a kiss in the night
by Douglas Messerli
Sam DiGiovanni (screenplay), Tyler
Rabinowitz (director) Catalina / 2022 [16 minutes]
Like the film I reviewed above, Hard,
Tyler Rabinowitz’s beautiful short film of 2022, Catalina, explores the
territory where friendship and sexuality cross over, particularly between a gay man and two who at least who describe themselves as heterosexual.
Moments later, they arrive, deeply hug one another and set off to parts
of the island where most tourists never visit. Throughout the film they search
out strange outcroppings as they camp overnight, go snorkeling with some of
the best deep water photography I’ve ever seen in a short gay film, and sit
around the campfire simply catching up on their lives. Nothing much happens,
yet a hidden facts and deeply felt emotions are shared.
Brian, the least fascinating of these figures, is about to be married
and spends time on the telephone having to talk about what wedding flowers she
prefers, something which he admittedly knows little about and jokes to Gus that
it is something he will never have to worry about. Gus reminds him, a
just a little miffed by his insensitive remark, that gay marriage is now legal,
even if he doesn’t seem to have a potential hubby on the horizon or apparently
even a boyfriend—although DiGiovanni’s good looks make that he nearly
inconceivable. Brian attempts to explain it away, shifting the conversation to
the subject of the woman behind the choice of flowers, something which Gus will
surely never have to worry about, but also suggesting a bit of sexism even in that
remark.
But otherwise, we learn little more about Brian and wonder what role he
played in the friendship of long ago.
Will and Gus, on the other hand, seem to
share a deeper relationship. And when it is revealed that Will has dropped out
of law school, something to which apparently he has long been devoted, it is
Gus who keeps asking questions while Brian seems to smooth over it, while Will
himself dismisses it. Evidently he didn’t have the intellect or the nature for
studying law, something a great many would-lawyers discover in the process of
working toward the bar. But although he washes over the meaning of his action,
it is apparent that he has no other immediate future plans and is lost in the
process, with unspoken feelings that draws the two closer as they share the two
days and nights of their group campout.
As night falls we see Gus in the tent apparently sleeping between the
two of his buddies, but while we can generally spot Will on is left, Brian
remains out of view, and when we do spot him he’s marching around the tent
speaking on his phone.
During their underwater adventures, Will accidently scrapes his foot,
and Gus takes out the medical supplies and mends the cut, while Brian offers
the solace of alcohol. After hamburgers
and lighter entertainment, we observe Gus and Will sitting up late, talking
once again. This time Will asks the questions, “Did you always know you wanted
to write?
Gus answers, “It was the only thing I loved doing.”
And the response helps to answer how Will feels about himself and his
life at this moment in time, when they are all supposedly at their prolific
stage of their lives. “You’re actually doing the thing you wanted to do. I
don’t have a single clue what makes me happy.”
Gus has to admit that he is happy
in life, while Brian seems at edge even with his “happy” occasion soon coming
up. And Will is lost, removed from the flow of life that his other friends seem
to be participating in, for better or worse.
Gus suggests that he come to New York
and live an unemployed life for a while until he finds himself—frankly a rather
unthinking comment given the enormous costs of the city today, no longer the
world in which a young person might have gotten on with little financial means.
Yet I think perhaps writer DiGiovanni meant that as a kind a hyperbole, not a
reality; and in any event Gus offers him the possibility of living with him
until he finds his way. More importantly, it is the only honest concern that
friends and, from we hear, family seem to really have proffered. And Gus’ open
concern is clearly appreciated.
This time in the middle of the night
when Gus awakes, Will’s arm has been draped over him, and he whispers to Gus,
wondering if he’s cold. When Gus meekly responds, Will snuggles up even closer,
almost like a lover, and a few moments later Gus turns to him and kisses him on
the lips.
Clearly, he immediately feels he has
perhaps gone too far. And in the morning as they prepare for their final swim,
both men are quiet and removed.
Will and Brian go into the water, while
Gus hangs back. Finally, he enters as well, Will inching closer, eventually
putting his arm around him and keeping it there firmly in place to assure him,
perhaps, that love of any kind is always permitted between such good friends,
or perhaps hinting that Gus’ love, sexual or otherwise, is not something that
he would necessarily reject.
Of course, gay men will innately wonder
does might it mean if Will does show up on Gus’ New York doorstep in the near
future? But as in D’Oench’s Hard, that isn’t truly the issue. For the two
are already lovers in the deeper sense.
As DiGiovanni has written about his own
work: “Underneath the labels and rigid definitions of sexuality and gender lies
a deep desire to be intimate and to be understood, especially by those closest
to us. We are creating a film that speaks directly to that desire.”
I truly admired director Tyler
Rabinowitz’s sophomore film work See You Soon (2020), and equally
respected this movie. He is most certainly a filmmaker to be watched.
Los Angeles, October 18, 2022
Reprinted from World Cinema
Review (October 2022).
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