Michael Pearce | Rite / 2010

the man without a clue

by Douglas Messerli

 

Michael Pearce (screenwriter and director) Rite / 2010 [14 minutes]

 

Mike (Martin Herdman) picks up his estranged son, Gary (Bradley Hall) whom he has not seen in a long while, to take him out for the for his 17th birthday. Even as he arrives and leaves the car, he realizes that he has locked his keys without the car. Picking up a brick he smashes the car window, finally walking up to pick up his boy in one of the near brick row houses of so many British suburban areas.

     As he begins driving down the freeway, Gary asks, as any child might, where they are going. His father suggests he open the compartment, where he finds nothing. A thorough search of the of the cars contents provides nothing. He has evidently lost the tickets he’s purchased for an important soccer game.

     Even worse, Mike decides to now stop along the way at a local roadside pub, sneaking in to get a few pints. The manager finally invites the boy himself to leave the car and join his father. His father is also attempting, unsuccessfully, to get more tickets.

     Meanwhile Gary attempts to bring over for glasses, but drops them before they can even reach the table, Mike reassuring him, as others around them makes gestures about the boys lips piercing.

It is a loud, noisy, and hostile atmosphere.

     The bargoers are now gathering abound the tele for the soccer game to begin. Although the father has brought his son a new drink, the boy admits he does not imbibe, the father wondering what it is he does in his life. The boy suggests exhibitions, gigs…his father summarizing his activities as culture. Spotting a fairly good looking slightly older girl, his father says, “I bet you wouldn’t say know to that kind of culture.”

      Gary takes a quick look, and replies simply: “Not my type.”

      His type, he explains, is “black,” but says nothing about their sex.

      Finally, they ready to move on without obtaining any tickets to the next match.

    But before they leave, he is offended by what he perceives to be a gay man in the bathroom and whether actually or in fantasy, knows his head up again the wall, and leaves him for dead.

     They move forward to god knows where, by this time the son having totally missed out in any possible joys which might have even been imagined, the father having no longer any comprehension of who is son is.

     Finally, at the stadium, he desperately scrambles to see if he can obtain tickets, trying to find someone ready to sell, again without success. He finally attempts to bull his way through a guard into the stadium, as the guard, terrified for his life, closes the door, locking himself in. If nothing else, Mike has certainly made a great case for why he wife has long-ago divorced him. This is a violent man of narrow values and opinions, a drunkard, and a bully. Gary finally walks away, unable to observe his father’s actions anymore.

      Gary decides to finally explain to him that “he doesn’t give a shit.” He hates football. And for a moment Mike is again about to act with violence, while Gary responds “Well, you gonna hit me Dad?” If ever things are broken down, this film reveals the condition of so many father/son relationships.

       Mike backs off, turns away, and walks off knowing that he and his son do not share the same world. It is a sad moment of self-revelation, particularly for a drunken bully, whose life, we perceive, is no longer ever truly joyful.

       His father drives him back home, and suggests he will see him in a couple of weeks. “Maybe we can do something else,” Gary reacting, “Like what?”

      When his son walks off, Mike gets out of the car, only to observe Gary, now in a nearby park with a young black boy of his age, his had laying on his shoulder. We now know the sex he prefers as well.

     Mike, now clearly in crisis, pauses for a few moments, his had across his brow is recognition perhaps of how much he has misunderstood his son.

      Beyond all belief, by this time, he walks up to the park where he son sits, calling out his name. The boys freeze, surely afraid of the consequences.

      Instead, Mike simply introduces himself to Tristan (Aaron Gordon) as Gary’s day, Tristan reaching out to shake his hand to say “nice to meet you.” “I’ve just come to say, maybe next time we can go to the coast or something.”

      “Sure.”

      “And if Tristan wants to come….”

      Mike walks off, if not a new man, certainly a chastised one for his thoughtless presumptions.

As he drives off, he notices his son has left the device upon which he was listening to his music. Mike puts on the headphones, and drives off.

 

Los Angeles, September 30, 2026

Reprinted from My Queer Cinema blog (September 2026).