My Friendship (2020)

La triste réalité pour certain-e-s

L'histoire est un coup de poing. Après c'est un court métrage à petit budget, il pèche par quelques maladresses mais les acteurs sont à la hauteur du propos. Ce n'est pas un BL c'est un film qui expose crûment une réalité bien triste. Le personnage de Bank est tout excusé du son attitude envers le personnage de Jack : ils sont tous les deux de jeunes lycéens. Leur histoire a commencé dans " My Friendship 2" qui a été tourné après celui-là, il est d'ailleurs plus accompli du point de vue narration et cinématographique. Lorsque l'on a vu les deux parties on se rend compte des errements de Bank et la non acceptation de ses propres désirs, et les difficultés de Jack à être ce qu'il est et sa grande souffrance. Si la fin peut paraître abrupte, elle me semble juste car que pourrait-on dire d'autre? Ce n'est pas des courts métrages à regarder dans un moment de tristesse car il faut s'accrocher pour ne pas être éprouvé. J'ai lu plusieurs critiques que j'ai trouvé assez injustes : oui il y a des manquements mais ces films sont produits pour exposer des faits, et montrer certains aspects de nos sociétés hétéronormées et leur violence envers les personnes LGBT.

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The main characters are classmates (they don't seem to be roommates despite what the MDL synopsis says), and it's not clear how close they are at the start. But after Jack places his hand on Bank's thigh, they frequently go on school toilet trysts.

How much of it is merely sexual desire and how much of it is mutual attraction or even love? We can't really tell, but the relationship is kept purely sexual for a while, with Jack barely speaking to Bank after the trysts. For Bank, it seems to be purely sex at first--he doesn't even consider himself gay (I guess what he means is that he hasn't considered a romantic relationship with another guy even if he enjoys sexual activity with one guy).

Despite Jack's aloofness, he seems to be the one who actually wants to be lover with Bank. Its also at this point where it becomes problematic to continue using the male pronoun for Jack because it is revealed that he is transgender. Despite having had sex with Jack, Bank claims that he isn't gay and tells Jack (dressed as a woman) to go away.

But perhaps the love was mutual. Eventually Bank realizes that he has lost someone he loves.

I must have seen mini series and short films that have more running time and yet end up telling much less of a story. Of course, My Friendship has its flaws. We learn too little of the characters too late to be more engaged. Yet, the actors have done surprisingly well in conveying the latent desire that the characters barely dare to reveal and their confusion while maintaining a relatively casual front to each other when they are not engaged in sexual activity. Oak, in particular, manages to portray Jack as someone who seems cold not because he is cold but because he fears revealing more of himself.

A sequel has been announced, but I'm not sure how the story is going to be linked, given that the Part 1 has already revealed the key events, including the death of one of the characters. I think a different cut can make things better, but I can't be sure about a sequel.

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