The Plunge
2019 · 10m · United Kingdom
Directed by Simon Ryninks
Genres: comedy, coming-of-age, romance
Tones: humorous, provocative, tender
After a night of passion, Emily tells Jay she'd like to use a strap-on, and Jay — terrified of losing a girl he finally has a connection with — reluctantly agrees to test his boundaries.
Picked by Zoe
The scouts
Everyone expects this to be a punchline, but Ryninks refuses the easy laugh—instead he makes the terror *real*, which is the actual subversion. That's when you know a film's doing something most people won't risk.
The film sits in an interesting formal space between indie intimacy and rom-com structure, though it doesn't quite achieve the tonal precision of the best work in this vein; the tenderness is there, but the control wavers.
The entire short hinges on one decision—keeping the camera on Jay's face during the moment of consent, letting you watch vulnerability and trust negotiate in real time—and that single choice transforms what could've been novelty into something genuinely moving.