have fun, stay safe
by Douglas Messerli
Edward Buxton (screenwriter and director) Finger Prick / 2021 [4 minutes]
With his mother knocking at the door, Alexi is in holed
away in the bathroom testing himself through the finger prick method for AIDS, while
talking to a beautiful man ensconced in his bathtub. Everything’s all right
mum, he calls back to her pleading for him to open up; and no I’m not talking
to anyone.
Funded, in part, by BBC, this short piece,
only 4 minutes in length, is on the one had a reminder for all actively gay men
to get tested for AIDS. But at the same time, it quickly becomes a prelude to
coming out, as the man in the bathtub, frustrated by the 26-year-old for not
having talked with him for a long while, reminds the nervous young man that he
really liked the sexual dalliance that has now caused his worry about the consequences.
He reassures him that not only was it a wonderful experience which he
thoroughly enjoyed, but there is absolutely no need for guilt. The time has
come, moreover, he should tell his mum about his sexuality as well.
As Alexi
rightfully argues, it’s one thing getting a finger-prick home test for AIDS,
but quite another to come out to one’s own mum!
But the
man in the tub argues that it’s going to be all right, and that, if nothing
else, he always has him.
When
Alexei again assures his mum that he’s all right, adding that he’s got
something that he’s got to tell her, the man in the bathtub has notably
disappeared.
In this
wry little campaign for owning up for being gay and getting checked in case in
doing it you got a dreadful disease, BBC and other such supporters surely got
their money’s worth. Whether or not it will convince most young men to have fun
and stay safe, I can’t say. I’m afraid not everyone has such a lovely
conscience who promises to be there whenever he needs him for the rest of his
life.
Los Angeles, November 16, 2025 | Reprinted by My Queer Cinema blog (November 2025).
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