Him & Her
2019 · 14m · UK
Directed by Abigail Scollay
Genres: coming-of-age, drama, LGBTQ+
Tones: dark, melancholic, tender
High-school sweethearts Alex and Sam spend their first night alone together in a hotel room, but their relationship reaches a crossroads when Alex reveals a secret about his identity, forcing both to confront fears about sexuality and their future together.
Picked by Margot
The scouts
Coming-out hotel-room two-hander that Klipist itself describes as 'cinematographic' — which is what you say when you mean 'pretty but nothing happens.' I'll skip the white-candy memory device.
A hotel-room two-hander hinging on a piece of candy as memory-trigger — the kind of restrained, image-led queer intimacy Andrew Haigh built Weekend on. The Klipist note about it being their most cinematographic offering is worth taking seriously.
Single hotel room, fourteen minutes, two actors, with Klipist calling it one of their most cinematographic — that's a stripped chamber piece built on close-ups and the choreography of physical distance. A single piece of white candy as an emotional unlock device is the kind of small concrete prop I trust.
Reviews
An impressively packaged debut from Scollay that does a magnificent job of transforming the hotel room setting into something mystical through lighting and deeply intimate through camerawork.
Him & Her is a thoughtful exploration of identity and love that benefits from strong performances by its two leads.
Festivals
- Oniros Film Awards 2019
- North Carolina Gay & Lesbian Film Festival 2019