Leon Cheo | People Like Us, “NSA,” Season 1, Episode 5 / 2016

the rape

by Douglas Messerli

 

Leon Cheo (screenwriter and director) People Like Us, “NSA,” Season 1, Episode 5 / 2016 [8 minutes]

 

Joel cooks after-sex dinner for Ridzwan, who enjoys the meal. But Joel wonders does he really have to keep their relationship a secret, Ridzwan responding, “Don’t you think it’s too fast?” Can’t Joel just introduce him as a friend first? But Joel responds that it’s obvious to everyone that they’re not just friends, which further troubles the still deeply closeted Ridzwan.

   Joel wonders, “How is this going to work,” presumably meaning their future relationship. But all Ridzwan can offer is the fact that he should leave soon since Ridzwan’s parents will be returning home.

     Rai, meanwhile, is enjoying a movie with another boy from his past, Ben (Nicholas Bloodworth). But when his friend suggests that they might go back to his place, all of his housemates being away, Rai is wary, not at all sure he wants to get involved sexually, even if Ben promises simply another movie and some ice cream. Their appointment on Grindr must have clearly read, “NSA” (No Strings Attached).

     Ben lives in own place after his parents found him in bed with another boy and kicked him out of their house. It’s not been easy, he admits.

     Soon they are cuddling, Ben kissing him, things turning far more serious than Rai had planned for. Before he knows it, he’s been stripped and the fucking has begun. He asks for condoms and some lubrication, but Ben simply says he’ll get them later. And a moment later the boy is saying “Trust me, you’ll like it this way better,” asserting presumably the pain and the lack of a condom will be more sexually satisfying—for whom, he doesn’t explain. Rai, in pain, attempts to escape but is trapped under the other’s weight.

      By the time they are finished, Rai realizes he’s been raped, as Ben solicitously asks if he should call him a cab and whether he knows his way home. Rai quickly puts on his clothes, and by the time he’s in the elevator he calls up Isaac to see if they might talk. He’s obviously in need of some support and advice from someone older; but Isaac, so he’s told, is in the middle of a party, Rai quickly apologizing for his interruption. Isaac, however, invites him over. The screen goes black.

Los Angeles, June 7, 2023

Reprinted from My Queer Cinema blog (June 2023).