James

James (Niall Wright) is a young boy growing up in Ireland. He has no friends and is very quiet and introverted. His parents are always arguing and he feels isolated. He starts to realize he's gay and has feelings for his English teacher Mr. Sutherland (Matt Jennings). This all comes to a negative (if realistic) conclusion.

Great gay short. Wright is an incredible actor. He doesn't have much dialogue but you can see the pain and confusion in his face clearly in coming to grips with his sexual orientation. Anybody--gay OR straight--would be able to identify with this kid. The supporting actors are all good too. The accents are great and the cinematography is beautiful. Very well-done and moving.

It's a shame that Niall Wright didn't have the support of a decent cast to rival his own acting abilities.

Poor little James and his sad little face. Bless his cotton socks, I just wanted to mother him, take him under my wing and tell him that it would all be alright.

I think that it's a shame that even now there needs to be more support for kids like James so they don't end up experiencing things in such a hard and potentially dangerous way. It has similarities to one of the story arcs in Clapham Junction (2007).