Younger, with his dark eyes and his curly mop of hair, is by far the most fresh-faced person in the bar, and it seems like he surprises himself when he asks Older if he has a place to go to before acknowledging the gold band on Older’s left hand.
“There’s nothing wrong with a bit of rust,” Younger tells Older as they make their way back to Older’s hotel room after sidling up to one another. They are speaking about the slender fences that circle trees in the city after Older reveals that he invented the metal ones that seem out of fashion compared to their current, less expensive, plastic counterparts. It’s a creative line of flirtation that comes unexpectedly as they follow one another to their horny destination, and I couldn’t help but notice how differently they walk next to one another down the nearly empty city sidewalk. Younger has blown off his university friends in the search for something that he really wants. Director Mark Pluck has created an intimate chamber drama about how our expectations should be kept in check.
When they make it back to the room, Older sits on the bed and instructs Younger to remove one article of clothing at a time. First his jacket, then his overshirt, then his trousers–when Younger tries to move too quickly, Older corrects him and, without saying the exact words, lets his young ward know that he is in charge. He must listen and obey. There may not have been any signs of this soft dominance in the bar, but Younger follows every order eagerly
Pluck does a curiously confident job of showing proximity between these men even as their ages are kept far apart. Upon entering the room, there is a clear physical distance between them and when Younger sits next to Older, the camera sits behind them to show how close their thighs are before Younger tentatively reaches forward with his hand to touch the gentleman a few decades his senior. There is a sexy restraint at play here with the camera lingering on skin, hair, and enforcing the notion of palpable touch. We can almost hear their breath before it transforms into a moan.
The narrative takes a turn in the film’s final third as both men have to detail what they want and truths inexplicably burst forward. A miscalculation on Older’s part allows Younger to react with anger and frustration before it morphs into something rather lovely by the scene’s end. Behind closed doors, both men are open to being physically and emotionally vulnerable, and when you take your clothes off with a stranger you might feel exposed without risk. Geronto ponders whether we know we are as emotionally bare as we are physically naked.
Geronto plays as part of the Out On Film’s What We Carry: Drama Shorts block on October 4 at Landmark’s Midtown Art Cinema on October 4. It will stream as part of Out On Film’s online programming beginning October 5.
