NQV Media’s shorts series ‘The Male Gaze’ makes a welcome return with its new instalment ‘The Male Gaze: French Connection’. Pulling together five shorts from French film-makers, the series continues its mission to highlight films that may not otherwise be seen outside of the festival circuit. As fans of the series have come to expect, the shorts contained in every release are far-reaching and vastly different.
‘French Connection’ opens with ‘9th Floor to the Right’ from Andrea Romano, who also stars, and it’s the strongest of the five shorts on this release. Lorenzo (Andrea Romano) is getting ready for a hook-up with Marvin (Mexianu Medenou) and is surprised when Marvin arrives on his doorstep with a homeless man (Matthieu Sampeur). Understandably, Lorenzo reacts strongly when Marvin asks if the man can come in and take a shower, and it soon becomes clear that Marvin’s intentions were anything but honourable. The situation presented here is unique one and it provides interesting commentary on gay hook-up culture, and the lengths some people will go to for a sexual thrill.
Simon Helloco and James Maciver’s ‘Hugo’ is next, and it’s a stark contrast to the first short. In this one, Hugo (Julien Branellec) tells the story of a man coming to terms with discovering he has HIV during a casting session. It’s not stated whether the story being told is reality or fiction, but Hugo paints a vivid picture that reflects on the impact that HIV continues to have on people’s lives. ‘Cary & James’ by Victor Boyer finds writer Nathan (Édouard Sulpice) taking LSD with his friend Francis (Ferdinand Niquet-Rioux) after watching a classic film starring Cary Grant and James Stewart. Their night unfolds like a series of vignettes from their favourite films, proving to be an entertaining short with plenty of charm.
‘For the Love of the Game’ by Clément Bompart shines a spotlight on being closeted in sport. John is an aspiring footballer who is trying to pursue his dreams while keeping his sexuality a secret. His team-mates have their suspicions but he tries to keep under the radar while focusing on his love for the game. It’s a story that’s been told many times over but Bompart makes his short interesting enough to hold your attention.
The final short on the collection is ‘Youssou and Malek’ from director Simon Frenay. This one will be a little bit marmite, depending on how you like your cinema as it mixes spoken word poetry with a storyline about first love. Owing plenty to ‘Romeo & Juliet’, the short explores two young people in love whose lives are being pulled in different directions. There’s plenty of vision from director Frenay here but this one just didn’t do a lot for me.
‘The Male Gaze: French Connection’ is certainly an interesting collection of films. I enjoyed most of them but I definitely thought a couple were much stronger than the others. Overall the release is engaging enough and it will appeal to fans of ‘The Male Gaze’ series. It’s worth checking out but I don’t think it’s quite as strong as previous releases have been.
Cast: Andrea Romano, Mexianu Medenou, Matthieu Sampeur, Julien Branellec, Édouard Sulpice, Ferdinand Niquet-Rioux Directors: Andrea Romano, Simon Helloco, James Maciver, Victor Boyer, Clément Bompart, Simon Frenay Certificate: 18 Duration: 103 mins Released by: NQV Media Release date: 28th October 2024 Buy ‘The Male Gaze: French Connection’ now
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