oh my god they were (three queer films about) roommates
And now for something a little lighter: roommates!
I don’t have a ton of commentary on this week’s theme, except that I do think roommate stories lend themselves well to being queer – whether it’s falling in love with the person you’re already cohabitating with, or having to pretend like your significant other is your roommate to hide your relationship. This week’s films explore that range with comedy and grace.
“What if sex can cure my anxiety?”
Ace and Anxious, written and directed by Bri Castellini, is all too relatable for a lot of ace-spectrum folks. Emma (Dana Shiree), a self-identified “outspokenly asexual graphic designer”, has seen an increase in her panic attacks, and she’s worried that she won’t be able to afford continuing therapy and medication much longer. When she reads some studies that indicate sex might help reduce stress levels, she comes up with a scheme to try it out.
I’ll spoil something here for ace-spectrum readers because I think it’s important: this is not a story about Emma having sex or realizing she’s actually allosexual. It is, instead, a funny and moving story of how Emma navigates the dynamics of mental illness and asexuality in her life, including in her relationship with her roommate Kevin (Colin Hinckley). Emma is still ace and anxious at the end of the film, but she’s deepened that friendship, and perhaps picked up some tools for dealing with her anxiety along the way.
Ace and Anxious
“Yeong Min…Yeong Min says he’s coming!”
수상한 동거 | Secret Roommate, written and directed by Kang Woo, introduces us to Yeong Hoon (Park Jong Ho) and Tae Ho (Kim Jae Heung), a gay couple getting ready for a weekend park date when Yeong Hoon receives a call that his younger brother, Yeong Min (Kim Hyun Joon) is in Seoul for an unexpected visit. Cue shenanigans, as Yeong Hoon and Tae Ho have to straight-proof their home and pretend to be roommates.
수상한 동거 | Secret Roommate is equal parts odd-couple (albeit one where the odd “couple” are in-laws) and meet-the-family comedy, but it’s not all hijinks. Tae Ho and Yeong Hoon’s love and affection for each other come through strongly, and even as Yeong Min is often insufferable, his desire to be part of his brother’s life is clear.
수상한 동거 | Secret Roommate
“Seriously, in Mumbai, finding a house is harder than finding a gay partner!”
I should probably be embarrassed to recommend Love Is Love. There’s the title, for one: that banal phrase that is used to flatten out queer love into something apolitical and safe that can fit into a heteronormative society. That’s certainly not what queer love means to me, when queerness opens us up to radical possibilities to reshape our world.
So yeah, I cringe a bit at recommending this film. But – and hear me out – it is so cute. In a sea of queer & trans short films that tend to be serious dramas and documentaries, it’s wonderful to get a rom-com once in a while that makes me giggle as much as this film did.
Love Is Love, created by siblings Shipra and Shivankar Arora, is about Sourabh (Swaraj Kukreja), a straight guy (or so he thinks!) who needs a roommate to share his flat. Enter Sam (Ramansh Bundela), who Sourabh is immediately taken with. Loving Sam teaches Sourabh more about who he is and what he wants. It’s pure fluff, minimal angst, and entirely charming.
Love Is Love
