taking a leap by chancing a fall
by Douglas
Messerli
Miguel
Casanova and Danilà Serra Couchetiez (writers), Danilà
Serra Couchetiez (director) En la Azotea (On the Roof) / 2015;
collected in the film anthology Through a Boy’s Eyes / 2018
A group of
five young boys (played by Nil Cardoner, Roger Príncep, Biel Estivill, Pal
Hinojosa, and Arnau Aizpitarte) gather together high on the roof of an
apartment building in order to watch on the roof below a woman (Carla Guardia)
who daily bathes in the nude below.
Like most adolescent males, these four acne-stricken
boys and one younger kid who’ve they’ve permitted to tag along, are almost
thunderstruck by the beauty of the blonde who appears in a white shift which
she quickly lifts away, revealing a string bikini and her bare breasts.
Watching through binoculars which they greedily try to pull away from another,
the leader of the group, Adrián grabs his
crotch as he declaring he’s got a hard-on.
They all seem disappointed, however, when
she sits down, her back to them, to take in the sun. All, that is except one,
who has not reached for the binoculars but has been staring over at another roof
somewhat above the one which captures the others’ attention to observe a male
(Carlos Noriega) strip off his clothes to reveal his tight ass, as he showers in
preparation to himself take in the sun.
No, insists the kid once more, I saw
where he eyes were looking…toward the man. Again, the accused boy denies it, while
his peers now come to his defense, turning their hostility to the youngest. To
prove his masculinity they tell the kid, he must stand on the narrow ledge slightly
above them to shoot a snap of the woman from that vantage point.
Terrified on the danger involved, he
refuses, but the ring-leader, again calling him a faggot, declares the only way
he can prove his denial is to take the photograph. Once more, he cowers in
fear, the camera pulling back a little so that we can better see the height at
which they are demanding he stand.
The boy originally accused by the
younger now suddenly comes to the child’s defense, arguing that they should
leave him alone. But his intrusion into the scuffle only further puts his
sexuality in jeopardy, as he and the ring-leader threaten one another with
possible violence. When the boy interested in the male figure is threatened, he
momentarily backs off, but when they again challenge the younger kid to take
the photo, he once again insists they release him, insisting that he will
instead take the photo.
They hand him the camera, and he
carefully climbs to stand on the narrow ledge, at one moment almost appearing
to fall, but regaining his balance as he finally snaps the shot. Back on safe
ground, he shoves the camera in the ring-leader’s face, the others gathering
round to ogle at the image.
When
they call up the photo it is the showering man with his buttocks in full view.
They now all turn on the boy, calling
him a "a fucking gay prick" and all the names in the teenage vocabulary for anyone who
does not share they sexual desires.
The final scene shows the same boy
bicycling away from all the others, having obviously come to realize something
about himself that perhaps he has never before known or, even if he has
perceived his sexual differences, has certainly never before publicly avowed
it. And we now realize just how brave the boy was, not only to put his body in
danger upon the ledge, but in daring to put his entire relationship with his
former friends and others who will certainly hear of this occurrence in
jeopardy.
If this short film is a simple one, it
is nonetheless highly revealing of what anyone who suddenly admits to a sexual
reality different from the so-called “normal” one must face. If he,
fortunately, has not fallen from the ledge, he has now leaped into a world that
puts in a more long-lasting peril.
Los Angeles, October 11, 2020
Reprinted from World Cinema Review and My Queer Cinema blog (October 2020)..
No comments:
Post a Comment