Tobias Martin and Rodney Sewell | 41 Sekunden (41 Seconds) / 2006

call it a match

by Douglas Messerli

 

Rodney Sewell (screenplay), Tobias Martin and Rodney Sewell (directors) 41 Sekunden (41 Seconds) / 2006 [4 minutes]

 

A young man (Alexander Kaffl) is having difficulties with his girlfriend. He calls up his best friend (Amir Arul), who previously dated his girlfriend to tell him that she keeps reporting negative things. The friend tells him that the young man and she make a perfect couple and they should stay together.

    But among the things the first boy’s girlfriend keeps telling him is that his friend kissed better than he does. The friend grins broadly, to which the first young man orders him to stop. “Don’t get upset,” responds the friend, “she’s just being honest.”

    The young man insists that he kisses 100% better than his friend, and the friend argues back that he’s fooling himself.

     To prove it, the first young man steps out of the frame and kisses his friend, the friend eagerly returning his kiss. For 41 seconds the two engage in a hot, tongue-filled fest of deeply passionate busses that given this film is only 4 minutes in length seems like to might never end.

     As he steps back into the frame, the young man reminds him that they had planned to watch football together that evening. “We’ll watch it together…won’t we?”

     “Sure,” the friend eagerly responds.

     I’d suggest that the young man’s girlfriend may never be heard from again, but that lies outside the movie, just like the evening of football and possible love-making does.

     German directors Tobias Martin and Rodney Sewell have created a lovely gay fairy tale in their 41 Seconds.

 

Los Angeles, September 8, 2025

Reprinted from My Queer Cinema blog (September 2025).