"Thirteen or So Minutes..." (2008) +

Two attractive guys, secure in their heterosexuality, discover a surprising chemistry that results in "thirteen or so minutes" that change their ideas about who they are and what they want, possibly forever. This short film operates from basically implausible scenario, the sort one reads about in formulaic print porn, in which two straight guys fall into bed together and, in so doing, fall in love. It's a vision of sexual idealism in which homoerotic masculinity is unburdened by anything so distracting as gay identity. (I know. Feh.) Which makes it all the more remarkable that this film is as engaging as it is. The leads are hot. They spend much of the film mostly naked. And the utterly unbelievable dialogue somehow works to spin a very appealing spell. The basic message of the film is that erotic feelings derive from an essence of truth and love, and that things like straight/gay or normal/sick are irrelevant to the experience of the truth of erotic love. (It's a very Buddhist kind of thing and there is something quietly spiritual about this film.) The two actors maneuver the nearly impossible, and quite abstract, dialogue with aplomb. They're both very attractive, although not in any superhuman sort of way, and they are filmed to highlight their basic appeal, not their extraordinary beauty. It's not the most sophisticated or witty film, but it seems to draw from an appealing spirit of eroticism, optimism and openness. A compelling, sexy and surprising vision of the possibilities of gay male love.