Pleasure

The scouts

The setup screams expected queer coming-of-age beats — caught boys, summer night, inevitable intimacy — but I'd need to see what Caverly does to the grammar of that moment to know if he's subverting or just executing.

A deliberate study in proximity and restraint; the film's lineage traces through intimate realist cinema, and its formal control — the sweaty geography of the night, the editing around the 'unexpected' — will determine whether this sits with the season's most considered work.

The entire film hinges on how Caverly frames that moment of intimacy after the graffiti split — whether it's a cut, a held shot, a sound design choice — because everything before is scaffolding, and that decision either makes it resonate or lets it slip.

Reviews

Two teenage boys are cut apart across a sweaty summer night after they're caught graffitiing a train in Melbourne's inner-west, until a moment of unexpected intimacy brings them closer together than ever before.

Festivals

• Melbourne International Film Festival 2024, World premiere (72nd edition)
• Melbourne Queer Film Festival 2024, Nominated - Best Director
• Flickerfest 2025, Selection (Rainbow Shorts)
• St. Kilda Film Festival 2025, Selection