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Cypher Avenue Rating: 4 of 5      
 

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Directed by: David Eduardo Flores Perez
Written by and Starring: Seek The POET
Featuring: Jarid Manos
 

The Ending” synopsis:

“A poignant spoken word piece that addresses sexual addiction, stigma, and homophobia.  In this independent short film the main character played by Seek The Poet struggles with sexual addiction, self control issues, and risky behaviors which leads him on a prowl to satisfy his sexual appetite.”

Yeah that’s the elevator pitch now let’s get to the job interview.   Bottom line, this is a great short film!

There are a few sequential positive things that stuck out to me.  I feel I can make an educated guess and say this film had a very small budget.  However Seek teamed up with David E.F.P of 2osos Production Company and produced a high quality product.

From the beginning of the film I was happy that the audio and sound quality was on point.  As we have expressed in the past, the audio quality is something that has not been up to par in numerous black gay web series. The scenes were in focus and the editing was for the most part seamless.  Kudos to 2osos Production for not having any technical issues that would have distracted us from the story.


 PictureI am glad that Seek The Poet decided to play the lead in this film.  I now this compliment is going to sound odd; however, even though he is attractive, Seek The Poet has a little more meat on his bones than many actors you see in black gay films.  I point this out for a reason.In real life, everyone does not have chiseled muscles and rock hard abs of steel.  Of course nothing is wrong with those who do but it seems like many black gay films and web series specifically have that type of eye candy just to attract and keep viewers versus focusing on story, acting and technical quality.

Thus the body type realness of the “just an average man” gives the film creditability.

Seek does a great job of bringing his words of poetry to life with his acting. Much of the film is not the main character speaking but actual narration of his thoughts and emotions. Kind of like a voice over.  Most of the acting is done through body language and facial expression.

Because Seek is the writer, he almost makes me question is this really how he is in life?  Are these his real thoughts and emotions or is he just “acting” within the role?  Either way his portrayal is very convincing.

The brief interaction between Seek and the street thug (play by Jarid Manos) is what brings the short film to its climax.  It reminds us how we gay men sometimes put ourselves in situations that could impede on our safety.

Looking at their interaction I thought, “Finally, a masturbation scene that works and is integrated into the story”.  Unlike the masturbation scenes we have seen in some black gay web series.

The only trivial criticisms I have (SPOILER ALERT) is that there is a scene where the main character starts his car and the engine noise briefly downs out his words.  Also I thought the ending could have been slightly better if it had showed the street thug robbing him after his act of violence.

In all, the scenes where very natural, nothing seemed forced.  I had the same feeling when I watched “Slow” for the first time.  Watching The Ending made me feel like I was just observing the everyday life and struggle for the main character; unlike watching a short film or webseries where the actors are attempting to act.

The Ending along with films like The DL Chronicles: Episode Thomas has renewed my faith that black gay films and writers can produce and deliver high quality work.  These are the type of projects that can and should benefit from our financial support.