Rufus Shaljean | Not Another Coming Out Story / 2025

an emptied world

by Douglas Messerli

 

Rufus Shaljean (screenwriter and director) Not Another Coming Out Story / 2025 [26 minutes]

 

Two gay south London teens are deep friends, perhaps on the verge of a relationship, but not admitting it or maybe even quite wanting it, yet feeling a closeness that comes from a sense of isolation from those who surround them. Mostly they smoke, drink, and, later, take drugs, discussing who they might like for sex partners.

   Tommy (Rufus Shaljean), the less experienced of the two even imagines that after they finish school they might just travel together some place else, and wonders if his friend Star (James Ryan Nunn) might really contemplate doing that with him.

     They meet up with a drug dealer (Alexander Summers) who offers them a panoply of drugs, explaining to them the drug “G” (Gamma-Hydroxybutyric acid, also known as the date rape drug). “Imagine someone dancing with you,” he suggests, but is not truly interested in you. “G is the cheat code to make them horny.” Actually, it doesn’t make the date horny at all, it simply incapacitates them, and ingested in a drink puts them asleep in about 15 minutes, allowing the provider to have sex with them without their permission. “Those taking it will have lower inhibitions and feel a sense of euphoria. You just have to make sure not to overdose.”

     “Why?” asks Star.

     “You will lose motor functions, have respiratory difficulties, and you will fall under or die.”

     It can, however, be counteracted by taking some stimulants. The dealer demands they pay him and leave.

     We know already that for these kids, danger lies ahead.

     They are about to test the drug, Tommy losing his virginity in the process. But just before taking any drugs, Star and Tommy and an intimate moment and begin to kiss, revealing their love for each other. But it is Jake (Cameron Wright) whom he has expected to make to love to him, not his best friend with whom he jerks off.

     Jake shows up and Tommy and he begin to make out, while Star makes a Grindr meet-up with “John.” As Jake and Tommy kiss, both for the first time, Star is served some G by John (Marlon Kemeka), evidently a requirement in John’s sexual encounters. The dosage is too strong, and it apparent, that despite the pleas for John to stop, Star dies, while Tommy enters sexual nirvana.

      Tommy may be now with Jake, but he no longer is truly happy, filled with the feelings that he shared with Star.

     Tommy forgets to pick his younger sister, Maddie (Maddy Hunter), from school. He is now regularly on drugs. Everything, including the film, is in now in black and white. His sister wants to things to return to normal, but how can that be possible for Tommy who has lost his best friend? He even offers Maddie one of his regular pills, what he realizes in hindsight, was not very responsible action. But faced with the disappearance of his best friend, the drugs create what he describes as “a silence in his head.”

     It’s not actually “silent,” he admits, but he feels like the whole world is empty and he is the only one left behind. And once again, he has forgotten about Maddie, who apparently has been left in Jake’s hands, he also attempting to offer her drugs. Maddie finally reacts to Tommy’s complete irresponsibility, querying him about giving drugs to a 14-year old. Jake, Tommy discovers through her, has no love for Tommy, but simply feels sorry for him.

      Finally, moving through the pictures on his cellphone, Tommy discovers and almost expired photo of John, and he immediately hooks up with him.

      John immediately offers him a drink of water, demanding he drink it all up. And we wonder, why, knowing vaguely what happened to Star, would he even accept the drink surely filled with G?

     He passes out, but apparently recovers after spiritually recommunicating his friend Star. The last scene show him, now in full color, apologizing to his sister, explaining that he feels responsible for Star’s death. But finally, he has been able to move on.

      I have to say this was not an appealing film to me, a man who has never much been intrigued by drugs outside of alcohol. The film won several awards when it first appeared, but the approval makes no sense when one of the two central figures dies from their careless use of drugs, and the other also becomes a near-victim.

      The pair might have made a lovely couple if only they would have survived. But as it is, it is a warning without a clear message, and the apologia comes far too late to mean anything for either of them, let alone his neglected sister. And where are their parents in this dystopian world?

 

Los Angeles, May 27, 2026

Reprinted from My Queer Cinema blog (May 2026).