From growing tradition of LGBT movies, ‘Dish’ lends credit to short film genre

LGBT cinema has grown tremendously since the beginning of the 21st century, but none of the ground-breaking motion pictures of this period should be subsumed under the umbrella of LGBT film—especially now, as the genre branches out into short films with new works like “Dish.”

A technically and conceptually brilliant focus on sexuality has made films like Kimberly Peirce’s “Boys Don’t Cry,” Ang Lee’s “Brokeback Mountain,” and Gus Van Sant’s “Milk” the leaders of a new and powerful wave in social-change cinema—especially in the United States. But one mini-faction of American LGBT filmmaking that tends to be overlooked is that of the short film. In the past 10 years alone, more than 30 LGBT film festivals have cropped up around the country, with most of them screening films no longer than half an hour.

Fortunately, Wolfe Video has come to the rescue. On April 6, the company is releasing a collection of six LGBT short films on its DVD “Boycrazy.” The most interesting and most decorated of the group is Brian Harris Krinsky’s “Dish.”

“Dish”—with a running time of 15 powerful minutes—follows two gay teenagers as they text message each other about their classmates, their bodies, and their sex lives. Fifteen-year-old Israel (played perfectly by Matthew Monge) longs to break his “virgin status” after the older, more experienced Louie boasts about the bed-moments of his past.

Although Israel’s standards for sex seem comfortably idealist—that is, clean and romantic—everything changes when he gets to spend time with Ricky, his longtime attraction whose parents are out of the house. The cinematic result of this exchange is “Dish” at its absolute best—poignant, intelligent, and visually stunning.

A great deal of the short film’s strength is its rightful persistence in examining the sex lives of very young (15-year-old) men. The images work hand in hand with the dialogue to tackle issues of real-life profundity, never becoming cliché. To be sure, the vast majority of LGBT films—particularly those “coming-out stories”—wallow in stereotypical corniness. “Dish” could not be more antithetical in this regard. The characters (and the actors as well) are as smart and savvy as the filmmakers. Never at all tedious, the film captures Israel’s interiority—one of confusion but simultaneous conviction—so well that viewers will insist upon his reality.

Not only are “Dish” and all the other short films of “Boycrazy” among the best of the current LGBT movement in cinema, but they are some of the most brilliant films focusing on social change today. “Dish” is especially effective in altering our thought processes, precisely because it refuses to be preachy. It challenges us to think for ourselves, yet still it guides us on a certain—and necessary—path.

Daniel Valella’s biweekly series Change in Focus takes on the latest films influencing the student activist scene.