C. J. Arellano | Boyfriends / 2024

sparkling rosé

by Douglas Messerli

 

Adam Guerino (screenplay), C. J. Arellano (director) Boyfriends / 2024 [9 minutes]

Billy (Elijah Olachea) can hardly wait for his boyfriend Kevin (Derek Kelly) to return home from his tour. The sparkling rosé wine is already cooling, the candles lit, even the leaves of the plant have been washed.

    Kevin is almost there, so the cellphone reports, and soon Billy buzzes him in, waiting impatiently by the apartment door.

     A stud, dressed up somewhat in leather, Kevin arrives and heads for the bedroom, where Billy notes he must be exhausted after the long tour. But not too tired, evidently, to engage in sex with his lover. He fucks Billy in what seems to be a truly ecstatic moment for both of them.

    Yet something seems strange when Kevin asks where the bathroom is, and director C. J. Arellano quickly shifts to a day or so earlier where Billy and best female friend Gail (Nicole Clifford) are sharing their lunch on the rooftop, Billy talking about a boyfriend that she has never heard about.

    He admits that he has hooked up on a sex service with a guy who’s into role-playing, and suggests that he become, for the night, Billy’s boyfriend.

     Back to that beautiful night, we see Billy waiting for his “boyfriend’s” return from the bathroom, laid out in his undershorts but realizing clearly from the slight grimace on his face and his gesture of peace that something is missing.

     Kevin returns to the room and immediately begins to redress, while agreeing it’s been wonderful sex, and that it would be fun if they should do it again. He suggests that maybe next time they can play doctor and patient or perhaps doctor and nurse.

     The bottle of wine still sits untouched in the bucket, the candles are still flickering, but the boyfriend has already left. Something clearly is missing from Billy’s life, which appears to be a real boyfriend, someone who doesn’t just come and go after delivering up a good fuck.

     Billy’s cellphone pings, and he picks it up. It’s Kevin, who claims he loves the “boyfriend” angle; maybe they can continue that next time?

     Billy begins his answer with a “Well….,” suggesting that he’s no longer convinced that it’s best to pretend a role that he so desperately would like to act out in real life.

     Arellano presents us with yet another of the increasing films questioning the role of photo-based pick-ups and Grindr dates in gay life. It’s almost now become a new genre, representing clearly the dissatisfaction of younger and even slightly older gay men who have grown up with a quick fix for their sexual desires without realizing the consequences it may have on their actual need for real love.

 

Los Angeles, August 19, 2025

Reprinted from My Queer Cinema blog (August 2025).