love, grief, and responsibility
by Douglas Messerli
Johnathan Anzo and Francisco
Granados (screenplay), Jonthan Anzo (director) Cinturón de seguridad (Seat
Belt) / 2018 [25 minutes]
Julio (Antonio Gónzalez) and Damían
(Alfredo Romero), a gay couple in Mexico, has recently adopted a child, Andrés
(played by the wide-eyed charmer, Leonardo Maldonado). It is clear from the
very beginning of this film that Damían is delighted by having the boy come
into their life, and dotes on him as a father should with a son.
Julio, the family bread-winner, however, is exhausted most of the time
from his arduous job, and perhaps never was as eager to become a gay father.
Although it’s clear he also loves the boy, he must be encouraged by his lover
to even attend a film with the child, and just as often as he enthusiastic
embraces Andrés, we see the boy attempting to engage his “other” father. If
feels distant from the child, where Damían is totally engaged.
But
then, one night Damían awakes in a sweat, gets up and goes to the bathroom
where he drops, evidently of a heart attack. He dies a few hours later.
Now Julio must not only suffer the grief of his lover’s death, but
maintain his job, all the while trying to raise a boy with whom he did not
simply does not have the rapport with the child as did his lover.
He is late to pick Andrés up at school, and his chastised by his
teacher. The women he has hired as caretakers for the boy are put out by the
lateness of his returns home, given the bus routes or are in another case left
with the boy in a shop and asked to care for him even as they have been asked
by the boss to do an inventory. They equally find that Julio’s unreliability in
taking care of his own son, burdens them, and must refuse further care, as much
as they love the boy.
Perhaps just to fulfill his sexual frustration, Julio meets up in a park
with someone who is busy fellating him when he suddenly he demands his billfold
and slugs him in the eye. For Julio it is final straw; he is not meant to be a
father, he determines, and drops the boy off at his mother’s for her to care
for.
But just a short drive away, he observes the child’s flashlight rolling around
the car floor, forcing him to stop, turn around and bring the boy home. If
nothing else he can perhaps return the presence of Damían and his seemingly
endless love back into his life.
The film ends with Julio trying to sleep just a little longer as Andrés
rushes into his bedroom, excited since today they will be attending the fair.
Perhaps Julio will have to learn to say no to his boss once in a while
to provide the proper fathership for his beautiful son.
Los Angeles, September 9, 2026
Reprinted from My Queer Cinema blog
(September 2026).
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