be a far better mate than that first boy you met up with at the brewery who turned out to be a real jerk. What I guess I’m asking is why can’t we see the natural process of finding someone to love—if that’s what you’re seeking at such an early age?

     In truth, a real relationship is a truly messy business, and not always easy on the head and heart. But it’s far more interesting than sharing a sucker and shopping for T-shirts—or for that matter, rolling around in a bed.

 

Los Angeles, August 8, 2025

Reprinted from My Queer Cinema blog (August 2025).