Sunday, April 20, 2014

Kiss Me (2012), Directed by Jules Nurrish



Kiss Me (2012) recently premiered at the Latino Queer Arts & Film Festival, but it was shown for the first time in 2012, including being featured on PBS. The short film is very much relevant to our class as the main character is exploring several identities rife with stringent ideas of masculinity: he's a boxer, a sport that idealizes male violence and dominance; he's a latino man of color, which means he will be grappling with both dominant and non-dominant ideas of masculinity; and it is revealed in the course of the film that he is also a homosexual, an identity that in itself is often seen as diminishing of traditional models of masculinity, while also having its own parameters for acceptable male behavior.

I highly recommend the movie. It's quite short - about 11 minutes or so - and available on iTunes here.

P.S. Anyone who watches Looking (HBO) will recognize the lead actor. He also plays a gay man on that show, and is the love interest for the main character of that series.

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