When someone from your past dies, you might find yourself overcome with emotion, and those feelings are compounded even further if it’s someone that you regret losing touch with after so many close years together. Where do those feelings go? Are they reignited once we see those people again? In Michael Perez-Lindsey’s touching and stirring drama, Will I See You Again?, two former college teammates have their estrangement tested in the wake of a close friend’s death, and their reunion sparks unpredictable results.
After the sudden death of Jim, Max, a man of God, is surprised when Paul enters the church for the end of the funeral service. They exchange a look at one another as if a magnetic pull yanks their eyes in each other’s direction. During a quiet night of reflection at home, Max requests to follow Paul on Instagram, but it is swiftly denied. We all do that, don’t we? We may not want to hold a conversation with someone that we have beef with but something as seemingly small as denying someone’s follow can make the other person hurt. At the same time, Max’s former wife begs him to finally sign the divorce papers.
The following day, Max attends a meeting in order to hear Jim’s final requests, but he is surprised when Paul enters the office and both men discover that Jim’s will has some specific fine print. In order for them to become beneficiaries, they must be hooked up to a polygraph machine and ask each other questions. If there is any sign of lying or withholding truth, they lose everything–before they even know what it is. The questions immediately become personal, and we fully understand how much truth has been bubbling between them for over two decades.
Perez-Lindsey keeps the second half of the action all in one room, and we feel like we are a participant and a voyeur. Because someone is overseeing the meeting (why, hello, Anna Marie Horsford!) with two other people in an official capacity, the men have to battle their own awkwardness while remaining truthful about their romantic past. Would you want your first confrontation with a former friend or lover to be in an office while people are making sure you are telling the truth? The circumstances of the script force these men to not just answer questions but also to look one another in the eye for the first time in years.
I couldn’t stop wondering how I would calibrate my own line of questioning as both Max and Paul must consider both their hearts and their heads at the same time. They have to keep themselves in line while exploring emotional truths, and that balance is a testament to the writing, the direction, and the lead performances from Hosea Chanchez and Nick Wechsler . Paul struggles with Max’s pointed devotion to his faith, a subject that isn’t dealt with enough in mainstream queer films, and Will I leaves the door open with. It’s a thorny topic that the film handles with grace and mercy.
We tend to imagine that an estrangement is the end of a relationship with Perez-Lindsey wants us to re-examine that by keeping the door open. Having faith is not just tied to a love of God or an association with a church. It could also mean that you can forgive and move on.
Will I See You Again? will play in-person at Out on Film on October 6.
