Three short films deal with the ups and downs of falling for someone who doesn’t love you back
Unrequited love is, for many queer and trans people, an experience so caught up in our isolation and our otherness that it can feel like it’s interwoven into our identities. (Case in point: at one point when I was trying to figure out whether “queer” or “bi” felt more right to me as an identifier, a friend suggested I just label my sexuality “pining”. Which would have been pretty accurate). The experience of longing for someone who doesn’t feel the same way — especially when they are straight — can exacerbate and sharpen the other ways queerness makes us feel different.
But for that reason, I actually find a lot of meaning in stories about unrequited love, especially those that help us move on from our one-way feelings. Romantic love is not the only kind of love that can help us heal and make us feel valued or seen in our communities. This week’s characters don’t all get to a place where they have closure or support to move on, but in my imagination they do find their way out of their present loneliness eventually.
“The closer we get, the more I fall for you.”
A Blue-Sky (written and directed by HeinZ) is a story about the loneliness that comes with being different, and the hope that someone will see you how you want to be seen. Aung Khant (Chan Myae Nyi Nyi) is a shy queer and gender non-conforming teenager at a new boarding school, where he is forced to room with boys who are at best indifferent to him, and at worst are homomisic and transmisic bullies. Except for one: Wai Yang (Ye Yint), a basketball player who sticks up for Aung Khant and frequently sends smiles and encouraging words his way.
Despite our protagonist having few lines, Chan Myae Nyi Nyi’s amazing portrayal of Aung Khant depicts the isolation many queer and trans kids face, forced to be observers in their own lives. Unrequited love is not the only difficulty Aung Khant experiences, but it is the space where he can let himself dream his way out of his present misery and wish for someone to dream with.
A Blue-Sky
“Hey. Would you like to —”
Pointe (written and directed by Lily Drummond) hits us with a beautifully-shot, elegant micro-short about a ballerina (Delanie Whibley) who is trying to ask her crush (Brianna Nunan) out on a date. Interspersing dance, music, and a stylized theatrical scene between the two characters, the ballerina’s longing is palpable, and however wistful the film, there’s beauty to be found in the way she lights up around the one she’s pining after.
Pointe
“You know what? Maybe you’ll find a cute girl tonight. And this time you won’t get so drunk you forget to ask for her number.”
Misdirection (written and directed by Carly Usdin) endears itself to us immediately through its utterly charming protagonist: Camilla, a college freshman (played to perfection by Vico Ortiz) who struggles both with obsessive compulsive disorder and her hopeless crush on her roommate Jessie (Kara Royster), even as Jessie tries to set her up with cute girls like Robin (Jasmin Savoy Brown). Cam’s therapist (Jasika Nicole) encourages her to find an outlet to keep her mind off of her compulsive counting of threes, and Cam finds it in the most unexpected of places: a literal run-in with a close-up magician (Justin Willman) in the park.
Usdin created this cute comedy partially as a reflection of their own experience as a queer and trans person with OCD. “My guiding principle was always to just be true to my own experiences and hope that it was relatable,” said Usdin in an interview at BFI Flare 2019. “The representation in the film was really important to me, trying to tell an interesting and entertaining story while honoring my communities. Read more about “Misdirection” on the film’s website.
Misdirection
