Sebastian

For his feature film debut which he wrote, directed and starred in, Canadian filmmaker James Fanizza chose a feel-good romance which may not exactly be Shakespeare, but it is the stuff that hopelessly romantic gay men just love.

Set in his native Toronto, Fanizza plays Alex, a frustrated artist who is making ends meet working in a local coffee shop, and he cannot be doing too badly either, as he has a rather lovely and trendy apartment to live in. The story starts with Alex bidding farewell to his Argentinian/Canadian boyfriend Nelson (Guifre Bantjes-Rafols) who is going away on business for a week. As a parting gesture, Nelson asks Alex if he would consider showing his cousin around town as he is visiting before he returns to Argentina now that his studies in the U.S. are finished.

Any thought of turning down the request is quickly dismissed the moment Alex catches sight of the hunky Sebastian (Alex House). They make no plans to meet up but they just happen to bump into each other later that night (it's the movies after all) and it's instantly clear there is a sexual chemistry between the two of them, and maybe even more.

They naturally end up in bed together whilst Sebastian is protesting loudly that in his culture one just doesn't steal one's cousin's boyfriend, and Alex says that's also the same in the U.S. Despite Alex's commitment phobia, which we learn of very quickly, the two still spend the whole next day together staring into each other's eyes like lovelorn puppies.

Of course, with only a week at their disposal, they still have to fight so they can make up again, and give Sebastian a chance to lecture Alex about getting over his traumatic past so he can start building a future for himself. Alex's ex, Nelson, not being able to reach Alex on the phone, returns home without warning and catches a naked Sebastian in Alex's shower and throws a hissy fit, but it is too little too late.

We should also mention that Alex's best friend Xenia is a drag queen played by Brian McCook, better known as Katya.

What really lifts this wee drama is that both lead actors spin their charm on us in a way that has us happily being less critical and instead leaves us totally invested in the outcome of their story. No spoilers here, but the final twist is cute and works very well.

Both the DVD and VOD are available on February 6th.

DVD
$19.99
Buy it here