Hunter Livingston | Heatwave / 2021

the intrusive mother who finally has nothing to say

by Douglas Messerli

 

Hunter Livingston (screenwriter and director) Heatwave / 2021

 

Avery Shaffer’s (William Lund) mother Michelle (Alicia Harding) is more than a little annoying, she is a demanding figure, as he puts it “always there,” calling out for him to clean the pool and do other chores. It is as if the young teenager has no longer any life but fulfilling the needs of his endlessly demanding mother.

     Even worse, a heatwave as descended upon his community, and the air conditioning is no longer properly running.

     His mother does work hard in the garden and elsewhere, but accuses him of speaking on the phone to his girlfriend, when he might have already been done with chores.

     But then, quite by accident, he meets a classmate from his school that he has never before known, a cute boy named Peyton (Chad Eargle). But just as he begins to get to know him, his mother’s harsh voice demands that he finish up his work. Without even knowing it, she has become a kind of harridan who cannot stop her commands her actually even deal with his son’s youthful angst and she endlessly makes beds and does household chores. She is a kind of disgusting model of the hard-working mom, without even imagining that her son might be seeking out something other in his life.

    As he checks out the pages of his school yearbook, Avery is in a sweat about more that just the high temperatures and lack of proper air-conditioning. Without a husband obviously, Michelle attempts to fix the air conditioning unit herself, frustrated that her son can’t even produce the right wrench. But she is also curious about the new boy which she has just noticed, and wonders why he might not hang out with him.

     But, of course, they are not real friends, despite his interest in the handsome classmate whom he doesn’t even remember. “You two should “hook up” some time.” He attempts to explain to her what that phrase actually means, while at the very same moment, wishing that he might actually do so.

     He explains that in his world, it means to have sex with somebody, for which she apologizes, but still encourages a friendship, which perhaps he might actually desire. He dives into the sink just to cool himself off, obviously from the heat, but just as certainly from what might be happening within.

     His busybody mother also comments that he should invite his female friend over for dinner, something she has evidently done many a time. He explains she is merely close friend and that they are not dating. He argues that she never listens to what he says, but she insists she does listen. She just thought their relationship was something more. He explains that he can actually “talk to her,” his mother feeling the rejection of her own skills at communication which so many parents to feel when their children turn the age when they feel they have no sympathetic skills anymore. It clearly hurts.

      Avery recognizes, however, that he has in fact hurt her and before going to sleep speaks through the crack of her room, wishing her goodnight and telling her he loves her. This is a good son despite their perceived differences and this time in his life.

     But Avery can’t sleep and again opens his computer to check on his previously unknown classmate, Peyton, becoming somewhat obsessed with him. Avery is slowly realizing that his true attraction is to other boys, but his has no guidance, and given the heavy presence in his life of his mother, he feels alienated, unable to even express himself.

     All is left to him is to masturbate, but the intruding mother, hearing the beep of their ill-functioning air-conditioner even enters his room to complain, interrupting even the one imaginative possibility this young man has.

     She is “always there,” a force to be constantly reckoned with.

     Once more we see him cleaning the pool as his mother returns home with groceries. This time she enters his room with the excuse of making his bed. But that doesn’t stop her from eyeing his computer.

     Later in the day she demands his help after another visit to the grocers, as he empties the sacks and put the provisions away in cupboards. But to his amazement, she gently rubs, just for a moment, his back, a gesture of love.

     Back in his room, trying to cool down with the fan, he discovers his computer open, still on. And he realizes of course that he has seen his recent visits to the images of Peyton.

     Nothing has been said, but we know she has recognized and finally accepted her son for who he is. She has, after all, listened. And he suddenly perceives that same thing.

      If this is not great filmmaking, it is the nonetheless, one of the best of senior graduate projects from the numerous film schools across the nation, this one from the noted program at New York University, The Tisch School of Film. The quality of this short film is excellent, and its subtle messages are worth listening to. It’s almost a model of student filmmaking.

 

Los Angeles, September 1, 2026

Reprinted from My Queer Cinema blog (September 2026).