"The Cat and the Moon": An almost-canonical gay couple and a gay-subtext romance on the Mean Streets of New York

 

Link to the N*de Photos

The Cat and the Moon (2019) was advertised as a "coming of age" movie with Alex Wolff (left) playing an updated Holden Caulfield.  So I  went in expecting depression, drugs, suicide, heterosexual machinations, and rampant homophobia. I found lots of drugs, suicidal ideations, insanity, and heterosexual romance, but no homophobia, and so many gay subtexts that I couldn't keep track of who was in love with whom.  

New Guy (Alex Wolff) moves to New York City while his mom is in rehab, stays with his dad's old buddy, and gets involved in a lot stuff.  This review will only cover the gay subtext scenes.

Scene 1: New Guy's first day in school.  Skyler (Giulian Yao Gioello), hot for the new guy, befriends him and shows him around.

Scene 2: In algebra class, two stoner buds are playing a game involving fluttering their hands together. 

Scene 3:  New Guy is in the restroom, trying to get high with a bong made of a toilet paper roll, when the stoner buds come in, bickering like an old married couple and talking like "he got into my motherf*ckin' grill, yo."  

One stands at the urinal; the other doesn't have to go, so he just stands nearby to get a peek at his bud's d*ck

They find New Guy and introduce themselves as Seamus and Russell (I'll call them Gay Guy and Straight Friend).  They invite to a party Friday night.

"Wait -- will your girlfriend be there?"  Gay Guy asks.  

"Yes."

"Fuck!  You never pay attention to me when she's around."  To New Guy: "His balls just evaporate when she's around." That must make sex difficult.

Scene 4; The party was cancelled, so Gay Guy (Tommy Nelson, far left) invites New Guy to go to a club with him and his good buddy Skyler, who cruised Nick in Scene 1.  Straight Friend and his Girlfriend will also be there.  So when they go out, it's Skyler-his girlfriend and Russell-his boyfriend, get it?  

On the way, Gay Guy and Straight Friend argue and break up.  The Girlfriend tells New Guy not to worry: they break up all the time, but get back together again. "Honestly, I think they just secretly want to fuck each other."  Ok, so it's not a subtext.

They end up partying on the roof. Gay Guy and Straight Friend kiss.  Wait, I thought you had other partners.

Later, while the two are dealing with a drug overdose, New Guy and The Girlfriend bond.

Scene 5: New Guy has lunch with Straight Friend (Skyler Gisondo, left), who reveals that he cheated last night, before his overdose: he was with "someone."  He doesn't say who, and neither of the guys use gender pronouns, leaving open the possibility that it was with a boy .

Scene 6:  A roomful of guys hanging out.  Straight Friend asks Gay Guy to rap about buttholes. Apparently everyone knows that he's a butthole expert.  

He starts out: "This my boy Seamus, fucking on an anus."  Tell me more.  

"Young Russ, I'm reckless, I wreck chicks."  He pauses. "No, that's not right."  Of course not.  You meant "wreck dudes."  

Scene 7: The Girlfriend invites them to another party  The four head out, engaging in youthful hijinks.  On the subway, Straight  Friend pretends that he is getting oral s*ex from Gay Guy.  Everyone laughs.

They try to pick up some drugs for the party, but almost get shot when Gay Guy refers to the dealer (Quincy Chad, left) as "My N....."  He tries to explain that it's a rap term, but the dealer pulls a gun and asks if Gay Guy would like it in his mouth. Ok, a reference to oral activity.  Figures that it would be Gay Guy.

 They run away, and divide into two couples to cuddle and recuperate:  Gay Guy/his Boyfriend and New Guy/Straight Friend.  So Russell and Skyler are like canonical boyfriends, and Nick and Seamus have a gay-subtext friendship?  Or are they falling in love?

The Girlfriend and her friend arrive.  Straight Friend tries to kiss her (because he feels bad about doing things with other people?) but she won't let him.  She wonders why he's so interested in kissing, all of a sudden. "Since when do you care about that?"  Yeah, kissing girls, yuck!

More after the break

Spike Island: Manchester Boys Bond at a Rock Concert

It seems that every year in the U.S., we see yet another movie about a group of high school friends facing the prospect of Growing Up: a heterosexist myth in which one abandons the exuberant buddy-bonding of high school for heterosexual romance, careers, houses, kids, and domesticity.

Usually it's set at an iconic moment in the filmmakers' life.

The British have their own versions, most recently Spike Island (2013), set during the heyday of The Stone Roses.  Yeah, I never heard of them either, but apparently they gave a famous "final concert" in May 1990 on Spike Island in Cheshire, and five working-class Manchester lads are desperate to go.

Not just for the music; they have their own band, so they have to get to the concert to give their demo tape to Ian Brown.  It's their only chance of escaping from their dismal working-class, married-with-children futures.

But they have no tickets, no money, and the concert's sold out. So they steal a florist's van and head out on the highway.

The main couple are Tits (Elliott Tittensor) and Dodge (Nico Mirallegro), who dread the upcoming end of their long-term friendship while competing over the same girl.

There's a lot more soap opera crammed into the weekend.  A dying father; an abusive father; a confrontation between brothers; a boy who doesn't want to follow in his father's footsteps; etc., etc.  The characters are broadly-drawn cliches that we've seen a thousand times before: the jock, the nerd, the ineffective girl-chaser, the kid brother.

But there's also a lot of gay connection.  Both Tittensor and Mirallegro have played gay characters before, and they add a nice gay subtext.  Plus there's a lot of physicality in the boys' relationship, hugging, holding, hanging over each other.

And some semi-nudity.  Recommended.

See also: I Wanna Hold Your Hand