SHORTS

Soulmate

How a book and poem travel through time to connect love – 2025 – Myanmar

Hurry to watch this short (musical) video! It may not be here for long. While it is not in English (or any other language except Burmese, it does not need to be. You will get its message. It is all about loneliness and how a book and a poetic note links love together through different generations. All performing the same connection for only a brief period of time. A smile, a look an exchange like two ships passing through the night. Briefly, quickly, and never more again.

Spend some time at the end reading the note that fell out of the book, and you will understand the message and meaning of this profoundly moving short essay of life on what it is like to live in a truly repressed society.

Seriously, do so before it all ends. Anything connected to the BL world has been banned and censored and deleted from Myanmar. will not be a happy one; but it will still be a gay one.

The Resemblance

Trying to find closure to a painful past – 2022 – United States

This is a brilliant and woeful tale of a family caught up in a cycle of grief so painful that they decided to employ a service that finds individuals who resemble loved ones that have passed on to begin the process of finding closure that they feel they need.

An older couple, Lan (Sumalee Montano) and David (Francois Chau) lost their son several years ago and they desire to have some sort of closure on his untimely death. We do not know much about his death but conclude that he was estranged from them and it did appear as if it might have been a suicide.

They arrange to have dinner with an individual that should resemble their son, Daniel (Tom Dang). The problem is that he bears more than an uncanny resemblance to their son. His mannerisms. His eating habits. His demeanor. The things he said could only have been known by their own son.

This short film has both poignant and mystical elements to it. It never quite reaches the level of being metaphysical, but it lays the foundation perhaps both for Lan and David to begin to feel at peace again.

Mistakes were made. Terrible things were said. Regrets abound. But in the end, the only words that honestly and truly mattered were, “I love you.”

As Daniel walks off, I could not help but feel that just a tiny bit of closure was achieved. Was that Daniel? It is honestly not that important. The healing has begun. Peace of mind and spirit is just now beginning.

NOTE: This short film of 15 minutes is only available on Netflix.

Infidelity: It’s A Disease

The idea that a therapist and client can fall in love – 2025 – China

Colorful, creative, and comical. The best way to describe this short BL from China. It most assuredly will make you smile. This is a series that feels ordinary in the sense that I can see this happening in real life as the story does have an air of plausibility about it.

A good-looking young man, Jiang Ye (Sun Wei Hao) makes an appointment for a massage. The most distinctive feature about Jiang Ye is his blond hair with whispers of a red tinge throughout. The therapist who comes is a very alluring young man by the name of Zi Rui (Peng Kang Jun). Jiang Ye wants something more than a legitimate massage, but Zi Rui is not that type of therapist. Both, even though they live in Japan, are of Chinese descent and can speak Mandarin.

Jiang Ye is smitten with Zi Rui from the start. It does not take long for Jiang Ye to charm and use his wiles on Zi Rui. However, his drawback is that he is a major player. In next to know time, Zi Rui discovers Jiang Ye’s infidelities. Zi Rui is devastated because he is really beginning to like Jian Ye.

As fate would have it, with having nowhere else to go because of renovations to the dorms, Zi Rui asks to stay with Jiang Ye, which of course he is eager to do so. However, Zi Rui begins a cat-and-mouse game with Jiang Ye to win him back, but exclusively.

This is a most charming and cute series with great chemistry between the two main leads. Even for being Chinese, it is forthright and rather suggestive and is rather sensuous.

I would encourage anyone to watch this short series (around one hour). It will surely put a smile on your face, and you will also find some fine acting from two very enticing and seductive young men!

If Memory Has Sound | The Sound of Nostalgia

The idea that memory can have sound and that sound can be nostalgia – 2025 – Vietnam

Wow! This is an astonishing and brilliant film that will leave you breathless and undoubtedly lachrymose. Without doubt, this is also a short film (about 30 minutes), perhaps like no other you have ever seen before. I am not sure how to describe it. To be sure, it is open to all sorts of impressions. Mine of course would be no more correct than anyone else and therefore it would be unfair to superimpose my conclusions on how I saw this rich cinematic tapestry. However, you will get a hint by the words I use throughout this article as to how I saw this apotheosis. Undeniably, this story has been crafted to be open to interpretation.

All I can tell you is that it is a narrative of lost love between Nghiem (Mai Vũ Luân) and Hai Au (Trương Cao Khoa). Two alluringly handsome young men who are both deeply pensive souls. The drama is told cryptically and almost like a stream-of-consciousness. It is obviously an allegory. Nothing makes sense as a whole but the individual segments feel right and are strangely relatable. But you end up asking yourself, “Can this be real or an elicitation?  Is this a dream or is he living out a fantasy alone locked up somewhere? Or is it a veneration carried on long after their mortality?”

The acting is nothing short of perfection. The angst, pain, sadness, as well as periods of happiness sprinkled with an underlying deep love washes over you like ocean waves. Sometimes, those waves are gentle while at other times, they knock you over with their prowess.  The screenplay is one of the finest because it takes what is happening and makes it felicitous without being sensational. They take the everyday living of humanity and turn it into poetry in motion. It is entrancing.

The symbolism in this short movie is compelling. It is everywhere and you may assign interpretive meaning to fit what you see and feel within this short snippet. Not all of it flows linearly and you will have to mesh things together when you have your own ‘aha’ moment. All I shall tell you is that my enlightened moment came when the two of them fought and Nghiem became enraged and lost control. For me, so many symbols then jumped out and made sense to me.

However, this is one of those unique and rare films that will be interpreted by where the individual viewer is in his or her stage of their own life in terms of age, orientation, and intensity of connection that one has or had with another person. We will ‘see’ what is going on very differently depending on our point of view within our life’s stage.

While I did not cry, I certainly could understand why for those that did. There are plenty of junctures to do so in this portrayal. However, I became deeply pensive and was profoundly saddened when Nghiem says to Hai Au as to why they broke up: “my pride was louder than your cries.”  I could not help but reflect on what happened to one of my previous relationships that hit home directly by this simple saying. Hindsight is astonishingly painful. Be warned this is not easy to get through. It is solemnly emotive, but so is the love. Yet, life got in the way. Regret did too. Be prepared to board an emotional roller-coaster ride of highs and lows through peaks and valleys and where you end up getting off, will be unique to you. Every one of us must take this ride alone and when you get off, you will be all alone on the platform: Destiny and reflection are yours.

See You Soon

A tender portrayal of a long-distance relationship– 2025 – United States

Sometimes something comes along that is so powerful not so much in its grandiosity but in this softness. We can speculate all we want as to why two handsome young men on opposite sides of the country had to meet on online. The one in Los Angeles decided to fly to New York City to spend time with the other.

What clicks between the two is magic. But the magic is tonally soft, gentle, easy, and nice – like they are. Their relationship matches their personalities. These two fit together like a hand to a glove. These are, for sure, guys in heat, but much more than that. There is a bond that is stronger than that. For lack of a better term, they seem well on their way to being soulmates.

Yet this time in bliss must come to an end. As much as they both want to be together, one lives in New York while the other lives in LA. Neither wants to move and for legitimate reasons. Depart, they must. That kind of pain is unbearable and excruciating as it is one based on not knowing what might have been. All you feel is what is, which is unendurable.

This short 16-minute film is a cinematic masterpiece. Well-crafted and exceptionally well-acted. It captured in magnificent drama the nuances of having to part with someone you just fell in love with. The scenes tend to be muted like the moods these guys are in, adding an additional dimension to the cinematography of this film.

Powerful best describes this film but with an undertone of complete understanding of what it is like to find a soulmate in today’s world. What happens from this time forward is unknown – just like life itself. (Re-released from 2020).f being.

The Discreet Way

A lonely boy finds solace and meaning in the struggles of an old man– 2025 – France

Wai (Duk Habib), a young Asian man works for his uncle and aunt delivering meals from their small take-out restaurant somewhere in France. Lifeless and soulless, and ostensively directionless, he seems lonely and depressed, beaten down by his controlling uncle. While his aunt is understanding, he has little gumption but to do their bidding.

One day, he delivers food to an obscure location in a rather run-down area where an old man lives in a basement dwelling. His name is Monsieur King (Tapa Sudana). He quickly bonds with the boy by beginning conversations.  He too is Vietnamese and eventually asks him to retranslate a letter for him to his cousin back in Vietnam. His final letter. This individual is someone who has remained in his heart and mind even until now.

Although we do not know much, we glean a lot from their cryptic and short interactions. We can and I think rightly assume that the two were very close and he wanted to reconnect with his cousin again one final time.

Wei does something unexpectedly and, in a sense, becomes a grand gesture and a homage for his new found friend. Actually, it is not just for his friend but also for him. He has broken the shackles of routineness and functionality and created his own world. A world now of his own choosing and his own making.

This is a brilliant short film of a point in every young person’s life where a change must be made otherwise, one will simply become one of the masses living a hum-drum life of humanity. The symbolism in this short film is just remarkable and its subtlety will grab at you and shake you from your doldrums.

This is a must-see film for every young person who struggles with who they want to be and no matter how much you see life beating you down, there is always some force in nature, be it human or event, that will cause you to see yourself living and being different. Will you be ready to take it?

A brilliant short film and one of the best! It shows a complete understanding of the human nature of compassion, closure, and just plain warmth. One of the most poignant films I have ever seen.

The Engaged Guy

A look at the hidden world of closets gays – 2025 – Philippines

This is such a typical story of what happens to men who are on the downlow.  They are closeted. They are forced to remain ‘straight’ even though their insides are telling them they are different. Here we have two guys who have had a relationship with one of them discovering that the other has a relationship with a female.

He begs and begs him to come back. But each time he pushes him aside and tells him to leave him alone. Yet, never leaves. Obviously, he cannot. Finally, his friend gives up and pushes him away, only for the other to realize that he could lose him. He then becomes the pursuer. He begs and begs him to stay, saying it is only a joke. Finally, his friend leaves but he too cannot fully. He returns.

What we have at the end is an interesting scenario. The two men with the girlfriend in the middle, both trying desperately to not want to be with the other but simply cannot. This is a scenario in one form or another that happens countless times in countless variations. All unfortunately, with the same results. A sham marriage and miserable partners. The pending marriage will not be a happy one; but it will still be a gay one.

The Crash

A look at innocent love and guilt – 2025 – United States

Be forewarned that this is an astonishing student film and it is quite powerful. It is a story of young love unrequited or at the very least not yet realized completely. None of it is formulated and/or even conscious. Yet, it is there. Unfortunately, tragedy strikes. Too young to be fully processed or absorbed. But a young man comes to the door that somehow touches the grieving boy. Not with words but merely his presence.

When we find out who this mysterious young man is, it will shock you. Their juxtaposition will deeply affect both their lives from now on in unimaginable ways and for the rest of each of their lives. We can only guess in what ways.

It is a moving and poignant short film from the innocent perspective of a young boy, which is more firmly rooted in what was implied than what was said. I do not know how one could not be affected by this short slice of life feature. It is soul-searching.

Carabao Boy

A look at how young love begins gently and innocently– 2025 – Philippines

This short but sweet movie is simply brilliant. No dialogue: just the words of the thoughts of the one young boy who finds the other one fascinating. Both are obvious young village boys with the one, sweet, innocent-looking, comes to the area where the other young boy is tending to his carabao (water buffalo near the rice fields. He is a very handsome with a bit of a harder face to him than the other. He cannot help but notice the young boy in the white shirt staring and staring at him. Finally, he goes up to him and begins to stare back at him. Both intently stare at one another until the boy in the white shirt reaches over and holds his hand. The other one does not flinch and eventually he sits down and the boy in the white shirt begins to massage is back and shoulders. What we now see are two young boys simply enjoying the company of the other and the touch and the hugs of the other. They feel safe. There is a feeling of peace and calmness between them.

There is something so beautiful about this exchange between two pre-pubescent boys. Not sexual but obviously the beginnings of sexual tensions. A spark between them is obvious, perhaps not really recognized as anything but that it feels good and nothing else matters in this world right now except the two of them. It is the innocence of youth and the joy of discovery.

This is a magnificently filmed gem because these two young boys definitely express what the emotions are without words. And they do so in an awkward yet wonderfully exciting exploratory fashion of self-discovery for the first time. They do what feels natural and are enjoying for now the company of each other. How beautiful life can be if we simply allow it to be – no matter where we might be.

Forest Boy

A sad reality for many trying to find love – 2025 – Philippines

This beautifully made short film made me cry for a whole lot of reasons. It brought back so many memories of similar circumstances happening to me growing up in a small town, longing for and craving attention from any male who would give it to me. I remember also being ‘duped’ for similar reasons as outlined in this short movie. It happens so often. So very often. Mainly to individual boys who have little to give and much to lose.

This is particularly poignant because I know how hard it is for Filipino boys to gain what few possessions they have and to so freely give them away merely to be touched is so sad and painful. He lost everything as it is so easy to lose one’s dignity in this type of a situation.

When you watch this, put yourself in place of the victim as that is what he is. The other guy knows what he is after and led him on, deliberately and purposefully. This is the classic case of a victim and the user. I cannot tell you how many times this happens to the unsuspected and the ill-informed and of course the ones who are the loneliest. I wish life would be better for all. It takes small snippets like this to awaken and perhaps reawaken the gay community and those who watch BLs to really ‘see’ reality as it is sometime. It is painful and ugly and sad.

Taps

A moving tribute of our last night together – 2022 – India

While you watch this breathtakingly evocative short film, it will be easy to see yourself in it. Those of us who struggle with the everyday maintenance of a relationship, perhaps more so with an individual of the same gender, understand that facing a slice-of-life right-of-passage we know is coming but we do not want to face it, this elegy is even more prodigious. Particularly difficult for us, as we have no anchor, no cornerstone, to keep the relationship together except the allegiance to one another. That is especially true for the two protagonists in this story. Rohan (Ullas Samrat) is leaving for a yearlong sabbatical, which means leaving his beloved Akshay (Rohit Mehra) alone in India.

We are voyeurs here, watching two men in love trying to say goodbye to each other. Knowing full well that the world is against them. Their present world is not accepting of their relationship. They must part from one another for a full year with each fraught with issues arising that could tear their relationship apart. Fear and love both grasp them at the same time. Wanting and needing to say goodbye but both incapable of doing so where it is meaningful or passionate to both. Yet in a sense they do. We do not understand the language between them. The symbolism of the taps is only for them. All we know is that it means something to them and only for them.

Watching this made me cry and yet at the same time sanguine. I could feel their pain in having to part from one another. The acting in this short film is spectacular. They have such great screen chemistry together and their sincerity as a couple is deeply felt with the agony of having to part one another so palpable. Their anger towards each other is not anger with each other but the result of the overwhelming fear of leaving one another. That terrifying feeling one gets of being alone even if you are facing new and different challenges. One must do it alone. Not to be able to share that with the love of your life leaves you empty and most assuredly sad. Yet their endearing exchange of taps is so intense that it gave me just enough hope that they will beat the odds. Their love for one another is strong enough to survive.

This is simply a brilliant piece of cinematic artistry. It is filled with the senseless innocuous things we do to avoid having to deal with internal pain. But in the end, we feel and see their emptiness. Yet there are just enough whispers of hope to keep their love glowing and alive.

As I stated above, you will see yourself in this poignant film. It is an impassioned mirroring of being.

You Like That

A journey of loneliness with a tall order of presumption – 2023 – United States/United Kingdom

This is an astonishing sad and esoteric story about a lonely American studying in Edinburgh, England. Apparently to supplement his income, he performs digital intimacy acts online at the same time, fantasizing about a romantic world of medieval love. This is an esoteric journey that takes you on a ride through the mind of a lonely young man desperately seeking love and a romantic feeling but only finding sex. A big difference. Done cryptically. Astonishingly handsome, Joshua (Jeremy McClain) obviously does what he can to earn money and to find love. Only for others to assume that what he does is what he is. There is a hard reality here to this short film and masterfully walks the line between fantasy and reality.

The cinematography is filmed as if you are surrounded by an antiquated ambience but facing modern realities. He meets Sebastian (Marcus Hodson), hoping for a change. Joshua imagines while in his lustful grips a world of rhapsody make-believe until he is hit with the presumptive words, “You like that” which crashes his world from mythical to a world of pain. Joshua simply wants to feel wanted for who he is and to live in a dream world with a castle in the air. His ending words to Sebastian are, “For I am sure, the giver loved me.” Yet it does not feel that way at all.

A brilliantly filmed gay treatise into the real realm of loneliness and assumption without any consideration or understanding as to why.