In the Closet (2008)
An anonymous bedroom inside a typical apartment somewhere in Los Angeles. A pair of young men enter, one having scored a one-night stand, the other giving away little as to his true intentions.
Watch Trailer
Cast
Similar titles
Reviews
It’s not bad or unwatchable but despite the amplitude of the spectacle, the end result is underwhelming.
This film is so real. It treats its characters with so much care and sensitivity.
This is a coming of age storyline that you've seen in one form or another for decades. It takes a truly unique voice to make yet another one worth watching.
By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.
There are only two characters in Jody Wheeler's short film: Griffin, a talkative, lighthearted, outgoing and self-confident guy; and Press who is shy, stern, clumsy and hermetic.Jody Wheeler ponders on duality from the very beginning. Here opposing archetypes face each other and, more importantly, define themselves by their differences. If Griffin has had plenty of sexual experiences, Press is still a virgin; if Griffin is active, Press is passive. In spite of those differences, they seem to complement each other as Griffin explains: "You're alone, I'm alone. Together we're not".Are we doomed to loneliness without the other? Does everything have to obey the duality imperative to the extreme? If language is the key to understand the world, then it's no wonder that a binary system is the most suitable approach. Ferdinand De Saussure defined language as a system of oppositions, in which everything could be reduced to signifier and signified. That's why Press, indeed, affirms that it's all about dichotomy "light and dark, day and night, come out – go in" (one could also add "human - inhuman").Without spoiling the end, if we blindly follow the "black and white" rule, without acknowledging the shades of grays, then it's only logical that coming out of the closet implies also something coming in. But what will remain forever trapped in the closet after Griffin and Press sleep together? Neither the signifier, not the signified, that's for sure.