reconnecting
by Douglas Messerli
Kyle Jumayne Francisco (screenwriter and director) Gulis (Lines)
/ 2019 [8 minutes]
Andrei (Jal Galang), a
pediatric nurse, and his father (Menggie Cobarrubias) are removed and distant
from one another, particularly since the boy’s mother and the father’s wife has
recently died.
We
have no idea of the sexual identity of the young nurse, but he has ordered up a
kit to check on his HIV status, so we might guess that he’s gay. Alas, the
blood test is positive.
After a day of hardly sharing a word, the two are seated together on their couch, the father shining his shoes when Andrei, in tears, reports to his father that he is HIV positive
The
father, just as I did, wonders why Andrei hasn’t visited a clinic for a more
reliable report, for which the boy has no answer. But soon after, the father
stands and leaves the room, Andrei now fully engulphed in tears. The father
merely brings him a glass of water and invites him to their dinner table. As he
begins to serve up their food, he tells his son that if a clinic is open that
evening, they’ll visit; otherwise, he’ll take off work and visit it the next
morning. They are in this together, he asserts, and we will be there for his
son as he needs him.
At
least in this short film by Filipino director Kyle Francisco, father and son
are brought together with the results of the test, and it is clear that Andrei
will not have face the shame of being HIV-positive nor fight for his health
alone.
Los Angeles, October 20,
2023
Reprinted from World
Cinema Review (October 2023).
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