also the heart is a muscle
2023 · 15m · Italy
Directed by Antonio Vasaturo
Tones: contemplative, dark, melancholic
A young Italian man recovering from cancer becomes obsessed with rebuilding his body at the gym, where a growing attraction to other men forces him to confront a long-suppressed queer identity. Inspired by a true story, the film follows his silent, almost wordless journey toward self-acceptance.
Picked by Zoe
The scouts
4:3 cancer-survivor gym-queer awakening that widens to widescreen at the nightclub. The aspect-ratio trick is honest craft, but the path from Weekend to Moonlight is paved.
Vasaturo's 4:3 frame expanding to widescreen at the moment of liberation is precisely the kind of formal embodiment that distinguishes serious queer cinema — the lineage of Andrew Haigh's Weekend made bodily. Promising.
Claustrophobic 4:3 that expands to widescreen only in climactic nightclub scenes — that's a beautifully literal visual grammar for psychological liberation, exactly the kind of aspect-ratio choice that earns its complexity. 15:08 gives the silent journey room.
Reviews
Raw and a little rough around the edges... marks the announcement of a brave new talent on the short film scene.