two twinks in brooklyn
by Douglas Messerli
Faruk Manzur (screenwriter and
director) Strangers / 2024 [11 minutes]
Poor empty-headed twinks Albie
(Mason Combs) and Lake (Colton Dane) who meet up in New York City and immediately
fall in love. Albie thinks its truly “cool” that Lake has cereal every night
before bed.
They spend a night and the next
day together and imagine deep feelings such as lying on the grass outside a
baseball stadium to imagine the sounds of people coming and going, laughing and
screaming, you know, just the world passing by. Lake likes to close his eyes
and imagine it all happening around him, obviously not really interested in the
baseball game.
In
this tripartite little fantasy, the boys seem to have found the one they have
both been searching for. They go shopping and one of them finds the perfect
jacket! “Whoa,” coos Lake, reassuring his new buddy that he truly likes the
coat. There seems to be no problem about buying it, although we haven’t clue
what either of these two peter pans do to survive.
On night out on the town in a noisy club with plenty of liquor and drugs,
Albie discovers Lake kissing another boy. O my gawd, what can you do in
such a situation but leave and scream over the cellphone that the relationship
is over.
Unfortunately, he forgot his coat at Lake’s place. Late at night on a convenient
spot by Manhattan’s riverside skyline, they meet up where Lake returns the
coat, Albie reprimanding him for treating him like he were simply a stranger.
Lake reminds him that, in fact, they are strangers.
What’s a mindless boy to do? Surely he’ll cry again through another
night.
Sorry, this little film just doesn’t work for me. These nasty boys, so
perfectly dressed for every occasion, just don’t move me. I was clumsy, glum
many a night, and never imagined that I might meet “Mr. Right” when I lived in
Manhattan. Where did I go wrong? Or, on the other hand, what did I do right to
deserve such a joyous life?
Los Angeles, June 30, 2026
Reprinted from My Queer Cinema blog
(June 2026).
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