Sometimes gay-themed shorts are accused of a fantasy-land aspect - beautiful bodies and the absurd landscapes they writhe around in. The choice to open Portrait of a Couple on a chiseled, near-naked Ryan Christiansen and Kairon John does little to dissuade a viewer from seeing this as being the same, but reality hits soon enough.
It's to the credit of Christiansen and John that you still feel a pull in such a toxic relationship. The anger and need coursing through both men is expressed with a raw physicality, a power struggle with no winners. These types of scenes can often go very wrong, feeling cheap, or forced, but that is never the case here. You find yourself drawn to the relationship even as you might wish you weren't.
The character of Ryan is incredibly exhausting to watch even for 8 minutes. Even before he learns he was exposed to HIV, he treats Manuel with constant contempt. His mommy issues are front and center, but there are also race and class issues between the two men, issues which director David Martin Porras smartly doesn't let overpower the narrative. Ryan also cheats on Manuel, with no regret (until he learns he might have HIV, anyway). There is never any moment which asks you to sympathize with Ryan, but the shocking final seconds, when he can't stop himself from having sex with Manuel in spite of the danger he is subjecting him to, Christiansen so directly lets us see just how pathetic and fragile is that you finally reach a place of understanding. A sickening place of understanding, but one that takes such a deeply selfish character to a natural conclusion.
It's to the credit of Christiansen and John that you still feel a pull in such a toxic relationship. The anger and need coursing through both men is expressed with a raw physicality, a power struggle with no winners. These types of scenes can often go very wrong, feeling cheap, or forced, but that is never the case here. You find yourself drawn to the relationship even as you might wish you weren't.
The character of Ryan is incredibly exhausting to watch even for 8 minutes. Even before he learns he was exposed to HIV, he treats Manuel with constant contempt. His mommy issues are front and center, but there are also race and class issues between the two men, issues which director David Martin Porras smartly doesn't let overpower the narrative. Ryan also cheats on Manuel, with no regret (until he learns he might have HIV, anyway). There is never any moment which asks you to sympathize with Ryan, but the shocking final seconds, when he can't stop himself from having sex with Manuel in spite of the danger he is subjecting him to, Christiansen so directly lets us see just how pathetic and fragile is that you finally reach a place of understanding. A sickening place of understanding, but one that takes such a deeply selfish character to a natural conclusion.
