S. Leo Chiang | Safe Journey / 2000

a meeting of the gods

by Douglas Messerli

 

S. Leo Chiang (screenwriter and director) Safe Journey / 2000 [15 minutes]

 

Safe Journey is a short film about two desperate people, an older man (Dennis Dan), losing his eyesight, and a young street person (Jay Michael Ferguson), obviously kicked out or forced to leave his home, who has been living on the streets for some time.

    Desperate for food, we see the kid rummaging through garbage bins. A nearby mechanic (Peter Holden) approaches him, hands him a few dollars and begins to make love to the kid. Soon after, however, the boy is attacked by thugs who brutally beat him.

     It’s also clear, that the boy has been working as a male prostitute to survive for some time.

    When he can finally stand, he stumbles off and, attracted by a gathering of trees, finds a house (in which the older man is praying to Guan Yin, the Goddess of mercy and compassion.

       The Kid raids the refrigerator serving up some rice and a slice of ham, puts out two small candles he and found in the bin, (is it also his birthday?) and begins to pile grains of rice into his mouth; but because he has not eaten in so long, he quickly becomes sick to his stomach, and in a fit of anger tosses every thing on the table to the floor, finally alerting the Asian home owner of his presence. A metal pipe in hand, the old man enters the kitchen, the Kid cowering in the corner, ready once more to be beaten, this time possibly jailed.

      When he observes the intruder, he quickly becomes aware of the situation, and suggests he can sleep on the couch for the night if he will help with the yard sale he is planning the next morning.

   As the Kid showers and prepares for sleep he discovers the book of Braille the Asian has been studying early, and hurled away in his own fit of anger.

      The older man tells the boy that there is bread in the cupboard.

    The next morning, we see the Kid hauling out much of the home dwellers household, including his television set, which obviously he won’t be needing when his blindness comes. But as the Kid puts out the objects, he discovers our older man’s statue of Guan Yin, telling him that he cannot sell that figure, restating the importance of the figure and showing him a small necklace medallion he wears of the same goddess.

      The older man asks him why he has ended up in the condition, the Kid switching questions, asking him how long has he been growing blind. Neither will fully answer their questions.

       Having finished lugging out all the objects into the yard, the Kid is now ready to head off, obviously still with nowhere to go.

       The older man tries to stop him: “You know, you don’t have to leave. I have a spare room. You can stay here with me.”

 

        The boy stops, and reconsiders. He enters the house and brings out a long extension cord hooking it up to the TV set. He looks over at our troubled older friend: “You want to watch some TV?” And together the two, sitting in the front yard, watch a television show together, presumably not the last time before the elder might no longer be able to see it. Both need one another, and who can truly deny that the great Guan Yin and not brought them together in mercy and compassion?

        If this short film is not at all realistically believable, who cares? The myth is far more important in this instance. Unfortunately, we know for most runaway or outcast teenage boys and girls the truth is that they either learn to survive on the streets through sex or finally find a way to put themselves to death through drugs. This is a “dream story.” And a very lovely one at that.

 

Los Angeles, October 5, 2026

Reprinted from My Queer Cinema blog (October 5, 2026).