Alfie in Love
2020 · 18m · USA
Directed by Christian Flashman
Genres: coming-of-age, drama, romance
While hiding out at a remote bed-and-breakfast after a breakup, Alfie finds himself caught in an uneasy love triangle with his alluring host and her other young guest, where innocence, rivalry and summertime longing tip into something more provocative.
Picked by Margot
The scouts
A B&B erotic triangle sounds like it should be transgressive, but Flashman plays it so tastefully it becomes almost conservative—the film knows exactly which literary lineage it belongs to, which is precisely why it doesn't need to provoke.
Flashman situates this chamber piece within a rigorous formal tradition of seduction narratives and coming-of-age restraint, where the architecture of hospitality itself becomes the grammar of desire—every glance, every threshold crossed is syntactically precise.
The decision to let the B&B's rigid codes of politeness become the entire erotic language is what transforms what could be melodrama into something genuinely tense; that single choice—manners as desire—does all the heavy lifting on a modest budget.
Reviews
Praises the sexual tension and admires the performance of young Matt Gomez Hidaka.