as time goes by
by Douglas Messerli
Bruno Rose (screenwriter and director) Cold
Water / 2017 [7 minutes]
Poor guy (Bruno Rose) working out in the gym
attached to his condo building. He’s just been told via voice message from his
girlfriend that their relationship “just isn’t working out,” and that he
probably knew it wouldn’t from the beginning.
Retreating to the nearby pool, the cute guy dabbles his feet into the
cold water only to spot a girl in the pool (Arianna Tysinger) whose sudden
appearance interrupts his private singing of “Time Goes By.” She likes the song
and asks him to sing more.
He’s pleased by her ephemeral presence, but she just as suddenly
disappears as another gym dude (Kevin Riggins) appears, just passing through.
When our guy returns to the gym room, the other “dude” asks him if he’d like to
join him later that evening to watch a TV fighting bout. Rose’s character
passes.
He
returns to the pool, this time actually moving into the cold water. The girl
again appears, asking him to sing once more. Rose sings the opening stanza
which is rarely performed these days, and she continues with the main melody.
He’s glad to see her, and the two move together seemingly about to kiss, when,
at the last moment, she pulls back, commenting: “I’m not the right one, and
neither is she,” before disappearing.
Our
workout boy suddenly realizes that women are just imaginative replacements for
what he really wants. At the end of Rose’s short film, we see the guy knocking
on door 101, where the other gym dude opens up to smilingly greet his new guest
with whom he will probably spend the night.
In
this case, our hero has come out only to himself, but it’s about time. It’s
amazing what a good dose of cold water can do.
Los Angeles, October 25, 2023
Reprinted from World Cinema Review (October
2023).
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