Are men okay?
It’s a question that I have thought of every time that I have seen LeAndre Thomas’ deceptively rich and darkly funny Live Action Short contender, This Is Private, and that question is quite the icebreaker. From the very first scene, Thomas’ film subverts our expectations, especially when it comes to how we talk to each other and what we expect when it comes to discovering what we need in order to keep our head on straight. What would you do if you entered the back room of a strip joint only to be asked to talk about what you’re feeling in the moment and how you want to move forward? This Is Private mingles comedy and compassion with the ease of a swivel of the hips.
Birgundi Baker’s Royce is facing some financial distress. She is currently working as a dancer at night to pay for her classes in her pursuit of becoming a psychologist. You cannot help but think about the extreme differences in the light as we consider her sitting in a crowded classroom in the morning to then dress down to make some cash before doing it all over again the next day. The bright glow of her cell phone illuminates her face whenever she looks at new apartment listings with the pristine, empty spaces almost begging to be filled. When she overhears one of the club’s clients air out some frustrations, she offers to take the gentleman into a private room before she offers a different kind of service.
In an effort to exorcise this man’s frustrations, she offers to listen to him talk about his day, and she ensures that everything will stay inside the walls of the private room. It’s almost like we witness a lightbulb light up (in neon, of course) above Royce’s head as she develops a brilliant and savvy plan before our eyes. A lot of these men come to this strip club at the end of their day after they have spent hours and hours in meetings or in front of a computer screen. Even though they think what they need is to be touched, Royce offers something even more satisfying.
Thomas offers insight into not just on the concept of getting what you need, but he discusses what kinds of conversations he had with Baker in the creation of such an industrious character. It feels like we have had a lot of conversations related to mental health and sex work since we exited the most traumatic moments of the pandemic, but we agree that those conversations are still ongoing and must be handled with care and consideration. Late in This Is Private, a character mentions the concept of one picking themselves up by their bootstraps, and Thomas offers a clever visual ode to that footwear in a later scene. The palette is stunning with the club itself offering deep hues of scarlet and blue–almost as if to consider the bruised emotions of the men seeking solace with a heavy pour and a fleeting lap dance.
After Royce explains the types of services she would like to offer, a client asks, “Are you a stripper?” There’s almost wonder in his voice not unlike when a kid asks the real identity of a superhero. In a lot of ways, therapists are better than those who fly through the sky. They save us from ourselves but do it by listening and offering the kinds of insight we didn’t know we needed.
Royce and Superman might wear the same amount of lycra, but only of them will let you spill in the privacy of their office.
