Hot Legs

No doubts, the construction and the storytelling are the basic virtues of this minimalistic short film about two guys in a hotel room for six day. The hide and ride game, the dialogue, the tension, reflections of ambiguity and the sensuality, the homoerotism and well crafted end are , near the acting, the good points of a beautiful drama.

This near-excellent short film has, it seems, been ' lost ' for far too many years. 26 to be exact. Short films are often forgotten, and this one should not have been. Made in South Africa it is an explicit erotic and violent film about two men in an hotel room for six days, trying to explore ( one forcibly so ) of the sexual and emotional relationship they once had, years ago. One has a wife and the other has remained faithful to his homosexuality. In this closed space with flashbacks in colour both men struggle literally to understand ' what happened ' and memory seems deceptive. A solitary kiss between them is the one real link, and its brief passion shows there was passion. End of spoilers. It would have made a good short play, and the acting of both men seems at times too theatrical; but that said both are excellent in their roles and there is no gay stereotyping whatsoever. A homophobic society hovers over the text, and the very ordinariness of their desire, in a homophobic place, appeared to me to be the cause of the murderous cul-de-sac they are in. A fascinating, unique and often very beautiful film.