love lost
by Douglas Messerli
Daniel Silverman (screenwriter and
director) Beyond the Homestead / 2024 [13 minutes]
Like other films about devout rural
Christians, Daniel Silveman’s Beyond the Homestead concerns a young man,
Eden (Richard Thomas Robbins), trapped by his father’s demands that he become a
religious pastor. His lifelong best friend, Noah (Owen Brooks Larson), on the
other hand, can’t wait to escape the small town world in which they both exist.
Literally out of nowhere, a new boy in town, Avery (Jas Yalung) arrives introducing
himself to the two of them. Noah, suddenly recognizes the newcomer as someone
he met a couple of years earlier in a sports camp, where the two of them
obviously bonded. They greet one another with open arms, pleased to be
reunited, but also leaving Eden, at least momentarily, alone.
Already as Avery and Noah walk off, planning to meet up for some video
games such as “Mario,” Eden comments: “Hey, Noah, don’t be a stranger.”
The two older friends, Noah and Eden, to meet up a few days later to see
a movie, which they discuss and analyze a bit like film buffs. Eden suggests
that they’ve had a lot of adventures over the years, but Noah responds rather
sarcastically, “What, you mean besides watching movies, seeing TV, playing
basketball, and doing farmwork?”
Eden is clueless: “What more do you really want?”
Noah is flabbergasted: “Are you telling me you’d rather seed the fields
and feed your horses than see the world? They’re always going to be hungry
Eden. They’re not going anywhere. On some point you’re going to have to pass on
the responsibility.”
But
Eden is happy where he is, despite the loss of most of their friends. His
solace is that at least we’re not completely alone.
Once again a call from Avery reminds Eden that his friend’s attentions
may have turned elsewhere, particularly when he admits it’s simple nice to talk
so someone who isn’t from the same town.
What we haven’t comprehended is that Eden’s father is a drunk, incapable
of caring for himself and a terror for Noah each time he arrives home, the TV,
and his father filled with religious caution, phrases such as “God is watching”
at the very same moment commenting that he believes Avery is queer. The very
next moment he commands that his own son “get out of my house!”
We now recognize the lie of Eden’s life. He is not at all happy down on
the farm, but trapped, frozen like a rabbit in space, not quite knowing where
to run. He races out of the house, trying to remain calm, terrified obviously
of the violence that might follow and evidently has in the past.
Meanwhile, next door he suddenly spots his friend Noah fondling and gently
kissing Avery. Everything comes floods in on him in the same moment as he
realizes he is excluded from both worlds.
In self-defense, Eden contacts Avery, making it clear he knows about
their relationship, which, in turn, Avery explains to Noah that he terrified of
continuing since if his parents were to find out he is certain they would
disown him. In short, in this hostile rural world every young man is suffering,
tortured by the society around them.
Finally, Eden almost comes to life, admitting a deeper truth: “No. Because
I have feelings for you Noah,” almost more of a question than a statement. Noah, is totally taken aback, not because
of the confessed love, if it is actually love he is admitting to, but because he
has betrayed his friendship in trying to make him as miserable as he is. Noah
turns away declaring he doesn’t even know Eden anymore, that he has become a
stranger
Noah rushes away, Eden chasing after crying out for his lost affection.
If this film does not precisely mine new territory, it is nonetheless,
quite profound, the acting truly excellent, and the cinematography often more
than any student film might imagine. The music, moreover, by Arvo Pärt, Steve Lehmann,
and Silverman is moving.
Los Angeles, April 24, 2026
Reprinted from My Queer Cinema (April
2026).
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