Shower

An excellent short that exemplifies queer desire and how constructed social fears turn tension into hostility. Runs the risk of falling into the "violent gay male love" theme. The film, however, seems to run years back on each of the men's lives and even the sex act is hardly racy; "Shower" displays homoerotic tension and discomfort and, more importantly, why violence occurs alongside desire. A paradox, surely, but a sore truth shared among many unsuspecting queer males.

Approach this short film from the inside and it is one worth seeing. The lead character is confronted with a man masturbating in the public showers at a swimming pool. After initially reacting with revulsion, he joins the moment and is lost in it. When they are disturbed, whatever it was roused from within him is shocked back into the shadows, and he violently beats the man with whom he was just sexually engaged. As a character journey it is interesting, and the nudity matches well with the exposed desires of the man.

That said, the film doesn't leave much space for this, because it is mostly content to play it all out in a way that is overly provocative. The nudity, the public masturbation, the sudden violence – all of it is fed with tension and is a bit shocking, but it seems like maybe this is the point. On reflection, after watching, I liked it more than I did when watching – but afterwards I'm doing the work. While watching I didn't get inside the character, and found myself just a bit put off by an act of public indecency being the catalyst for the moment.

It is interesting, but it has too much impact on the surface and doesn't easily allow the viewer in to get to more.

I truly dislike violence either in a sexual relationship or engendered by one. In fact, the violence at the end of the film is so gratuitous and extraneous that it simply doesn't ring true. Who would best a man to a pulp in front of a witness, moreover one who's seen the moment of intimate congress between attacker and victim? It doesn't make sense. The attacker is going to go to prison for a very long time.

The film reminded me of the loathsome short "Bramadero" which also culminates in a dreadful and unwarranted act of violence after consensual sex. At least that film had something going for it in the sensuous and unsimulated scenes before the ghastly ending. This film was well, discreet. That's Norway for you.

As a side observation, the actor playing the attacker clearly couldn't punch his way out of a paper bag in real life. It was unreal to watch him take on and beat a strapping lad.

I'm glad I wasted a few minutes of life to watch this if only to debunk in my own mind the huge praise this film has garnered so undeservedly.

a young man. a shower cabin. a noise. and its source. result - a film who could have a surprising end. giving a strange story. only at the first sigh. because the reactions of the young man are natural. the fear, the temptation, the touch, the escape from ordinary circle, the public image and the angry and the cruel answer. nothing new. and this is the virtue of this short film - to present the forbidden truth. in the precise manner. so, a shocking film. maybe, only at the first sigh.