James Sweeney | The First / 2011

conflicted desires

by Douglas Messerli

 

James Sweeney (screenwriter and director) The First / 2011 [14 minutes]

 

James Sweeney’s The First, filmed while he was a student at the Dodge College of Film and Media Arts at Chapman University is about yet another bisexual college boy, Drew (Jake Sturdevant), who is so conflicted about his sex with men and women that he can’t even bear to remain with his partners the moment it’s over, particularly the woman such as Annie (Emily Davenport) who reports to him that rumor has it that he’s a fag. Another woman friend, Natasha (Madeline Johnson) is outraged when she hears that her boyfriend has had sex with a boy in their school, Mason (Jordon Jacinto), whose first sexual experience is a not very gratifying encounter with the selfish Drew, and who can’t wait for him to leave the premises.

     In fact, Drew goes through lovers faster than someone binge eating on candy bars. As he tells another of his brief conquests, “I remember them all,” and for a few seconds writer/director Sweeney speeds up the film track to show the various boys and girls that hurry in and out of his bed before he suddenly discovers it is now completely empty, having evidently “used up” all of his potential schoolmates.

     Part of the problem, which is not at all truly explored in this film, is that both straight gals and gay boys find bisexuals confusing, becoming quickly intolerant when they realize that the boy who’s just fucked them is open to all genders. At least if you were competing with someone of the same sex you might be able to fight back or even realize your own inadequacies. But when the lovers crosses genders everything becomes confusing, an inexplicable tangle of bodies that for most people just don’t add up. The ensemble also includes, Isaac (Brian Dare), Nate (Zack Tennant) and Cammy (Vanessa Wolf).

    But this film not only fights a bad sound system, but can’t truly even express the difficulties of someone in Drew’s position who appears to others as just being indecisive but is, in this particular situation, a liar to boot. Accordingly, we can’t even feel sorry for this bi-boy when everyone leaves without even a goodbye.

    If I have mislabeled some of the ensemble it is because even Sweeney’s characters are not fully established and are hard to tell apart—evidently even for our cheating hero. I might add that it does seem Drew has better sex with boys that his almost listless girlfriends.

    Given the general mediocrity of this early school effort, I find it amazing that Sweeney went on to director the rather charming 2025 movie Twinless. Obviously, what this all proves is that if you are serious about filmmaking you can learn a great deal in a decade. Thank heaven for the film schools that let you explore the art.

 

Los Angeles, March 31, 2026

Reprinted from My Queer Cinema blog (March 2026).