The five-year-old black gay short film, The Young and Evil, recently resurfaced online as a cautionary tale for gay men of all ages. The intention may have been to garner sympathy for the main character, instead it comes off as a horror movie chronicling the origin of a villain.
[Editor’s Note: The following review contains spoilers. Scroll down to watch the short film before reading if you do not want to have the ending revealed beforehand.]
Directed by Julian Breece, the film tells the story of an 18-year-old black gay teenager Karel Andrews (excellently portrayed by Vaughn Lowery) living life on the edge. Burdened with caring for his debilitated mother and be an Out homosexual in an urban neighborhood, Karel adopts a lifestyle of dangerously causal unprotected gay sex. Upon hearing the news from a doctor that he tested HIV negative despite his risky sexual activity, the young man reveals that he actually wants to contract the virus.
“My favorite thing in this world is to get fucked,” he tells the doctor, “I like getting fucked so hard, I don’t know who I am when it’s over. I like high-risk, sometimes HIV infected cum. and I’m not giving it up.”
This is where the short film derails. One could speculate through subtext that Karel wanted to be punished for his sexuality, for being gay. One could speculate that Karel was turned on by the thrill-seeking adrenaline rush of engaging in high risk sex. One could speculate that Karel just didn’t care about life in general so he lived it like each day was his last.
The problem with all of that speculation is the filmmakers leave all of the heavy lifting for the audience instead of carrying the weight themselves. This is a trend that is heavily adopted in black gay short films and web series.
It’s never made clear why Karel lives the way he does. Throughout this short film we just see random scenes of a character likely created based on the writer reading a newspaper or blog headline. The internal conflicts and motivations of the main character is never really examined at all. This is a huge oversight given the fact that Karel is depicted to be so self destructive. It turns out the writers devoted most of their attention in building the character Naaman, played by Mark Berry.
As Karel continues his quest to become HIV positive (seriously, this is the ridiculous premise of the short), he finds his way into a dark candlelit sex party. It’s here that he sees Naaman, an older man in his 40s that Karel recognizes from an online video of men speaking on their positive HIV status.
Karel follows the live-in maintenance man of the complex, Naaman, down to the basement of the building where he tries to seduce him. The more reserved elder man of the two clearly recognizes the game that Karel is attempting to play, opting to try to talk sense into the teenager instead.
What follows is a amazingly brilliant, superbly acted and well written pair of scenes that (almost) makes us forget about the shortcomings of the previous dozen. Seeing Naaman reluctantly resist the young man’s advances as Karel quickly calls audibles to adjust his plays was more engaging than any scene in any black gay web series to date.
By the end, however, we’re still left scratching our heads. What did we just see and what was the point of it all?
Was the message: Avoid unprotected sex? If so, Karel was an HIV negative man who wanted to be positive, unprotected sex was the best means to an end in his case.
Was the message: Beware of older HIV positive sexual predators? If so, Naaman did his damnedest to avoid sex with the teenager at all costs until he reluctantly gave in to unrelenting advances. The younger HIV negative man was the predator here. On top of that, whose to say the older man didn’t eventually grab a condom before giving in when all was said and done? The scene cuts off before that moment so Karel may have done all that for nothing.
The only points and messages I could muster from watching this film was:
– Black Gay men love sex, lots of it. Especially unprotected sex.
– Black gay men are weak and self destructive. (even our Naaman eventually gives in to temptation)
This short had to potential to examine possible causes for dangerous lifestyles and behaviors. It could have examined the larger issue of depression in the black gay community. It could have delved into the pressures young black gay men face in urban communities, which often leads to depression and/or risky sexual activities.
The story of Karel was essentially the origin story of a killer or predator. In the context of the world created, we know that once he reached his HIV positive goal, he would continue to have unprotected sex and possibly infect others. That is the only thing that explains his intentional efforts to become infected himself, to infect others. If suicide was his goal, there are much more effective ways to kill yourself. Especially since HIV is not the death knell that it once was.
So if you view The Young and Evil as a horror film (with emphasis on ‘evil’), it works well as a prequel to a larger and more interesting story. Still, given its shortcomings, the skilled directing, strong acting performances and amazing last couple scenes of the film make this a must see.
Nick Delmacy
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This was made in 2008? I saw it a few months ago and thought it was brand new. Anyways, I’m sure it’s brilliant and had a lot of good things to say but I was for some reason creeped out by the scene ont he basketball court and could not move forward while watching it. It may just be a me thing as I couldn’t make it through Something Strange About the Johnson’s or whatever it was called.
This was actually one of many short films in the Boys On Film series. Streamed this on Netflix a couple of years ago. I couldn’t enjoy this because it was extremely confusing and regardless of what the message was it was a negative message concerning black gay men.
Good acting in a bad movie still means it’s a bad movie. I’m thinking 4 out of 5 is damn near perfect and this short film is far from perfect.
I hear you…But we gave the short film “The Ending” 4 out of 5 stars and this film was at least just as good as that one, in my opinion. Both films had an equally negative message concerning black gay men.
This film reminds me of “Something Strange About the Johnson’s” however this film is bearable to watch without seriously cringing or being completely freaked out.
Its crazy to me that so many ppl were offended by Strange Thing About The Johnsons. I thought it was a brilliant dark satirical reversal on stories like Lolita and movies where older men prey on younger women/men.
I had a weird feeling while watching it. It felt exploitative and not intelligent. Almost like it’s only goal was to be emptily shocking. Then when I saw an interview with the director (a preppy white guy) he said the idea was a comedy that people took seriously. HATED IT!
I couldn’t agree more, Nick! “Something Strange About The Johnsons” was, indeed, brilliant! As you alluded, it turned the oft used “Oedipus Complex” trope on it’s head. I am a movie buff, having seen thousands of ’em. And I’d never seen the subject of that particular type of parental abuse take place in another production. But what made it brilliant was it’s execution–good production values, great screen play, competent direction and wonderful acting performances all around by it’s cast. (The actress who played the Mom’s performance was incredible! She completely enveloped the turmoil of what was going on in that house without saying a word. The drama was all reflected in her face.) As much as I appreciate this short for it’s artistic achievement and execution; it remains one of the most disturbing productions I’ve ever seen! And I enjoyed it, nonetheless!!!
But it wasn’t though. There was no rhyme or reason to it. It was purely done for exploitative shock value. Even the director said he was trying to make a comedy that people made deep on their own. Even when I first watched it I thought it was so absurd that I felt bad for laughing…but apparently I was supposed to be laughing. People put far more weight on the “meaning” than even the director did.
Agree with everything you said @luvbro, it was a great short. What made it such a dope dark comedy was that they played the ridiculous role reversal so straight and serious. Many black people who were “uncomfortable” or offended by it would have not been so uptight if it featured an all white cast instead. Caucasians do this kind of humor all of the time. In all honesty, I wouldn’t be surprised if “The Kids In The Hall” had done a sketch like this on their show at one point. One thing that did make it weird for me was I once dated a guy who was repeatedly molested by his father as a kid. He’s still cool with his dad to this day. So I thought of him while watching this. Inter-family gay molestation does happen in the black community but many boys/men don’t want to lose/harm the relationship with their dads or feel the guilt of destroying the family by revealing the secret. Its a serious issue made light of in that short film, but I still appreciated what the filmmaker was doing.
So, a kid trying to catch HIV doesn’t freak you out?
@ Nick
so I broke my promise not to watch another ‘web series’ ever because of you Nick and I have to tell you the makers of “Freefall” out to take a few pages from this production. It was well acted, nicely shot, good cinematography, good tempo, believable characters and emotions felt, on a whole a good production.
There were a few unanswered questions but you can deduce that Vaughn’s promiscuity may be a personal flaw. He is certainly a youth living on the edge- don’t know why. Maybe the director wanted to show how flippant and irresponsible juveniles are regarding sex. The match up between Vaughn and Mark although believable, showed very little difference between them and their sexual appetite. When people want sex they go get it – risk or no risk, with anyone or they take care of business by themselves – as we saw when Vaughn irresponsibly masturbates in front of those thugs . I guess we are all guilty to SOME point!
Whatever the message I judged the movie for its acting and production qualities and it scored high on my book. No Nick, I won’t be fooled anymore. The words ‘horror movie’ caught my eyes for this one. I doubt it you can be so clever to draw me into watching another one of those dreary , half assed, wanna be urban lifestyle creator ‘web series’ produced by people whose only goal is to make money at all cost and whenever they roll the dice it falls on 1.
Oh yeah, sorry, a black gay horror movie is never gonna happen. Gay men are not that creative.
Sadly you may be right. I know from personal experience they don’t even want to take a risk on a hetero black horror film let alone a gay one. And since The inheritance had star power and failed to get distribution…black horror may soon be dead….but we do fare better in scifi for whatever reason. And there was a white gay horror film called Bite Marks. I can kind of see why that’s not a good idea. It was too much of a tone shift to go from being a horror film to turning into a gay agenda film. Maybe a film maker will be able to straddle the line well.
awsome film…
“The only points and messages I could muster from watching this film was:
– Black Gay men love sex, lots of it. Especially unprotected sex.
– Black gay men are weak and self destructive. (even our Naaman eventually gives in to temptation)”
Points & messages? Really Nick?
This short is a brilliant slice of gay urban psycho/sociological surrealism. I loved the fact that there was no pontificating, educating or moralizing. Perhaps we just need a greater quantity of films, so that every 15 minute budget drama isn’t burdened with casting our heterogeneous lot of black gay men in a positive light. Remember all the flack that Gabourey Sidibe, Mo’Nique and Lee Daniels caught behind Precious? People respond to the challenges of life in as many ways as we can imagine.
Cinematography/sound/other tech stuff: 5/5
Acting: 4.5/5 (except the trite “Tableaux models” scene)
Story: 4/5
I don’t think something being better than Freefall automatically equals it being good. I guess black gay cinema is that to where anything above the norm is considered outstanding.
If I had to set a benchmark, none of this could hold a match to anything the DL Chronicle dudes have done but yet this gets damn near perfect marks?
Naw I’m good.
The acting in this short was very good..intense even.I found myself feeling uncomfortable throughout the entire short due to the hopelessness and despair embedded in each frame.
What I got out of it is that there are some guys who are looking to get infected. It highlights for me that HIV prevention is not just about condoms. It showed that even those who are in the prevention fight can fall to temptation to make unwise decisions. In order for us to stem the tide of this disease in our community, we have to look at the mental, financial, and spiritual (not religion) health of our people.
I have to watch this again in a few weeks or so. It’s just too damn heavy to do it back to back. Great post guys!
This film deftly and beautifully explores how deeply wounded some young black gay men are in this world. I don’t find it confusing or the prequel to “a larger and more interesting story” — horror or otherwise. Unless, of course, you consider the horror of what our self-destructive protagonist has been raised within: brutal child abuse from a father who was, in turn, shot in the head by a mother (an act he may have witnessed) now destroying herself in a slow, self-punishing, alcoholic suicide, who cannot care for herself in the least leaving Karel responsible for their survival. How long has he been his mother’s caretaker, and who takes care of the caretaker? He assumes his task lovingly, it brackets both the beginning and ending of the film. Karel’s compassion for his mother within their four walls makes his behavior out in the world that much more stark. Outside of his home he is frighteningly fearless, ferociously provocative, antagonistic, threatening and to some degree unhinged in a world that sees him as worthless. He is a man with nothing to lose.
Ultimately, however, despite Karel’s cynicism and self-destructive behavior which includes drug abuse (echoing his mother’s example) there is a glimmer of hope. At the end, Karel gently brushes his mother’s hair as Naaman’s voiceover speaks of the restorative promise of love. A promise which Karel appears to be deeply contemplating, with he and mother dressed in white, bathed in the pristine whiteness of her bedroom, which recalls the symbolic hopefulness and promise associated with the white wedding dresses in Naaman’s. Now, the connection of whiteness with purity and redemption is another conversation.
When I watched this short several years ago, it disturbed me. Today,it still does. I agree with @Nick about the writers leaving much of the film’s “gray areas” to the audience. Knowing the motive behind this young man’s reckless trajectory would have made the film’s message more sustainable.
Yeah they half-assed that important part of the storytelling.
Okay….so, I made sure to read the reviews here first before I watched it. Never seen it before now. With that said, a backstory on ole boy would’ve kept me hooked.
Hmm yea this short film was interesting. I think my main criticism was that it seemed like the film lacked direction. There were so many different things going on and none of it seemed cohesive to me. At the end I was left feeling a little confused and I had too many unanswered questions. But to see his self-destructive behavior, man that really got to me. It’s like dang bro what the heck is going on in your head to make you do these things. I really wish they would have told the audience the reason behind his behavior. Also the video quality of the film wasn’t bad and the acting was straight.
After having more time to think about this film and watching it a second time I wanted to take back something I said in my original post lol. My immediate thoughts after watching the film was that I felt like it lacked a sense of clear direction. Meaning I felt like it wasn’t clear where they were going with the story and the main characters involved. After taking a second look I at least understood that they were trying to show how Karels character was damaged and that he didn’t value his self worth at all. This was reflected in his destructive behavior throughout the film. So I do feel now it had some sense of direction. As far as the film being cohesive I do feel differently about that as well. Maybe because the message of the film wasn’t immediately clear to me I think was the reason why I felt that way previously. After watching it again I was able to come up with possible messages that the film was trying to portray.
Some of these responses really surprise me and I wonder whether folks paid any real attention to this film at all. The visuals and the verbal tell a very powerful story of a deeply cynical young man so beaten and bruised by his circumstances that, by his own admission, “I just don’t want to care anymore.” Pull back a bit and connect this story to long-standing discussions of the despair of many gay youth and the frequency of suicide among them. Or even the overall assumption of invulnerability attributed to the young and the reckless. Karel is most certainly disturbed and the filmmaker gives us any number of reasons why as he attempts to ease his pain with both sex and drugs: a brutal upbringing and home life, a violent and dangerous neighborhood, equally disturbed peers, the oddly linked medical/religious (intertwined shaming?) establishment all adding up to no vision for a future. Although he doesn’t show it, Karel must live with a great deal of fear. Certainly inner city nihilism, as a response, isn’t a new concept. Yet, even as he sees himself as valueless, because that’s what his world tells him, he’s still a fighter. This inner conflict is nicely illustrated with a defiantly gay rap soundtrack one moment and flashes of Karel as the martyred St. Sebastian the next. All the elements presented provide insight into who Karel is. As does Naaman’s grief over the loss of one who was supposed to be there to care of him. That also sums up Karel’s…
I’m not sure what to say about this short, if the goal was to scare people about HIV/AIDS it missed the mark. Maybe because I’m old enough to remember when it was first called the “Gay Cancer”, that it affected majority white men in the US and heterosexuals in Africa, when ACT UP was on the NY news almost every night, when AIDS QUILTS were being made commemorating loved ones who died of AIDS, a little black girl who wasn’t allowed to go to public school because she was born with AIDS from a crack addicted mother, all that and then some that I find this short film confused about the message it’s trying to portray.
funny i seen this on this site and could only watch till young brotha was masterbating to the thug on the basketball court and i stopped. as i watched it to the end this time , to me it looked like the portrait of what is known as “a bug chaser” some who feel utterly hopeless when it comes to having a viable future period. not seeing a example of a reason to exist and numb about catching HIV and stuck with be a care provider and not having room to even be in a relationship at his young age. like i said utter hopelessness. restricted about sexually expressing his self, to be devoid of touched in an intimate way. he goes to that raw sex party. what is in the mind of the bug chaser, not having and education so not being able to support himself, not seeing a future with a significant other, nothing to lose? what is in his mind to sero convert? well in some state if some one sero converts a whole host of help arrive, MEDICATION from public health organization, section 8 housing, a food allowance,and a payment from SSI? And also there are whole website that’s whole thrust is bare back sex. except the caveat of being positive and getting reinfected with another strain of the virus which may cause the medication not to work as well or at all. to that brotha turning positive represent freedom ( sound sick?) well it is kinda the way this country will spend any where between $25,000 to $75,000 to warehouse a man in prison yet not allow a free collage education I’M JUST SAYIN’
“: FILM REVIEW: The Young and Evil – http://t.co/m93kezN3hz http://t.co/yfiWsOJgnF”
I thought it was about dealing with homophobia and how it could lead someone to engaging in unmeaningful behavior. Notice he was engage in drugs as well.